11th November 2009 Archive

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Adobe slips good-bye note to 10% of stafff

Tough times at top employer

Adobe Systems, reckoned to be one of the best US employers to work for by business suck-up mag Fortune, is cutting 10 per cent of its staff. The company said Tuesday that it's eliminating 680 of its just-over 7,000-strong workforce as part of a restructuring, which will cost between $65.0 and $71.0 million. Employee severance …

Financial News 11 Nov 00:31
Google 'experiment' crossbreeds Python with C++

Multi-core coding on the Go

Google has open-sourced an experimental programming language that attempts to crossbreed a dynamic web-happy language like Python with a compiled language like C++. "There is a growing rebellion against cumbersome type systems like those of Java and C++, pushing people towards dynamically typed languages such as Python and …

Developer 11 Nov 01:40
Ericsson R&D pulls out of Coventry

Has staff even sat down?

Ericsson is pulling out of its R&D facility at Ansty Park, jeopardising 700 jobs in the process, despite only moving in six months ago. Seven hundred employees will be affected by the shutting down of the site, which is expected to be completed by the middle of next year - union negotiations not withstanding. Ericsson expects …

Mobile 11 Nov 06:02
NASA: the world will not end in 2012

Ancient Mayan secret, huh?

The apocalypse is not scheduled for December 21, 2012, according to NASA. Scientists at the US space agency are taking an unusual swipe at doomsday crackpottery this week in an online campaign designed to address fears fueled by the end of a cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar, a Hollywood movie, and a fresh wave of pseudo- …

Space 11 Nov 06:02
Three more quit over Nutt sacking

Johnson fails to calm

Three more scientists have resigned from the UK drug advisory body after the home secretary sacked of its chief advisor, Professor David Nutt, for disagreeing with government policy on marijuana. The trio quit after a meeting with Home Secretary Alan Johnson that was called to reassure them that their independence would not be …

Science 11 Nov 06:02
Boffins boast newfangled rootkit blocker

Large scale, low overhead

Scientists are set to unveil a lightweight system they say makes an operating system significantly more resistant to rootkits without degrading its performance. The hypervisor-based system is dubbed HookSafe, and it works by relocating kernel hooks in a guest OS to a dedicated page-aligned memory space that's tightly locked …

Malware 11 Nov 06:12
Archos 5 Internet Tablet Android-based PMP

Review The world's first Google-based media machine

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking we were re-running a review from last year - we originally put the Archos 5 through its paces in October 2008. The addition of two extra words to the end of the name may not sound that exciting initially, but while the Archos 5 Internet Tablet may look very similar to its …

Reg Hardware 11 Nov 08:02
ASA turns beady eye on web content

Online ads will have to straighten up, fly right

An industry rule-book for marketing communications in the UK is being amended to cover website content for the first time. Statements on websites could face sanctions from an industry body as soon as next summer even if they don't break any laws. The plans involve extending the remit and sanctions of the CAP Code, a set of …

Music and Media 11 Nov 08:02
Stuff you run v. stuff you run it on

Mini-poll Calling all you Apps and Server types

There are lots of things to say about servers, and there are lots of things to say about applications. One of the curses of the IT industry is the ease at which we can remove the working context between things and talk about them as though they exist in isolation. Whether this simple observation is the primary cause of business- …

Server Management 11 Nov 09:03
Cisco's Norwegian buy looking dodgy

Few takers for $3bn offer

Cisco's takeover plans for Norwegian video conferencing firm Tandberg are looking increasingly shaky - less than ten per cent of shareholders have so far voted in favour of the deal. Cisco has already extended the deadline for acceptance until 18 November in face of shareholders' lack of enthusiasm. If 90 per cent of …

Data Networking 11 Nov 09:49
SandForce gets another $21m funding

Why would a fabless silicon startup need that much cash?

