23rd December 2009 Archive

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Hackers break Amazon's Kindle DRM

Updated The great ebook 'unswindle'

Hackers from the US and Israel say they have broken copyright protections built in to Amazon's Kindle for PC, a feat that allows ebooks stored on the application to work with other devices. The hack began as an open challenge in this (translated) forum for participants to come up with a way to make ebooks published in Amazon's …

Security 23 Dec 2009, 00:35
Google 'open' memo betrays deep corporate delusion

Even when we're closed, we're open

Google has sent itself a memo as part of an ongoing effort to perpetuate the self-delusion that it's the world's most open company. Monday afternoon, at the official Google blog, Google vp Jonathan "Perfect Ad" Rosenberg published an email he recently sent to company staffers under the heading "the meaning of open." Like so …

Media 23 Dec 2009, 03:59
Pair plead not guilty to Galleon insider trading charges

IBM and Intel execs 'in discussions'

Raj Rajaratnam, the owner and manager of the Galleon Group hedge fund that is at the center of two insider trading scams, and his compatriot, Danielle Chiesi, formerly of the New Castle Funds hedge fund, have both entered pleas of not guilty to US District Court Judge Richard Holwell. The pair were arrested, along with others …

Financial News 23 Dec 2009, 04:11
LG GD510 Pop

Review Missed opportunity

Less, they say, is more, and that's certainly a maxim LG believes in if the Pop - aka the GD510 - is anything to go by. This is one small phone, yet it presents a full touch-based user interface and simple, clear styling that will make some wonder if it's one answer to the long hoped for iPhone Nano. LG's Pop: nice and small …

Phones 23 Dec 2009, 08:02
Verizon shares 4G updates

Seducing manufacturers with network promises

Verizon has published updated specifications for its 4G network, in the hope that this time there will be some applications by the time it deploys the technology. The updates include data-retry systems and SMS requirements, for those interested in creating applications or devices to take advantage of Verizon's forthcoming LTE …

Mobile 23 Dec 2009, 10:03
US mum calls 911 over Grand Theft Auto

Teenage son refuses to stop gaming

A Boston mum whose 14-year-old son refused to stop playing Grand Theft Auto in the early hours called in the cops to put a stop to his late-night gaming. The 911 call came at 2:30 am on Saturday morning, when the desperate parent explained that not only had her offspring resisted a maternal cease-and-desist order, but he also …

Games 23 Dec 2009, 10:04
Legal highs now illegal

Put down that Spice

The law banning GBL, BZP, synthetic cannabis and other "legal highs" comes into effect today. The change came about in the summer, after the Home Office took the extraordinary step of asking its scientific advisers to look at the issue and then followed their advice. This was before the Home Office fell out with Professor …

Law 23 Dec 2009, 10:27
ISS crew don festive hats

Soyuz crew arrive aboard orbiting outpost

The crew of the International Space Station have posed with festive hats following a successful docking of the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft with the orbiting outpost yesterday. The Soyuz launched on Sunday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut TJ Creamer and Japan Aerospace …

Science 23 Dec 2009, 10:54
Imminent launch for mobile Firefox

Listen up, big ears

The first mobile version of Firefox is days away from delivery, Mozilla project chiefs have told the BBC. Fennec will initially be ported to the Nokia's N900 phone, followed by releases for other handsets over an unspecified timescale. The open-source based mobile browser, which has been in development for the last 18 months, …

Applications 23 Dec 2009, 11:45
Vodafone gives away internet over Christmas

But not all of it

Vodafone UK is giving away internet access between Christmas and the new year, but only to those who have their APN set correctly. The promotional offer is an extension of the operator's free Fridays, and runs from Christmas morning until January 1st. But because it's aimed at those using the internet through a mobile phone, …

Broadband 23 Dec 2009, 11:57
BOFH: Key performance undertakers

Episode 17 Christmas spirits and goodwill to all mains

The PFY and I happened to stay out a little late at a Christmas do and unfortunately ended up in the company of some industry commentators - never a good move. Given that the PFY and myself know the perils of drinking with reporters - people who drink for a living and for whom seven pints of overproof cider counts both as an …

BOFH 23 Dec 2009, 12:02
Exanet back from the grave

Company now free to be sold

Exanet is coming back from the grave, just two weeks after its founder and board chairman, Dr. Giora Yaron, said it was closing down. This comes after a Tel Aviv court ordered the injection of extra funds. It is a bizarre last minute rescue twist to the story of NAS start-up Exanet, whose history is overviewed here. Our …

Storage 23 Dec 2009, 12:22
Lawyers scared of computers

Fear of own incompetence kills trees

A Crown Court judge has blasted a lawyer's excuse for printing huge bundles of documents rather than delivering them on disc. The telling tale arrives via The Mirror's crime correspondent Jon Clements, who reports that at Wood Green Crown Court on Monday, Judge Francis Sheridan inquired as to why a pile of documents for a jury …

Government 23 Dec 2009, 12:24
i4i pats self on back for Microsoft patent win

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth...

