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27th January 2010 Archive

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  • Cisco sets free video con protocol

    Big enough to share

    Cisco is hoping to expand its reach in video conferencing by giving away a telepresence protocol that allows Cisco kit to communicate with systems from other vendors. The network giant also give a peek at its upcoming consumer telepresence products and announced it's rolling out two new high-end video conferencing endpoints …

    Data Networking 27 Jan 2010, 00:22

  • Google Toolbar caught tracking users when 'disabled'

    We'll ignore this window if you close it

    Google has updated its browser toolbar after the application was caught tracking urls even when specifically "disabled" by the user. In a Monday blog post, Harvard professor and noted Google critic Ben Edelmen provided video evidence of the Google toolbar transmitting data back to the Mountain View Chocolate Factory after he …

    Security 27 Jan 2010, 00:28

  • Yahoo! wows Wall Street with revenue drop

    Only 4% down. Well done

    Yahoo!'s revenues took another fall during the fourth quarter - that's the fifth tumble in a row - but they didn't fall quite as much as expected. The beleaguered web portal reported revenues of $1.73bn during Q4, a 4 per cent drop from a year ago. But that's up 10 per cent from Q3, and it beat the expectations of both the …

    Financial News 27 Jan 2010, 01:05

  • Prolific hacker releases PlayStation exploit

    Some memory-bus corruption required

    On Monday, when we reported that the prolific hacker geohot had successfully penetrated the previously impervious PlayStation 3 gaming console, readers were understandably skeptical. After all, the 20-year-old readily admitted his hack wasn't reliable, and he provided no evidence he was able to do some of the things modders …

    Games 27 Jan 2010, 01:51

  • Avere adds flash to filer accelerator

    Missing tier arrives

    Avere announced its FXT filer accelerator appliance last year with a missing flash storage tier. It's filled that gap with the FXT 2700 adding the flash for extra filer dash. Avere burst onto the network-attached storage (NAS) with a 4-tier architecture FTX NAS accelerator appliance containing DRAM, NVRAM and 15K SAS disk to …

    Storage 27 Jan 2010, 06:02

  • Netezza slims TwinFin analytics appliance

    Skimmer aims low

    Data warehousing appliance maker Netezza has put together a cut-down version of its TwinFin analytics appliance, called Skimmer, to chase midrange customers who do not need the full-tilt-boogie TwinFin setup. The Skimmer appliance is based on the same hardware and software setup that Netezza announced in August 2009 for the …

    Servers 27 Jan 2010, 06:02

  • US book giant confirms Apple tablet

    'It's going to be terrific'

    If there's anyone with an ounce of tech inquisitiveness who doesn't yet believe that Apple will announce a tablet Wednesday morning in San Francisco, take heed: it's just been preannounced by no lesser light than chairman, president, and CEO of publishing giant McGraw-Hill, Terry McGraw. Appearing Tuesday morning on CNBC's …

    Hardware 27 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • Second US man admits DDoS attack on Scientology

    Not so Anonymous after all

    A Nebraska man has admitted he participated in a mass attack last year that briefly brought the Church of Scientology's website to its knees. In a plea agreement signed Friday, Brian Thomas Mettenbrink, 20, said he downloaded custom software from a message board controlled by the anti-Scientology group known as Anonymous with …

    Security 27 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • Gates backs China in Google censorship spat

    Uh, that's just what the Chinese do

    Lovable, huggable ex-monopolist Bill Gates has more often than not found himself batting for China in a recent publicity drive as head of the Gates Foundation. On his way to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the Microsoft-chief-turned philanthropist appears unmoved over China's position on internet censorship after …

    Security 27 Jan 2010, 08:02

  • Kiwi airline adds PC, iPod support

    Hi-tech mile high?

    Gadget-laden long-haul travellers could do worse than fly Air New Zealand, because the Kiwi airline has just equipped its cheapest seats with a plethora of PC and iPod portage. Called a “Skycouch”, the redesigned economy seat features an “entertainment system” comprising a PC power plug, USB connection – probably not USB 3.0, …

    Hardware 27 Jan 2010, 08:44

  • Scott McNealy signs off in style

    Walks into the Sun set

    One of Silicon Valley's last true characters has signed off - Sun founder Scott McNealy has sent a final goodbye memo to his staff. In his own words McNealy is "a big mouth who is always ready with a clever quip" and his swansong email does not disappoint. He said the last four years (since he left the company) had "not been …

    Servers 27 Jan 2010, 08:55

  • Keep a close eye on your subsidiary, says Court of Appeal

    They can run away from parent companies

    A parent company can inadvertently lose control of its subsidiary, according to a ruling by the Court of Appeal. An expert has said that the circumstances in which this will happen are rare but that directors of group companies should mitigate the risks. The ruling concerned the use by one company of its shareholding in …