Solid state drive (SSD) controller start-up SandForce has landed $21m of C-round funding, just eight months after a $20m-plus B-round. Why does a fabless silicon startup need that much cash? SandForce is developing SoC (System on Chip) products that, it says: "boost the storage I/O performance of next generation servers, …

Storage 11 Nov 10:07
DARPA in bid for shark-portable laser rayguns

Flimsy strato-robot cover story widely discounted

DARPA, the Pentagon tech bureau which has conferred upon a suffering human race such boons as the internet, the stealth bomber and the night-vision goggle, has finally made a bid to achieve that which humanity has yearned for above all other things. We refer, of course, to a laser weapon sufficiently portable to be carried on …

Science 11 Nov 10:23
Libel reform campaigners seek £10k damages cap

Apology better than payout

English libel law imposes disproportionate restrictions on free speech, according to an independent report that recommends 10 changes to the laws. The Ministry of Justice said today that it will launch a consultation on defamation and the internet. English PEN, a charity that promotes the human rights of writers and publishers …

Law 11 Nov 10:24
Police to keep innocents' DNA despite human rights ruling

Home Office's six-year plan

The government is today expected to announce police will retain DNA profiles from innocent people for up to six years, following a court defeat. The proposals have already been criticised by the human rights watchdog as not going far enough. At present, data is retained from every person arrested for any offence forever, and …

Law 11 Nov 10:27
Fungal invader bites Spanish ham

Phytophthora hits vital acorn supplies

Spain's ham producers are eyeing with alarm the spread of a fungus which is threatening the food supply essential to the production of the country's famous leg of pig. The culprit is Phytophthora1, which attacks the roots of the evergreen encina, (Holm Oak, Quercus ilex)2, whose acorns provide the diet for the indigenous black …

Biology 11 Nov 10:58
Election makes net snooping a pariah policy

Analysis Alan Johnson's gift to the next government

With a general election looming, it's a brave politician that includes unpopular laws in his department's final legislative programme. So news that Home Secretary Alan Johnson has hoofed plans to capture and store details of every voice call, SMS, web browsing session, IM conversation and social network communication into the …

Government 11 Nov 11:02
IBM uses mirrors to pretty up XIV arrays

Space reclamation improved too

IBM has improved the efficiency of its XIV arrays with instant deleted file space reclamation and added long-distance asynchronous mirroring to better protect and distribute XIV data. IBM is providing snapshot-based asynchronous mirroring alongside the existing synch mirroring. The two asynch mirror sites can be thousands of …

Storage 11 Nov 11:06
Matrox makes eight-screen graphics card

16 DisplayPort and DVI links on board

Matrox has introduced what it claims is the world's first single-slot graphics card capable of driving eight monitors simultaneously. A boon for gamers? Maybe, but the business-oriented M9188 card is going to cost 'em. Matrox's M9188: 16 ports on a display card's chest Yes, Matrox wants $1995 (£1192/€1332) for the PCI …

Reg Hardware 11 Nov 11:09
DCSF claims good reception for ContactPoint

Balls cheers hugely unsurprising flannel

Trials of the ContactPoint children's database have shown the majority of users find the system helpful, according to the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The ContactPoint, lessons from the early adopter phase report, published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, says that in feedback from " …

Government 11 Nov 11:09
Samsung plans Symbian-free future

Oh my god, it's full of widgets

Samsung's roadmap includes Windows mobile, Android and its new Bada platform, but there's no sign of Symbian in the plan. The details come from Samsung VP Don Joo Lee, who told Digitimes that the company would be giving up on Symbian to focus on Android, Windows Mobile and Bada-based handsets, in its continuing campaign to …

Mobile 11 Nov 11:11
Lighter Patch Tuesday focuses on Windows flaws

Win 7 users get a month off for good behaviour

Microsoft released six patches on Tuesday night - three critical - as part of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle. After the biggest ever patch cycle in October, November's patch train arrives with a far lighter load. The three critical fixes focus on bugs in various supported versions of Windows, though not Windows 7. …

