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19th January 2010 Archive

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  • China may reverse citizen ban on domain registration

    Too many climbing Great Firewall

    Chinese web regulators banned individual domain registration without a business license in early December, purportedly as part of a crackdown on internet smut and malware. But an official from China's Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) told the English-language newspaper ChinaDaily that the decision may be reversed — so …

    Networks 19 Jan 2010, 06:02

  • Nvidia details GF100 graphics beastie

    Minus the price - and the speed

    Nvidia has released additional details on its upcoming GF100 graphics processor, and if the GPU performs as well in reality as it does on paper, AMD/ATI's Radeon HD 5000 series may have a worthy competitor. The GF100 will be Nvidia's first to be based on the company's muscular Fermi architecture, which features such niceties …

    Games 19 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • Monty buffs MySQL cuckoo egg

    Taste the difference

    A fully completed first version of MySQL fork MariaDB has come a step closer, with a release candidate delivered by Monty Widenius on Monday. MariaDB 5.1.41 RC is based on the MySQL 5.1 code base, available since November 2008. MySQL-co-founder Widenius called the database RC a "drop-in replacement for any recent MySQL 5.1 …

    Applications 19 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • Sony Ericsson Yari

    Review Anyone for tennis?

    At first glance the Sony Ericsson Yari gives a very good impression of a lowish-end slider, with its so-so looks and smallish screen. Look a little closer, however, and it becomes clear that the Yari is a lot more fun than it first appears, with Wii-style gesture-recognition gaming, a 5Mp camera, aGPS and HSDPA fast internet …

    Phones 19 Jan 2010, 08:02

  • BakBone combines backup and replication

    Enough to send a shiver down your spine

    BakBone is embedding replication into its NVFR v4 product to provide a disaster recovery capability. BakBone's NVFR, or NetVault: FASTRecover, was announced in June last year. This stores changed blocks from a Windows file system, Exchange server or SQL Server on a disk-based system, and can recover the server in what appears …

    Storage 19 Jan 2010, 09:47

  • Cadbury flakes in face of Kraft bid - cuts expected

    Despite a Wispa in shareholders' ears from Mandy

    Cadbury, the 186-year old chocolate maker, has given up the fight and accepted a hostile takeover bid from Kraft. The two firms are still locked in final negotiations - an update given to the London Stock Exchange said they were finalising terms and that a further announcement will be issued shortly. The offer is for 840p per …

    Financial News 19 Jan 2010, 09:52

  • ArchiveVerify promises to untangle tapes

    Tape verification at the crossroads

    It's the tape archive nightmare - racks and racks of carefully stored tape cartridges and you don't know if they can be read. Welcome to the tape restoration lottery. Crossroads Europe thinks it can help you out here. ArchiveVerify is a tape validity monitoring tool that's an option for the existing RVA (ReadVerify Appliance) …

    Storage 19 Jan 2010, 10:09

  • Chinese stamp on Avatar

    'Banned' amid fears of civil unrest

    Chinese censors have reportedly "banned" sci-fi epic Avatar, amid fears it could provoke civil unrest, the Telegraph reports. According to Hong Kong's Apple Daily, the state-run China Film Group has ordered that the film be shown only in 3D, and since there are few cinemas equipped for this, the edict is tantamount to a ban. …

    Bootnotes 19 Jan 2010, 10:11

  • Health Net's missing drive could cost it millions

    Connecticut HIPAA lawsuit over lost records

    US healthcare corporation Health Net kept quiet for 6 months about a lost disk drive, exposing 1.5 million of its members to identity theft. It is now being sued. The law suit, filed by Connecticut's Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, is in regard of 466,000 members in that state and refers to HIPAA regulations. Health Net …

    Management 19 Jan 2010, 10:11

  • Information Tribunal abolished as new service takes charge

    New system will have wider appeal

    The appeals process for freedom of information and data protection cases changes from today as the previous structure is absorbed into a wider tribunals service. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is responsible for monitoring organisations' compliance with freedom of information and data protection laws. Appeals …

    Management 19 Jan 2010, 10:19

  • Sony intros 'Quad SSD' Raid-ed notebooks

    Storage performance boost?