    Small Biz 27 Jan 2010, 09:02

  • Sun shops unnerved by Oracle Alpha man

    The Larry Factor

    It's open season on customers running Sun Microsystems. On Tuesday -the day before Oracle was due to announce which Sun products it's keeping and their roadmaps - Sun nemesis IBM's tried once more to exploit lingering uncertainty over Sun's products that's been generated by the Oracle purchase. IBM's updated Migration Factory …

    Applications 27 Jan 2010, 09:02

  • Verified by Visa bitchslapped by Cambridge researchers

    More about pushing blame than preventing fraud

    Secondary credit card security systems for online transactions such as Verified by Visa are all about shifting blame rather then curtailing fraud, Cambridge University security researchers argue. The 3D Secure system - branded as either Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode - has become a ubiquitous extra line of security …

    Security 27 Jan 2010, 09:19

  • Samsung ready to sell World+Dog 3D TVs

    Mass-production point reached

    Samsung has begun punching out 3D TVs en masse, the South Korean giant said today, part of its plan to cash in on what the consumer electronics industry hopes will inspire punters to buy a stack of new kit. Samsung's 3D TV (well, one of 'em) and friend (well, one of 'em) Samsung's 3D offerings is comprehensive, taking in …

    Hardware 27 Jan 2010, 10:08

  • Seagate expanding into PCIe flash

    LSI to hop on board alongside

    Seagate is diving into PCIe-connected solid state drives via a partnership with LSI. Currently Seagate makes a Pulsar SSD with a 3Gbit/s SATA interface. It fits in a 2.5-inch hard disk drive slot in a disk drive enclosure. A PCIe-connected SSD fits into a server as a plug-in flash card and that's where LSI comes in. It is …

    Storage 27 Jan 2010, 10:10

  • iPhone OS update sticks customers with premium call bills

    Hard knock for Bubblewrap, Admob tie-up

    A combination of failures has resulted in some iPhone users incurring premium-rate call charges, for calls they didn't know they were making. Punters who downloaded the free, advertising supported Bubblewrap game from Orsome NZ have spotted the application calling premium-rate numbers, and incurring premium-rate charges, …

    Mobile 27 Jan 2010, 10:11

  • Potty mouth hackers pwn TechCrunch (again)

    This time it's personal

    TechCrunch has been hit by potty-mouth hackers for the second time in 24 hours. The second hack (image below) features a foul-mouth rant aimed against site founder Michael Arrington. It also includes a link to the same online smut and warez-peddling Torrents site "promoted" via the previous attack. Arrington, the crackers …

    Security 27 Jan 2010, 10:15

  • O2 axes broadband laptop bundle connection fee

    Two-year subs only

    O2 has zapped the connection fee it charges punters taking out a mobile broadband subscription with a new laptop. The catch is that it's only offering a two-year contract, so you'll be paying between £25 and £40 a month for your connection and free laptop, depending on the model you choose and the airtime package you prefer. …

    Broadband 27 Jan 2010, 10:28

  • Science czar calls for openness on climate questions

    Reveal the things we know we don't know

    The government's chief scientific adviser John Beddington has called for openness and honesty in the debate over man-made climate change. He said climate scientists should release the data behind their predictions and be less hostile to those who disagree with them. He said that more openness about the uncertainties of climate …

    Science 27 Jan 2010, 10:30

  • Swiss computing lab offers free bug-immunity tool

    Clouds, browsers can self-debug without help, says prof

    Federal boffins in Switzerland say they have developed a new, freely-downloadable tool which acts as an "immune system" to fight bugs in cloud software. The software, developed in the Dependable Systems lab at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), is called "Dimmunix". Its developers, led by lab chief George …

    Virtualization 27 Jan 2010, 10:32

  • Government IT strategy confirms savings target

    Pulls £3.2 billion per year out of its hat

    The Cabinet Office has launched the new Government ICT Strategy with the claim it will save £3.2bn per year from 2013-14. The document, published on 27 January 2010, brings together the initiatives launched over the past year in what it describes as a plan for a "smarter, cheaper and greener public sector ICT infrastructure …

    Government 27 Jan 2010, 10:48

  • MPs demand UK government end secrecy over ACTA

    International plan of mystery

    MPs across the political spectrum are demanding that the UK government should release details regarding ongoing international negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). As we reported last week, UK.gov refused to give MPs access to papers on talks about copyright enforcement on the web and at national …

    Government 27 Jan 2010, 11:22

  • HTC Hero to get Android 2.1 update in March

    Delayed again?