Enterprise Security 11 Nov 11:13
Europe welcomes Dell's ~~Mac Mini~~ Zino HD

Small, colourful mini PC

Watch out Mac Mini, because Dell has launched its rival Inspiron Zino range of cute and colourful mini PCs into Europe. Dell's Zino HD: the flagship of the Mac Mini-esque range Zino measures 197 x 197 x 89mm and comes in two flavours: a base model with an Intel Atom 230 processor and an HD version packing your choice of AMD …

Reg Hardware 11 Nov 11:18
MSN Video morphs into Bing

Yet another makeover

Microsoft has splashed its Bing brand name over its MSN video site. The software giant, which confirmed the switcheroo yesterday, said Bing Video would cough up viral vids to full-length TV shows and video via the service. It grabs content from sites such as MySpace, Google’s YouTube, Hulu and CBS. The new site also comes …

Applications 11 Nov 11:51
Docs press for probe into 'designer vaginas'

Warn over 'invasive and irrevocable' labiaplasty ops

Doctors have warned that nip-and-tuck labiaplasty operations aimed at creating "designer vaginas" could have adverse affects on long-term sexual function. Demand for such labia-reduction procedures is apparently rising among those with no reason to go under the knife other than to achieve a more aesthetically-pleasing gential …

Biology 11 Nov 12:04
China heralds success of iPhone TV

Doesn't exaggerate at all

The Chinese regulator is trumpeting the success of the state broadcaster's iPhone application, claiming 2000 new users daily and half a million signed up in the month since launch. Closer examination shows figures that aren't quite that good: the quoted numbers include subscribers to the streaming TV services run by China …

Mobile 11 Nov 12:26
Astronaut love-dustup mace space ace Nowak cops plea

Anger management classes for wiggy carpark catfight

Former astronaut Lisa Nowak - world-famous for gassing a rival over the extramarital affections of a space shuttle pilot - pled guilty yesterday to reduced charges, in a bargain with prosecutors that will see her avoid any further jail time. Nowak, a US Navy aviator and NASA mission-specialist, was accused of confronting air …

Space 11 Nov 12:29
Malware cleans out jailbroken iPhones

Updated Hack tool wriggles through Rickroll worm hole

Miscreants have developed a hacking tool that attacks jailbroken iPhones. iPhone-Privacy-A follows hot on the heels of last weekend's Rickrolling worm that changed the wallpaper on vulnerable iPhones to an image of cheesy '80s pop star Rick Astley. The latest hacking threat exploits the same vulnerability in the iPhone as the …

Mobile 11 Nov 12:32
MPs prepare to beat off phantom Olympic hooker invasion

When in doubt, multiply the evidence by 10,000

The UK Government is preparing to repel an invasion by an army of prostitutes, which it believes is likely to descend on the Olympic Games in 2012. On Monday, Labour MP Fiona McTaggart asked Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Olympics whether she had commissioned any research on the effect of increased visitor numbers for the …

Government 11 Nov 12:32
Manchester Uni looks into mobile health nannying

Want to be nagged by a phone? There's an app for that

Industry body, the GSMA, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Manchester to set up an Innovation Centre devoted towards health on the move. The Manchester m-Health Innovation Centre will focus on "using mobile technology to enable people to play a more active role in determining their own health". …

Mobile 11 Nov 12:53
Sony Ericsson Satio 12.1Mp cameraphone

Review Ready to take on iPhone, Pre, Hero etc?

Business has never been harder for touchscreen mobile phones. Not only is the iPhone 3GSso far ahead it’s little more than a speck on a distant horizon, but HTC has the geek market neatly sewn up with its Android-based Hero. Sony Ericsson's Satio: coming in behind some hard-to-beat acts Even the Palm Pre failed to tickle …

Reg Hardware 11 Nov 13:02
Brussels agrees pan-European ID standard

STORK sallies forth

The planned universal electronic identity for all European citizens has moved a step closer - the technical interoperability standard has been agreed. The full details will be unveiled 18 November at a conference in Malmo. But following a 14-country, 12-month trial, Brussels has agreed a common specification. The project, …

Government 11 Nov 13:06
Health sector spews out much more carbon than airlines or IT

When will Greens act against the real eco-villains?