    Sony has introduced a 13in notebook with four Raid-arrayed SSDs. The Vaio Z comes with either 128GB or 256GB of storage space in Raid 0 configuration so data is striped across four 32GB or four 64GB drives, respectively. Sony's Vaio Z: aluminium construction There's no data security provision, but Raid 0 should improve …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2010, 10:38

  • Carphone's Q3 fails to please investors

    Numbers up? Meh

    CarphoneWarehouse said today that trading in the third quarter was towards the top end of expectations and it is on track to split the company into two. But the markets weren't impressed - CPW shares are up only half a percent, admittedly on a falling market. The company said it expects revenues from TalkTalk to grow 29 per …

    Mobile 19 Jan 2010, 10:39

  • Germans unveil robots 'controlled by chaos itself'

    Deny any involvement by pesky hurricane butterfly

    Remorseless German boffins announced this week that they have introduced robots which are under the control of chaos itself. Quite literally no idea what it'll do next. Apparently this doesn't involve remote control by butterfly wing-flaps from the other side of the world. Rather, brainboxes at the Max Planck Institute for …

    Science 19 Jan 2010, 10:47

  • BT takes axe to Local Business

    'Significant' cuts

    BT is making deep cuts to its Local Business network this week, following a year and a half of plummeting sales. BT Local Business director Andy Hudson told staff: "Quite frankly the business is really, really, really struggling... every quarter we are failing to grow and we are shrinking." He declined to say in a conference …

    Small Biz 19 Jan 2010, 10:51

  • Government personal data handling 'better'

    Report smiles on efforts to be less leaky

    Measures put in place by the Government to better protect individuals' personal data have been successful but more work is needed, according to the first annual internal report due under the new regime. After a series of embarrassing losses of personal information, including the 2007 loss of discs containing the names, …

    Government 19 Jan 2010, 10:51

  • Tales of the data centre

    Regcasts galore!

    The Register produced some 25 webcasts in 2009, Today we present five of the best, all with a data centre or sysadmin bent, for your viewing delectation. Not tried a Regcast yet? Give us a twirl and tune into some deep and meaningful conversation, Q&A sessions with Reg readers supplying the Qs, leavened with a pinch of humour …

    Servers 19 Jan 2010, 11:02

  • Internet video take-up to be driven by TVs, Blu-ray Players

    In the US maybe, but not over here

    Blu-ray Disc players and HD TVs will drive the domestic take-up of internet video services, it has been claimed. Market watcher IMS Research has said that, worldwide, internet video device shipments will leap 78 per cent year on year during 2010. While set-top boxes, games consoles and media extenders will play a part, it'll …

    Media 19 Jan 2010, 11:30

  • High Court strikes down IPCom patents

    But Nokia not off the hook yet

    The UK High Court has declared two contested patents invalid in the battle between IPCom and everyone else - in the UK, at least. Despite this, the war is far from over. Nokia, clearly delighted with the ruling, said it would now be seeking to recoup its legal costs, though IPCom said it would be appealing the ruling as it …

    Mobile 19 Jan 2010, 11:30

  • Plextor plunges into SSD pool

    Hitching ride on PLDS

    Japanese-owned Plextor, a significant player in the optical drive business, is entering the solid state disk (SSD) market, riding on the back of Philips Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS). Plextor is privately owned by Shimano Kenshi of Japan. PLDS is a joint-venture and is licensed to sell Plextor kit in North America. PLDS …

    Storage 19 Jan 2010, 11:36

  • Home Office advises Police to break the law

    Spectacularly poor guidance could cost forces dear

    Home Office advice to Police Forces in the UK is wrong in law and likely to leave cash-strapped police authorities incurring some very large legal bills over the coming months. That was the view given to El Reg today by Matthew Ryder, a barrister specialising in police powers and human rights. Following the recent ruling by …

    Law 19 Jan 2010, 11:36

  • Wii Balance Board good aid for doctors, study finds

    'Now, Mrs Golightly, if you'll just step onto this gaming peripheral...'