    Looking forward to the release of Android 2 for the HTC Hero smartphone? Bad news: it may not appear until March, a month or so after the anticipated February delivery date. So says a representative of Irish network Meteor who claims to have heard it from the horse's mouth. HTC's Hero: successor out before original updated …

    Phones 27 Jan 2010, 11:27

  • Home Office says 'no decision' yet on sex offender disclosure

    Government may actually benefit for once

    The News of the World appears to have jumped the gun with its "exclusive" report that the government now intends to roll out "Sarah’s Law", with the Home Office officially declaring no such decision has been taken. At the same time, the paper has overlooked the rather larger embarrassment that a supposedly confidential report …

    Government 27 Jan 2010, 11:50

  • Playmobil throws down animation gauntlet

    Fan films inspire stop-motion challenge

    The El Reg Bootnotes department's toy manufacturer of choice, Playmobil, has agreeably invited fans to pitch their best miniature animation efforts for the chance to secure £500 and a year's supply of the company's products. Playmobil launched the challenge at the Toy Fair in London, having apparently been rather impressed by …

    Bootnotes 27 Jan 2010, 11:53

  • Microsoft hit with cash-for-Points lawsuit

    Lawyer cries fraud over Xbox Live download payments

    Microsoft is facing a class-action lawsuit over the way it charges for digital content served up by Xbox Live. Samuel Lassoff, a lawyer from Horsham, Philadelphia, last week filed a complaint against the software giant. He told the US District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania that Microsoft breached its contract with users such …

    Games 27 Jan 2010, 11:53

  • Amateur CCTV sleuth site probed by privacy watchdog

    ICO is very definitely watching the watchers

    A new website that would let internet users monitor CCTV cameras online has hit trouble before launch, with the data protection watchdog suggesting the idea could be illegal. Internet Eyes, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, plans to charge businesses £20 per month to have their security camera feeds monitored by its members, who …

    Law 27 Jan 2010, 12:09

  • Nokia N97 Mini

    Review Size matters?

    Nokia’s Symbian-driven N97 smart phone came out in the summer to rather mixed reviews, with most people praising its feature count, but finding it a bit of a pain to use. Now comes the N97 Mini, a little (but not a lot) smaller than the original N97, and with most of its feature count intact, including its 5Mp camera, HSDPA 3G, …

    Phones 27 Jan 2010, 12:26

  • Toshiba looks ahead, sees a 14TB disk

    Comment Sifting through the bit pattern

    Earlier this month Toshiba researchers presented a couple of papers concerning bit-patterned media (BPM) and associated head technologies at a Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Intermag conference in Washington DC. They have been working towards an areal density of 5Tbit/sq in for hard disk drives and this was by way of a …

    Storage 27 Jan 2010, 12:36

  • EMC blows CIFS benchmark away

    But shies away from NFS

    EMC has blown a CIFS benchmark away with a result 2.7 times better than the previous record, but why is it bothering? The only other suppliers on the list are Apple, Fujitsu and Silicon Graphics. The benchmark is the SPECsfs2008 CIFS file access benchmark. There is a similar benchmark for NFS which is much more popular in …

    Storage 27 Jan 2010, 12:41

  • California school pulls 'oral sex' dictionary

    Merriam-Webster too explicit for wide-eyed kiddies

    A California school last week pulled the Merriam-Webster 10th edition dictionary from fourth and fifth-grade classrooms, after one parent "complained about a child stumbling across definitions for 'oral sex'". The Menifee Union School District moved with lightning speed to protect Oak Meadows Elementary School's nine and ten- …

    Bootnotes 27 Jan 2010, 12:44

  • Nokia cuts down X6 handset

    Comes without music

    Nokia is pushing out a cut-down version of its flagship X6 handset, halving the memory size to 16GB but also dropping the deal that provided free music to fill it. The X6 was Nokia's "Comes With Music" handset - unavailable without the free-music bundle and priced to incorporate the expected cost of unlimited downloads, even …

    Mobile 27 Jan 2010, 13:13

  • Apple granted multi-tap detecting tablet patent

    How to do multi-touch circa 2005

    Apple was yesterday granted a patent giving it ownership of a method by which tablet devices can detect how close users' fingers and thumbs are. Dubbed 'Proximity Detector for Tablets', US patent number 7,653,883 describes how sensors may be used to look for approaching digits and pop up appropriate user interface elements …

