9th February 2010 Archive

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Conficker outbreak infects Leeds hospital servers

Updated Sicko

Servers on the network of NHS Leeds were struck down by the Conficker worm late last week. The malware infection struck on Friday and forced administrators to take a handful of infected servers offline, in phases, in order to apply deworming tools. Trust PCs were not infected by the attack, which a leaked memo (extract below) …

Enterprise Security 9 Feb 00:25
Adobe apologizes for festering Flash crash bug

16 months...and counting

An Adobe product manager has apologized for allowing a potentially serious bug in Flash Player to remain unfixed for more than 16 months. The admission, by Emmy Huang, product manager for Flash, came a week after Apple CEO Steve Jobs lambasted Adobe engineers as "lazy" and said when Macs crash, "more often than not it’s because …

Security 9 Feb 00:33
Ex-Intel exec pleads guilty to insider trading

Admits outing Intel earnings, WiMAX plans

Former Intel executive Rajiv Goel has pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy and securities fraud in connection with the Galleon insider trading case. Goel is the tenth person to plead guilty in the case, which the FBI and the US attorney's office in Manhattan call the largest hedge fund inside trading case in US history …

Financial News 9 Feb 00:35
Sun's cloud and gaming execs leave Oracle

Kenai reprieved

Oracle's chief Larry Ellison recently promised he'll be hiring more staff than he'll be letting go from Sun Microsystems. But he is letting Sun staff go, and now that the Sunacle deal has closed, it's becoming clear just where Oracle's priorities lie. Among the departed is chief technology officer for Sun's relatively new …

Business 9 Feb 05:45
AMD talks energy with 'Llano' cores

Ceepie-geepie cold Fusion

While Intel is talking up its "Westmere" CPUs and their graphics co-processing, which puts a 45 nanometer graphics chip and memory controller inside the same chip package as a two-core Core processor implemented using 32 nanometer processes, rival AMD wants to change the subject to a truly integrated, single-chip CPU/GPU …

PCs & Chips 9 Feb 06:02
Delayed Visual Studio 2010 RC due this week

Trimmer fit

The delayed next edition of Microsoft's Visual Studio is due as a release candidate by the end of this week. The release of Visual Studio 2010 was announced on the Visual Studio Lab Management team blog here, with the news the Lab Management RC would also be available later this week. According to the blog: "We have taken a …

Developer 9 Feb 07:02
OpenOffice is the new David Hasselhoff

Big in Germany. Not so big in Blighty

A new study from German web analytics firm Webmasterpro.de shows that adoption rates of open source productivity software suites swings wildly between different countries. According to the study, over 20 per cent of Germans, Czechs, and Poles run OpenOffice or other open-source productivity suites, while the UK and US lag …

Applications 9 Feb 07:02
Intel's 'Tukwila' Itaniums - hot n' pricey

Analysis How much for an upgrade?

As El Reg duly reported earlier today, Intel took the wraps off its long awaited and many times tweaked "Tukwila" quad-core Itanium 9300 processors for midrange and high-end servers. But let's take a look at the feeds and speeds of the chip itself and how the lineup compared to the prior Itanium 9100 series. There are five …

Servers 9 Feb 08:02
Shopping sites boost customer savvy

And improve legal compliance, says OFT

Internet shoppers are more aware of their rights and more online retailers are complying with consumer protection laws than previously, according to studies by consumer protection regulator the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT has carried out a survey of online shoppers and a study of online retail sites in a follow up to …

Small Biz 9 Feb 08:02
New cig peril: Third-hand smoke coats puffers in poison

Deadly 'electronic gaspers' fingered, too

US federal boffins in Berkeley, California say they have discovered yet another deadly hazard associated with smoking. They also raise warnings regarding the perils associated with electronic cigarettes. The dangers of actually smoking a cigarette, and those from breathing a smoker's "second hand" smoke were well-known: but …

Physics 9 Feb 08:42
China jails porn-monger

Crackdown continues

China's aggressive crackdown on internet smut and dissent continues - yesterday a man was sentenced to 13 years prison for renting a US server for distributing pornographic material Huang Yizhong, from Jiangmen, was fined 100,000 yuan (£9,400) and sentenced to 13 years for copying and distributing pornographic material. He …

Bootnotes 9 Feb 09:17
IPS's double IT has risks, says commissioner

Doing a good job nevertheless, he controversially adds

Identity commissioner Sir Joseph Pilling has expressed concerns about the Identity and Passport Service's two-stage approach to its core technology. "The IPS have gone for what they call a tactical and a strategic solution to the IT demands of running an ID scheme in this country," he told the Security Document World …