American researchers have estimated that the US health care sector is responsible for "nearly a tenth" of the nation's carbon emissions. This is almost triple the amount emitted by aviation and around four times that emitted by the IT industry, suggesting that green groups should shift the focus of their advocacy. "The health …

Environment 11 Nov 13:08
MS' Project Natal launch date revealed

Xbox buffs have 12 months to wait for Wii-style control

Xbox 360 gamers must wait another 12 months before they can lay their hands on Microsoft’s Project Natal, it has been revealed. The company has reportedly told developers that the motion-based controller will launch in November 2010. Natal's global launch date came to light during a series of 'behind closed doors' meetings …

Reg Hardware 11 Nov 13:09
Suppliers fall over themselves to support Exchange 2010

New species spreads to four new environments

Microsoft has shot Exchange Server 2010 worldwide spurring storage suppliers to instantly announce their support for the application. Exchange 2010 offers new features such as e-mail archiving, to help prevent inbox overload, while gaining admin improvements and more flexible deployment options. It has much improved I/O, …

Storage 11 Nov 13:15
MS home server users hit by Windows Live Custom Domains snafu

Down and out since Sunday

Many Windows Home Server customers have been unable to access Microsoft's Windows Live Custom Domains service since the weekend. Some punters are complaining about the problem on the company’s support forum. Reg reader Mark told us about the cockup, which he believes was caused by upgrades Microsoft made to the service. “ …

Applications 11 Nov 13:29
Dell adds One to Inspiron line

Firm's all-in-one desktop PC range grows

Dell has broadened its One series of all-in-one PCs beyond its business-centric Vostro range by launching the Inspiron One 19 desktop. Dell's Inspiron One 19: doesn't have a touchscreen display, oddly Based around an 18.5in, 1366 x 768 display which isn’t touch-sensitive, the Windows 7-equipped Inspiron One 19 can be fitted …

Reg Hardware 11 Nov 14:00
Google smothers stranded US holiday travellers with Wi-Fi

Merry Googlemas to one and all

US travellers forced to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in airport lounges will be able to send apologetic emails to their families for free, after Google declared it will sponsor free Wi-Fi at the nation's airports. The search monolith has made a "holiday gift" of free Wi-Fi access at 47 US airports from Thanksgiving through …

Wireless 11 Nov 14:04
Qualcomm proffers first smartbook platform

Smartphone spliced with netbook, see

At the Computek show in Taiwan six months ago, Qualcomm and Freescale coined a new phrase, 'smartbook', to describe a mobile internet device that would come somewhere between a smartphone and a netbook. Now the chip giant says it will show its first commercial design at its analyst day to be held in New York on Thursday. …

PCs & Chips 11 Nov 14:13
Microsoft boots modders off Xbox Live

'You're barred'

One year after it warned that Xbox 360 owners who've modified their consoles would be kicked off Xbox Live, Microsoft today confirmed that a percentage of subscribers have indeed been given the boot. Modifying an Xbox 360 to play copies of games is “a violation of the Xbox Live terms of use”, Microsoft warned on 13 November …

Reg Hardware 11 Nov 14:45
The Prisoner set for Sunday release

Rehash promises 'reimagining of themes and characters'

The remake of classic 1960s Brit TV series The Prisoner will hit US screens on Sunday, when viewers of AMC will be able to enjoy writer Bill Gallagher's six-part "reimagining of themes and characters", as the New York Times ominously puts it. Jim Caviezel has the task of interpreting Number Six, with veteran Brit thesp Ian …

Entertainment 11 Nov 15:05
Mouse maker spends big on video conferencing

Eeeek... how much?