    The Wii Balance Board (BB) peripheral could provide doctors with a cost-effective way of assessing a patient’s ability to stand up straight, a report has concluded. Medics from the University of Melbourne and Singapore General Hospital’s Department of Physiotherapy together tested Nintendo’s £70 accessory as a way of assessing …

    Games 19 Jan 2010, 11:41

  • IE6 exposed as Google China malware unpicked

    Why search engine giant was using IE6 remains a mystery

    Fresh analysis has revealed the sophistication of malware used in attacks against Google and other hi-tech firms originating from China last month. It's now known that the attack took advantage of a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer - CVE-2010-0249 - to drop malware onto compromised systems. After backdoor components …

    Security 19 Jan 2010, 11:57

  • Himalayan glacier-tastrophe rumour melts away

    Thermageddon postponed... again

    Climate stories are arriving thick and fast in the wake of Climategate, but the tale of the Himalayan glacier meltdown that never was must be one of the most strange and interesting of them all. It's a tale that provides an insight into the "certainties" the political and media elites have come to depend on - and how badly the …

    Science 19 Jan 2010, 12:07

  • Avatar kills Taiwanese man

    3D excitement beyond endurance

    Blockbuster movie Avatar has added to its impressive list of accomplishments - which to date include inducing suicidal despair, attracting Golden Globes, provoking civil unrest and creating a plethora of Pandoras - by killing a Taiwanese man overcome by the 3D experience. According to AFP, the 42-year-old cinemagoer, surnamed …

    Bootnotes 19 Jan 2010, 12:08

  • How do you manage your virtual environment...

    Lab ...when running physical ones still isn’t a done deal?

    A study (pdf) we undertook in 2008 with the help of the Register readership acknowledged what you all knew to be true: contrary to the hype, IT wasn’t in fact broken/on-fire/rubbish, it was actually doing OK. However, those working in the field happily acknowledged that things could be better. The burden that IT works under …

    Virtualisation Lab 19 Jan 2010, 12:12

  • Mobile apps to generate untold riches for developers

    Even when they're free, says analyst

    Smartphone owners will together spend a staggering $6.2bn on applications this year, market watcher Gartner has forecast. The company calculates that, in 2009, we spent $4.24bn, and with analysts unanimously anticipating yet more iPhones, BlackBerries, Palms and Android handsets to be purchased in 2010, Gartners' predicted …

    Phones 19 Jan 2010, 12:17

  • Apple turns to Murdoch for iSlate content

    HarperCollins in the hunt for the pork

    Apple is reportedly in talks with HarperCollins for the publisher to provide content for the upcoming iSlate. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has been talking to HarperCollins about selling eBooks for the iSlate - or whatever Apple decides to call the Newton's successor - along with details of how exactly "enhanced …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2010, 12:23

  • Samsung compact cameras get optical zoom boom

    Long-distance viewing

    Samsung hopes to snare more high-end compact camera customers by upping the optical zoom range of its HZ line. The company’s existing HZ15W and HZ10W feature 10x optical zooms, but the new HZ35W and HZ30W go one better. Well, five times better, by providing a 15x optical zoom. Samsung's latest HZ range of high-zoom compacts …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2010, 12:24

  • Microsoft finally cuts Bing data retention time to six months

    Anonymise this!