    Hardware 27 Jan 2010, 13:24

  • UK.gov tweaks open source policy small print

    Enforce or fall on own sword, warns Ingres

    The UK government has rejigged its open source and open standards software procurement policy, following pressure from OSS vendors last autumn. Early last year the Cabinet Office revised its rules on public sector open source software purchases, but many OSS players complained that the policy amendments didn’t go far enough. …

    Operating Systems 27 Jan 2010, 13:32

  • Airships can defeat roadside bombers, says ex-US officer

    'ILLEGAL foot-dragging by air force kills our troops'

    An ex-US air force officer has said that unmanned spy airships capable of defeating terrorist/insurgent bombers could have been in service years ago, saving many lives among US and allied troops. He says that the technology was "illegally" sidelined by senior officers determined to preserve satellite and aircraft budgets. Ed …

    Science 27 Jan 2010, 14:15

  • Compulsory perv scanners upset everyone

    The European Court of Human Rights is going to love this

    The debate over use of scanners in UK airports is rapidly turning into knock-about farce, as the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) takes a firm stand on some people’s right to privacy – whilst government disrespects everyone’s rights and prepares to hand over loads more dosh when it eventually loses the argument at the …

    Government 27 Jan 2010, 14:25

  • Near-field comms gets 'peer-to-peer' data sharing spec

    NFC gadgets to swap info at a touch

    Devices that support near-field communications (NFC) now have a way to exchange information. The NFC Forum this week published a specification for "bi-directional communications between NFC-compliant devices". The peer-to-peer technology is called the Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) and it allows the two devices to send …

    Broadband 27 Jan 2010, 15:09

  • Spanish town to reward good drivers

    By giving them the fines from crap ones

    The Spanish town of Puigcerdà has come up with a novel way of rewarding those drivers who behave themselves: give them the cash which was collected in fines from those who don't. The objective of the cunning plan is, according to mayor Joan Planella, "to get people to drive better and to show residents that respecting the law …

    Bootnotes 27 Jan 2010, 15:16

  • Which? warns on pirate letters

    Ambulance chasers chasing wrong ambulances

    Consumer organisation Which? said it has received over 150 enquiries from people who believe they have been wrongly accused of pirating copyrighted content. ACS:Law sends out letters offering to settle the file-sharing accusation in exchange for £500. The company gets its information from internet service providers. The …

    Law 27 Jan 2010, 15:28

  • Power-brick maker touts... colour e-book reader

    Yours to buy - 10,000 pcs minimum - in Q2

    A company you have (probably) never heard of is working on a 13in colour e-book reader it hopes to sell to companies you (probably) have heard of. The manufacturer is Delta Electronics, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer whose name is likely to be unknown to you unless you're the sort of geek who reads the writing on AC adaptor …

    Hardware 27 Jan 2010, 15:43

  • Microsoft 'offered sex and drugs to distributors'

    And the problem is?

    As sales incentives go it's pretty extreme: one of Microsoft's Israeli distributors is claiming Microsoft offered resellers women for sex on a cruise ship. The distributor, EIM Computerized Technologies, made the revelations about the alleged activities in papers filed with the Tel Aviv District Court. The story in the Globes …

    The Channel 27 Jan 2010, 15:47

  • Phantom app risk used to bait scareware trap

    The non-threat with no name

    Scareware scammers are staking advantage of rumours about an "unnamed app" that supposedly poses a security risk to Facebook users in order to trick users into sites slinging rogue security software packages. Searching on Google for the term "Facebook unnamed app" leads to numerous hacker-poisoned search engine results …

    Security 27 Jan 2010, 16:15

  • We7 goes after Spotify with iPhone app, subs

    Aims for the Big Time

    Free ad-supported streaming music company We7 is joining the crowded subscription market and launching its own iPhone app next week. It's competitively priced with younger rival Spotify. Two new tiers will both provide access to a 4m song catalogue. The £4.99 monthly tier removes the ads, while a £9.99 a month Premium Plus …

    Mobile 27 Jan 2010, 16:20

  • Negroponte sends broken OLPC laptops to Haiti

    Relief for Haiti - relief for OLPC owners

    Tragedy-struck Haiti is bracing itself for a new wave of woe: a consignment of broken OLPC laptops. "75% of the schools in Port-au-Prince have been destroyed in the recent earthquake, but by good fortune, none of our Haitian team was hurt. They have spare parts and OLPC technical staff and teachers, and stand prepared to …

    Hardware 27 Jan 2010, 16:22

  • Larry to take integrated Sunacle direct to CIOs

    Oracle reveals its surprisingly reasonable plans for Sun

    All the talk of layoffs at Sun Microsystems in the wake of the $7.4bn acquisition of the company by Oracle was apparently a bunch of hogwash. Prior to a five-hour extravaganza where Oracle and Sun executives will detail roadmaps and plans in the wake of the merger, Oracle chief executive officer, Larry Ellison, made the rounds …