Mouse and peripherals maker Logitech is splashing out $405m in cold, hard cash to buy Texan video conference company LifeSize. LifeSize offers everything from enormous purpose-built video conference rooms to simple add-on bundles for home workers and small businesses. It claims most of its kit is "HD-quality" and uses …

PCs & Chips 11 Nov 15:13
McKinnon’s mum 'snubbed' by Home Secretary

Commons hearing on extradition given extra zest

Gary McKinnon's mum was unable to put a personal plea to the Home Secretary when the two met in Parliament on Wednesday. During a break in a Home Affairs select committee hearing, Janis Sharp attempted to discuss her son's extradition case with Alan Johnson, who agreed to shake her hand before walking away in silence. Sharp …

Government 11 Nov 15:15
Google backs enormous load of balls for Olympics

Architect Watch Speak your brain into the London sky

A group of architects, in an apparent bid to win a commission for 120m towers topped by a cluster of giant plastic balls at the London Olympics site, has turned to Google for help. The dominant search engine will provide the group with free advertising encouraging the web public to chip in for the project. If "The Cloud", as …

Bootnotes 11 Nov 15:16
Butterflies In Spaaaace!

Gatorade-quaffing Painted Ladies to fly to ISS

NASA boffins have announced plans to fly a suitcase full of live butterflies up to the International Space Station, in a project appropriately named "Butterflies In Space". Scientists in charge of Butterflies In Space have announced that a special space insect habitat will be launched into orbit aboard space shuttle Atlantis …

Space 11 Nov 15:50
GNOME 3.0 release hits six-month buffer

Next weighty version held back from start line

The next major iteration of the GNOME desktop has been delayed by six months. It had been expected to land in March 2010, but GNOME 3.0 will now rock up in September next year instead. GNOME Foundation director Vincent Untz made the announcement earlier this week on the outfit's mailing list. "Thanks to the input from the …

Applications 11 Nov 16:00
Urinating Spaniard soaks Street View's Canaries

Public decency algorithm still taking the proverbial

Google Maps' UK tentacle is today inviting eager virtual travellers to "take a holiday to the Canary Islands" with its all-seeing Street View, and has provided this handy link so you can fly straight to Playa de las Teresitas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Beautiful - although if you rotate the view a bit, you'll get this example …

Bootnotes 11 Nov 16:03
Fujitsu strike cancelled

Stand down, brothers

Unionised Fujitsu workers have dropped their threat of a three-day strike that was scheduled to begin tomorrow, after bosses agreed to extend talks on pension cuts and delay compulsory redundancies. Fujitsu plans to withdraw its final salary scheme and has announced 1,200 job cuts. Unite, the union behind the strike, said …

Channel Register 11 Nov 16:23
Platform clusters Windows HPC with Linux

Tetris with supercomputers

Platform Computing has taken the beta off its Infrastructure Sharing Facility, a way of greasing the adoption of Windows HPC Server 2008 among the supercomputing folk. Having seen a zillion different operating systems and architectures over the past three decades, these HPC techies like the portability and commonality of Linux …

HPC 11 Nov 17:02
IBM plugs WebSphere ecommerce kit into mobiles

User-generated love

IBM has unwrapped the newest version of its WebSphere e-commerce software platform, exhibiting a fresh focus on sales and order processing atop handheld devices and an ability to mix user-generated content into retail sites. WebSphere Commerce is a software framework for web retailers that bundles tools for doing everything …

Developer 11 Nov 17:02
Netlist goes virtual and dense with server memory

So much for that Cisco UCS memory advantage

Netlist, a publicly traded company based in Irvine, California that was founded in 2000 and that you have probably never heard of, will probably make a big splash at the SC09 supercomputing trade show next week. Netlist, which makes memory modules on an OEM basis for various companies, said Wednesday that in December it will …

HPC 11 Nov 18:01
Mozilla brews browserless iPhone apps

Firefox 'experience' without the Firefox

Mozilla is tinkering with multiple applications for the Apple iPhone. And no, that doesn't include a Firefox browser. "There is something of the Firefox and Mozilla experience that might be possible on the iPhone - that isn't the Firefox browser. We've got some people prototyping some ideas that may end up becoming iPhone …