    Microsoft has finally slashed the amount of time it keeps some online search query data to just six months, over a year after it declared it would make the change if the likes of Google and Yahoo! agreed to play ball. The company’s privacy chief Peter Cullen said late yesterday that Microsoft planned to implement the changes …

    Security 19 Jan 2010, 12:25

  • Darling forces ministers to draw up spending hit lists

    Spending review begins

    Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has asked ministers to start drawing up hit lists to show what their departments will do to slash government spending. Saddled with massive debt of £178bn and with promises to ringfence spending on education, the NHS, police and overseas development spending, the government needs …

    Government 19 Jan 2010, 12:35

  • Sony unveils contactless data transfer kit

    Japan launch shows how TransferJet will debut here

    Sony's TransferJet moved a step closer to UK gadget lovers' mitts yesterday when the company launched the first memory card to contain the near-field communications data-exchange technology. Alas, the MS-JX8G will - initially at least - only be available in Japan, but it shows how Sony plans to bring the technology to market …

    Broadband 19 Jan 2010, 12:52

  • Virtualisation for Beginners

    Hands On It's not just for server jockeys, you know

    VMWare engineer Shawn Morel opens an entertaining and highly recommended seminar on the internal workings of his company's Fusion product for the Mac by dividing up an area of space with a couple of vertical lines. He points in turn to the three segments this creates: "You've got Userland, the Kernel space and Hyperspace." He …

    Software 19 Jan 2010, 13:02

  • Israelis develop Nazi-doodlebug sonic deathwave cannon

    Bunker-bust boom blaster offered for riot pacification

    Israel intends to offer for export one of its latest and most terrifying military technologies: a sonic cannon or "thunder generator", powered by devasting "bunker buster" fuel-air explosive technology - used in secret Nazi superweapons of the 1940s - to deliver sound rays so powerful as to be instantly deadly to anyone hearing …

    Science 19 Jan 2010, 13:13

  • Google ices Android launches in China

    Track down mobe-toting dissidents yourself

    Google has hit China where it hurts - icing the launch of two Android phones in the world's biggest and fastest growing mobile market. The search giant said in a statement to Dow Jones that it had originally planned to launch a brace of Android-based devices - one from Samsung, one from Motorola - tomorrow, but had now …

    Mobile 19 Jan 2010, 13:19

  • Man Utd imposes social networking ban

    Football club rules Facebook and Twitter offside

    Manchester United has banned its players from using social networking websites. In a statement, the football club claimed none of its stars had ever used sites such as Twitter or Facebook and that all player news was communicated via its official website, ManUtd.com. The club wishes to make it clear that no Manchester United …

    Media 19 Jan 2010, 13:25

  • Man makes music on Linux-based touchscreen guitar

    Spinal Touch

    Forget everything you know about guitars – acoustic or otherwise — because a hi-tech guitar has been designed that replaces strings and strumming with a touchscreen and Linux. The Misa Digital Guitar is shaped like a traditional electric guitar, but made from plastic and – instead of strumming — requires the player to tap …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2010, 13:37

  • MS spins IE security disaster into Windows 7 upgrade opportunity

    'Ditch XP, our browser is safe-ish, pigs can fly' etc.

    Microsoft is doing its best to deflect from the software vendor’s ugly, fat security hole in Internet Explorer 6, by telling customers to not only upgrade their browser for the latest version of IE, but also to ditch Windows XP while they’re at it. The much-loved operating system that refuses to die is vulnerable to attack, …

    Operating Systems 19 Jan 2010, 13:40

  • UK border database on target and budget, says Home Office

    Half of incomings/outgoings recorded

    Half of all journeys in and out of the UK are now being centrally recorded and analysed by the £1.2bn e-Borders scheme, the government estmates. The Home Office yesterday said the system is currently gathering data on between 45 and 50 per cent of people crossing the border. e-Borders aims to count every person in and out of …

    Government 19 Jan 2010, 14:11

  • Garmin adds satellite imaging to satnavs

    See photos of every turning

    Getting stuck down one-way country paths because that's where your satnav told you to go should soon become a thing of the past, because Garmin plans to add bird’s eye view satellite images to selected models. Garmin's BirdsEye images should make navigation easier The firm’s BirdsEye Satellite Imagery technology will …