The Canadian software maker that saw a US federal appeals court uphold a ruling against Microsoft yesterday, has described the decision as a "war cry for talented inventors whose patents are infringed." As we reported on Tuesday, Microsoft has been ordered to pay $290m to i4i, following a long-running patent spat with the firm …

Applications 23 Dec 2009, 12:32
Nuke-bunker-nobbling US megabomb delayed

The (14-tonne, steel) pencil is mightier than the sword

Efforts by the US military to equip the batwinged B-2 "Spirit" Stealth bomber with a huge penetrator weapon - suitable for use against underground Iranian nuclear facilities - have been delayed. Flying the unfriendly skies in 2011? The Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is a huge, 14-tonne steel pencil containing a …

Science 23 Dec 2009, 12:35
Pharma link spammers invade Live Space

Fake blog posts spamvertise knock-off pills

Cybercrime affiliates of unlicensed pharmaceutical websites have begun moving on from attacks purely designed to poison Google search engine results, and are now targetting Microsoft's web properties. Search engine poisoners are actively making use of Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces blog hosting environment, net security firm …

Security 23 Dec 2009, 12:48
My hospital HAL - Google man moots syringe that says no

Late bid for crazed Google exec of the year award

Google VP Jonathan Rosenberg's windy sermon on 'Open' has been widely panned, but his interesting intervention on identity, health records and medical procedures has been little remarked, so far. Which is a pity, considering how close Google's High Command is to the High Command of the party likely to win next year's election, …

Bootnotes 23 Dec 2009, 13:08
Opera hopes to push fast engine envelope with 10.5 preview

Carakan of love

Opera boldly catapulted a pre-alpha version of its latest browser onto the interwebs yesterday, for brave testers to tinker with over the holiday season. The Norwegian firm said the rough-round-the-edges preview of Opera 10.5 was now available for download on Windows and Mac machines. A Unix/Linux build won't be available for …

Applications 23 Dec 2009, 14:30
Multiple travel firms refuse ID cards as passport alternative

About as useful for European travel as a Eurostar train

The supposed usefulness of UK ID cards has been called into question by news that major travel companies are telling would-be passengers that ID cards are NOT valid travel credentials for travel in Europe. Around 1,736 people in Greater Manchester have voluntarily paid £30 for biometric-based ID cards since a pilot programme …

Government 23 Dec 2009, 14:38
Homemade airship prang closes highway in Oklahoma

79-year-old unlicensed pilot-inventor grilled by feds

A homemade airship went out of control above Oklahoma last week and came down on an interstate motorway, causing startled highway patrolmen to hurriedly close several lanes to traffic. According to reports, the 79-year-old pilot and inventor of the craft was uninjured - but is now in trouble with the feds for not possessing …

Science 23 Dec 2009, 14:41
US mum calls 911 over Grand Theft Auto

Teenage son refuses to stop gaming

A Boston mum whose 14-year-old son refused to stop playing Grand Theft Auto in the early hours called in the cops to put a stop to his late-night gaming. The 911 call came at 2:30 am on Saturday morning, when the desperate parent explained that not only had her offspring resisted a maternal cease-and-desist order, but he also …

Bootnotes 23 Dec 2009, 16:15
Microsoft issues wipe clean Word tool for OEMs

PC manufacturers got early warning

Microsoft spat out an Office 2007 patch for Stateside OEMs in October that pre-empted yesterday's Word XML appeal ruling, when a court upheld an injunction against the software giant. It turns out that Redmond, which had said it was preparing for the worst after it won a temporary reprieve on the injunction in September, has …

The Channel 23 Dec 2009, 16:27
Comcast to pay $16m over BitTorrent busting

While denying everything. Natch

Comcast has agreed to pay $16m to settle a class action suit brought against the company after it was caught secretly busting BitTorrents. Filed by a California man in November 2007, the suit claims that Comcast's BitTorrent busting violated federal computer-fraud laws and user contracts. In a proposed settlement, the US cable …

Networks 23 Dec 2009, 17:33
5-megapix 'iPhone 4' set for June?

Under test today

The fourth generation iPhone has already been spotted in the wild. It will debut on June 28. It will have a 5-megapixel camera. And it will contribute to the 40-45 million iPhones that Apple plans to sell next year. Or so says a flurry of recent reports. From MacRumors comes word than one iPhone developer has spotted a …

Phones 23 Dec 2009, 17:38
BlackBerry outage hits America for second time in week

Instant messageware blamed

North America has been hit with its second Blackberry email outage in seven days.. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has not commented on the extent of the service interruption, but reports indicate the Tuesday outage was widespread for consumer BlackBerry users throughout both North America and South America. The service …

Broadband 23 Dec 2009, 20:48
3Com profit bump surprises Street

Wrapping up a gift for HP

Networking equipment maker 3Com beat its guidance for revenues and profits in its fiscal 2010 second quarter, but revenues are still being compressed by the soft global economy. In the quarter ended November 27, 3Com posted sales of $322.2m, down 9.1 per cent compared to the year-ago period. The company said that it did see …

Financial News 23 Dec 2009, 21:39
Novell stacks Linux and Mono for mainframes

Enterprise Consolidation Suite

When IBM announced its Linux-only Enterprise Linux Server variants of the System z mainframe two weeks ago, what the company did not say is that software partner Novell had cooked up software bundles specifically for these boxes. IBM has 100 per cent share of the IBM-compatible mainframe market at this point, and Linux is one …

Servers 23 Dec 2009, 21:44
~~Googlephone~~ Nexus One leaks more news

On-sale date set. But not for you. Peon

Google only admitted that its rumored smartphone was real about a week ago, and today comes word that the first units will go on sale at the beginning of next month. Or so says an Engadget "tipster," who also supplied the gadgeteers with a long list of enticing specs for the HTC-built Android phone. But don't queue up outside …

Mobile 23 Dec 2009, 21:53
US regulators deepen Google mobile ad probe

$750m AdMob deal re-scrutinized

The US Federal Trade Commission has expanded its antitrust review into Google's proposed $750m acquisition of the mobile advertising outfit known as AdMob. Google announced the news this afternoon with a blog post. "This week, we received what's called a 'second request,' which means that the FTC is asking for more information …

Mobile 23 Dec 2009, 23:05