    Servers 27 Jan 2010, 16:25

  • Rubber Duck banned from txt

    Wev gt rslves a cnvy

    Drivers of vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds have been banned from sending text messages while driving in the US, in a move welcomed by everyone. The new rule, which comes from from the US Department of Transport, applies to commercial trucks and buses. If you're driving your rig for fun then you're OK to text and …

    Mobile 27 Jan 2010, 17:04

  • South African Police reveal Apple tablet photos

    11 varieties, MDMA support

    The South African Police Service has released photos of the Apple tablet, well ahead of the Steve Jobs press conference scheduled for this morning in San Francisco. According to a page on the SAPS website, the South African police have uncovered 11 different varieties of the tablet, spanning multiple colors and sizes. …

    Bootnotes 27 Jan 2010, 17:41

  • Apple iPad spanked with Defective by Design protest

    'Entering Apple restriction zone'

    Not everyone is drooling about Apple's soon-to-be-launched tablet. Members of the anti-DRM group Defective by Design were protesting Wednesday morning outside Apple's tighty controlled launch event, handing out cards mocking Apple's invitation, with Apple's tagline "Come see our latest creation" replaced with "Come see our …

    Media 27 Jan 2010, 18:11

  • Oracle promises golden trip to yesteryear on Sun

    Like 1960s IBM. But 'open'

    Oracle's promised to take computing back to the 1960s by investing in Sun Microsystems' products and integrating them with its own software. Calling IBM the "gold-standard" for stable and reliable computing during those early days, Oracle president Charles Philips said Wednesday morning that his company would achieve its goal …

    Software 27 Jan 2010, 18:41

  • Steve Jobs uncloaks the 'iPad'

    Updated World continues to revolve around sun

    Steve Jobs has announced Apple's long-awaited tablet - now officially named the iPad, as The Reg had predicted - at a media circus Wednesday morning in the 757-seat Novellus Theater at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The Reg will offer its considered analysis of what Jobs called "a truly magical and …

    Media 27 Jan 2010, 18:49

  • Ubuntu Firefox shuns Google for Yahoo! search

    Microsoft to fund Linux development

    The next release of Ubuntu will scrap Google as the default search engine on its Firefox browser in favor of Yahoo!, thanks to a new revenue-sharing deal between Yahoo! and commercial Ubuntu backer Canonical. With regulators set to approve Yahoo!'s search pact with Microsoft, this means that Redmond will power the future of …

    Applications 27 Jan 2010, 21:09

  • Oracle in MySQL, OpenOffice autonomy vow

    You will take our extensions

    The employees of MySQL are a truly blessed people. As with Sun Microsystems before it, Oracle has vowed to leave its sales and development team independent and intact. Edward Screven, Oracle's chief corporate architect, said Wednesday that Sun's MySQL independent sales force and development teams will be retained inside the …

    Applications 27 Jan 2010, 21:10

  • eBay refiddles with auction fees

    Free listings, higher sale charge

    eBay is making more changes to its already profoundly confusing US pricing structure as a way to attract high volume sellers and appease those who auction only a few low-priced items. The online tat house charges sellers twice per successful auction. There's an “insertion fee" to list an item on the website and a “final value …

    Media 27 Jan 2010, 21:48

  • IE Windows vuln coughs up local files

    One click bares entire C drive

    If you use any version of Internet Explorer to surf Twitter or other Web 2.0 sites, Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina can probably read the entire contents of your primary hard drive. The security consultant at Core Security said his attack works by clicking on a single link that exploits a chain of weaknesses in IE and Windows. Once …

    Security 27 Jan 2010, 21:53

  • Apple's iPad - fat iPhone without the phone

    Comment The tablet that can't multitask

    Steve Jobs succeeded in surprising no one. The Apple CEO took to a San Francisco stage Wednesday morning to announce Apple's latest effort to change the face of mobile computing, and even the device's name was no surprise. The Reg first dubbed Apple's impending tablet the "iPad" last October. Essentially a beefed-up iPod touch …

    Hardware 27 Jan 2010, 23:01

  • Ellison to recruit thousands for Sun integration army

    Linux needs to grow up

    Larry Ellison has promised jobs for Sun Microsystems' existing employees and an expansion in their ranks, along with instant profits for his shareholders. Oracle's chief executive on Wednesday claimed that - far from laying off beleaguered Sun employees - his company would be hiring 2,000 additional people during the next few …

    Applications 27 Jan 2010, 23:16