    Science 19 Jan 2010, 14:16

  • Church of England takes on Ofcom

    The Lord as mic shepherd

    The Anglican Church has joined a campaign demanding greater restitution for wireless microphone users, claiming the cost of shifting frequencies will top a million quid. Save Our Sound UK was set up in November by the various groups who want Ofcom to cough up more money to those moved on to make way for digital television. The …

    Broadband 19 Jan 2010, 14:44

  • Fifty Strikes and… we'll tell your Mum

    Serial file sharing OK, say Lib Dems

    Unlicensed file sharers have a new name to toast this morning: Lord Razzall. Together with his Lib Dem colleague, the party's spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport Lord Clement Jones, Razzall has tabled an amendment (No.76) to the Digital Economy Bill that gives serial infringers a bit of leeway. Well, quite a lot of leeway …

    Law 19 Jan 2010, 14:46

  • Vodafone revs up UK femtocell program

    Sure Signal sexier than Access Gateway

    Last June, Vodafone UK became the first European operator to go live with femtocells, though the indoor base stations remained somewhat shadowy in the carrier's portfolio. Now it is bringing them out into the marketing daylight with a rebranding and a price cut. The device, originally called the Vodafone Access Gateway, is now …

    Mobile 19 Jan 2010, 14:49

  • Too much sitting can kill: Official

    Get up off your arse if you want to live

    Swedish scientists have warned that too much sitting on your backside can provoke cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. That's pretty obvious, you might think, but the researchers from the Karolinska Institute and the Swedish School of Sport and Health warn that the excessively sedentary are running serious risks, …

    Science 19 Jan 2010, 15:08

  • EMC rains on Pillar's parade

    Adds 2TB drives to CLARiiON and Celerra

    Strangely, on the day Pillar formally announces its faster Axiom with boosted controller performance, EMC has announced denser CLARiiON and Celerra arrays with 2TB drive support. The higher-density CLARiiON CX4s have double the capacity of existing systems in half the floorspace, due to a new rack design. They support 2TB SATA …

    Storage 19 Jan 2010, 15:53

  • EC sets deadline for Microsoft bid to buy Yahoo! search biz

    When algorithms go bump in the night

    Antitrust officials in Brussels have set a provisional deadline of 19 February to either greenlight or kibosh Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo!'s search engine business. The European Commission confirmed the date in a list of planned mergers currently being mulled by competition watchdogs that was published yesterday. "The …

    Financial News 19 Jan 2010, 15:54

  • Server maker Verari sparks back into life

    Equity-backed founder retakes the helm

    Say goodbye to Verari Systems, and say hello to Verari Technologies. As El Reg has been chronicling, the boutique blade server and storage maker and provider of containerized data centers hit the financial rocks in early December 2009 and after a few weeks of pondering the options, the handful of top brass left at the firm - …

    Servers 19 Jan 2010, 16:01

  • Berserker Bing bots bring down Perl network

    When spiders attack!

    Misfiring Microsoft search bots managed to render a site used by Perl Testers almost unusable last week. A post on the CPAN Testers' blog reports that its servers were being scanned by "20-30 bots every few seconds", resulting in what developers likened to a denial of service attack. The IP addresses of the bots - which failed …

    Security 19 Jan 2010, 16:17

  • Singapore nightclub offers booze for boobs

    'Fill My Cups' rewards outstanding assets

    A Singapore nightclub has launched an initiative which rewards gals with free booze depending on the size of their chesticles, the China Times reports. The OverEasy club decided to launch its "Fill My Cups" promotion to punt events featuring Oz DJ DCUP. Cheryl Ho, spokeswoman for the venue's owner, explained: "It was really a …

    Bootnotes 19 Jan 2010, 16:31

  • NFC Forum offers video to lure competitors

    While bar-code technology strikes back

    The NFC Forum will be running a webcast tomorrow in an attempt to drum up interest in its annual competition, but the competition to NFC itself is attracting more interest. Near Field Communications continues to be a technology looking for a problem to solve, and the annual competitions aren't providing killer applications in …

    Mobile 19 Jan 2010, 16:47

  • 2010 will be the year of the net tablet, claims analyst

    Apple's right on the money, then?