Mobile 11 Nov 18:02
US Supremes prod software patent law

Speed dating and horse whispering

The long-running battle to redefine what is patentable reached the US Supreme Court on Monday, and the back-and-forth between the Justices and competing counsel hinted that their decision will result in relatively minor changes to existing law - not the sweeping overhaul feared by the software and medical technology industries …

Law 11 Nov 18:02
YouTube tests skippable pre-roll ads

Behavioral lab rats wanted

Google has begun testing pre-roll advertisements that users can freely skip in a select number of videos on YouTube. For an indefinite period of time, a small sample of videos on the website will now include a "skip this ad" button that ditches the pre-roll pitch completely. On the surface it seems a rather half-baked scheme …

Music and Media 11 Nov 19:49
Apple passes Nokia, scares Nintendo

One device, multiple battles

Apple has passed Nokia to become the world's most profitable phone maker, and prompted Nintendo's president to note that if his company can't differentiate its games from those on the iPhone, "then our future is dark." Cupertino's multi-pronged strategy to put an iPhone into the pocket of every smartphoner, mobile gamer, and …

Mobile 11 Nov 19:56
SAP slams ~~Oracle~~ Sun's control of Java

Backs open-source JVM

SAP has criticized Sun Microsystems for its control of the group that drives Java, just as rival Oracle is poised to take full control of the body. In a blog posting, the company's chief technology officer slammed the Java Community Process (JCP) for being "heavily dominated" by Sun to the detriment of everybody else. Vishal …

Developer 11 Nov 19:58
Facebook scoffs at hacktivist stunt

Nothing to see here. Please move along

Hacktivists took over control of almost 300 Facebook community groups in a bid to highlight concerns over how easy it might be for miscreants to hijack a shared interest group on the social networking site. Facebook said no hacking was involved in the attack, which it dismisses as a stunt. The Control Your Info group, on the …

Security 11 Nov 20:39
AMD unmasks Opterons of servers future

Faces for 'Magny Cours' and 'San Marino'

It's financial analyst day at chip designer and seller (but no longer wafer baker) Advanced Micro Devices, and that's reason enough for the company to divulge a few more details about its future Opteron processors and related chipsets and platforms, due early next year. First of all, the official names of the processors. The " …

Servers 11 Nov 21:02
HP buys 3Com for $2.7bn cash

Succumbs to Cisco envy

Hewlett-Packard is taking a swing at Cisco Systems by acquiring networking equipment maker 3Com for $2.7bn cash. HP said the deal will dramatically expand its Ethernet switching product offerings, add routing technology, and secure itself a major presence in China. In addition, HP will pick up a large research and development …

Hardware 11 Nov 22:05
PHP founder takes flight from Yahoo!

Updated MS deal 'as lame as I feared'

PHP founder Rasmus Lerdorf has left Yahoo! Lerdorf announced his departure via the popular Web2.0rhea service Twitter. "Feels a bit odd to be unemployed. Probably crazy to leave the best job I have ever had," he wrote, "but after 7+ years it was time for something new." Twitter is also where Lerdorf voiced his opinion of …

Developer 11 Nov 22:09
Acer and Apple prove recession-proof for Brits

PC market shrinkage, nonetheless

PC sales continue to shrink in the UK - but not for Acer and Apple. Sales in the UK dropped 2.4 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2009, according to latest data from Gartner. This decline is less than in previous meltdown quarters, but principal analyst Ranjit Atwal warns that: "The return to growth will be slow …

PCs & Chips 11 Nov 22:13
Microsoft admits Mac was Windows 7 muse

Hide your homework

Since the very beginning, Microsoft's been accused of copying the look, feel, and functionality of Apple's operating systems. Microsoft's addition of a trash can to Windows 95, for example, was particularly galling for fanboyz as the handy interface element arrived 10 years after Apple introduced its own trash can. Now …

Operating Systems 11 Nov 23:17