    Web-connected portable devices will be snapped up by "tens of millions" of people worldwide this year, according to a forecast from industry watcher Deloitte. “NetTabs” – touchscreen tablets primarily designed for web surfing, larger than a smartphone but less than a laptop – may turn out to be “just right” for millions of …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2010, 16:53

  • MS in Xbox 360 ESPN sports show talks

    New channel in the offing?

    Microsoft is in talks with the Walt Disney Company to add sports channel ESPN to the Xbox 360, according to industry insiders. People "close" to the talks between the two firms told The New York Times that Microsoft has held in-depth discussions with Disney. A deal could lead to the launch of an ESPN subscription channel …

    Games 19 Jan 2010, 17:02

  • New service hamstrings Google data hoarding

    All your searches aren't belong to us

    Alarmed by the vast amount of personal information Google collects from its users, a hacker has unveiled an anonymization service that prevents the internet giant from tracking searches and websites visited by a specific individual. Dubbed GoogleSharing, the anonymizing proxy service is designed exclusively for communications …

    Security 19 Jan 2010, 19:07

  • Unisys jettisons Medicare processing biz

    When server suppliers need cash

    Server and outsourcing supplier Unisys - which seems to have been restructuring itself since mainframe makers Sperry and Burroughs were mashed up in 1986 - is rejigging itself once again. This time, the company is selling off its health information management business to raise some cash. Unisys said this morning that Molina …

    Financial News 19 Jan 2010, 19:30

  • AT&T snuffs mobile Facebook security glitch

    Um, that's not my profile

    AT&T says it has resolved a network glitch that caused some mobile customers to log into Facebook accounts belonging to complete strangers. "In a limited number of instances, a server software connectivity error resulted in some AT&T wireless customers being logged into the wrong Facebook account when they accessed Facebook …

    Phones 19 Jan 2010, 19:45

  • MS to issue emergency patch for potent IE vuln

    Researchers show exploits for IE 7 and 8

    Microsoft will release an emergency update that patches the Internet Explorer vulnerability used to breach the security defenses of Google and other large companies. The software maker has said that real-world attacks against the browser continue to be "very limited" and that they're effective only against version 6, which was …

    Security 19 Jan 2010, 20:52

  • IBM bakes Lotus Notes for Android

    Plus Traveler server for Linux

    IBM isn't forgetting about Google's mobile OS after squeezing Lotus Notes onto the iPhone and the BlackBerry. Big Blue has said that an Android-based app for Lotus Notes is now in the works. Deadline: before Microsoft makes its own Android-based app for Exchange. Lotus Notes Traveler Companion, IBM's first application for the …

    Phones 19 Jan 2010, 22:20

  • Windows plagued by 17-year-old privilege escalation bug

    All 32-bit versions vulnerable

    A security researcher at Google is recommending computer users make several configuration changes to protect themselves against a previously unknown vulnerability that allows untrusted users to take complete control of systems running most versions of Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability resides in a feature known as the …

    Security 19 Jan 2010, 23:23

  • Microhoozon calls for un-Google ebook guardian

    The Library of Congress. Not the Library of Google

    Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo!, and other opponents of Google's Book Search settlement have proposed an alternative to the controversial legal pact, calling on the US Congress to appoint a "public guardian" to oversee a national database of digital books. The Open Book Alliance - whose members include the tech trio, Internet …

    Media 19 Jan 2010, 23:35