Government 9 Feb 10:09
Heathrow 777 crash: Ice to blame

Final AAIB report confirms earlier fuel feed conclusion

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has released its final report into the 17 January 2008 crash-landing of a Boeing 777 at London's Heathrow, confirming its earlier interim conclusion that ice in the fuel feed system caused the incident. BA038 (G-YMMM), flying in after a routine flight from Beijing, suffered reduced …

Science 9 Feb 10:42
Google forced to use humans to support Nexus One

Cuts get out fee for T-Mobile contract too

Google has opened up a US support number that will be answered by a human being, as well as tweaking the small print to make its mobile phone more attractive. Not that Mountain View will be providing technical support as such, only enquiries into the ordering and shipping process will be dealt with by Google - everything else …

Mobile 9 Feb 10:53
Tories will force BT to open up ducts to rivals

BT already prepping for broadband colonoscopy

The Tories continued their 21st Century bread and circuses election campaign yesterday, pledging once again to jack-up broadband speeds in the UK. This time, Jeremy Hunt, the party's culture spokesman, told the FT that a Tory government would force BT to open its cable ducts to rivals to speed the rollout of new networks - a …

Telecoms 9 Feb 11:20
Mozilla becomes latest to dump Mac OS X 10.4 support

Tiger, tiger, losing fight

Mozilla will ditch support for Apple’s aged Mac OSX 10.4 - AKA Tiger - when it releases the next version of its Gecko rendering engine. The open source browser maker plans to push out Gecko 1.9.3 later this year, and at the same time support for Tiger will be dropped altogether, even though the Mozilla Foundation estimates …

Applications 9 Feb 11:29
SAP serenely promises to be less bad

You know all that stuff we did? We won't do that again

German software giant SAP has promised to be less bad under its new leadership after losing its chief executive on Sunday. SAP's chairman Hasso Plattner admitted the company had made mistakes, especially in ramping up maintenance fees. The rises started in 2008, for new customers, despite user anger and the company failing to …

Applications 9 Feb 11:44
Safer Internet Day fights online foolhardiness

Kids get CEOP IE - rest of you can look after yourselves

Young surfers are being encouraged to practise safe computing and use common sense online on Safer Internet Day today. Safer Internet Day is a worldwide user education initiative designed to "promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people". The …

ID 9 Feb 11:50
LG preps 'smallest, thinnest' touchphone

Mini very pocketable, apparently

LG made a big deal last year about how small its Pop touchphone is despite featuring a 3in display. Now it's trying again. It has announced the Mini, a similarly svelte device but this time boast a 3.2in, 16:9 aspect ratio screen. LG's Mini: 3.2in, 16:9 touchscreen to the fore The Mini - aka the GD880 - is the "the smallest …

Reg Hardware 9 Feb 11:53
Server virtualisation beyond the x86 environment

Lab Is the virtual life outside of x86?

Register readers have told us (pdf) that the virtualisation of significant portions of your x86 server estates are major project areas in which you plan to invest both money and, much more importantly, your time. This is all well and good, but as everyone in IT understands, x86 servers are not the only platforms in town. So …

Virtualisation Lab 9 Feb 12:11
iPad launch raises awareness, boosts disinterest

Not a must-have, but still a shift-loads

A follow-up survey from Retrevo has found that while a lot more people have heard of the iPad since the launch, fewer of those people are planning to buy one. Just prior to the launch of the iPad Retrevo randomly asked a thousand of its users if they'd heard of Apple's new tablet thing, and if they thought they'd be buying one …

Mobile 9 Feb 12:14
Samsung Omnia Pro

Review For business and pleasure?

Samsung clearly has high hopes for its latest round of Windows Mobile-powered Omnia smartphones. The Omnia II was a significant improvement over last year's original, due in no small part to Windows Mobile 6.5, which offers a big leap in usability over previous editions of WinMo. The Omnia Pro maintains a high level of …

Reg Hardware 9 Feb 12:16
Touchscreens take lead in smartphone biz

Bumper year for finger-friendly phones

The world's smartphone makers shipped more touchscreen models in Q4 2009 than at any time in the past - and more touchphones than devices with buttons. During the quarter, 55 per cent of all smartphones shipped had touchscreens. That's just under 30m touchscreen handsets altogether, market watcher Canalys said today. …

Reg Hardware 9 Feb 12:22
Jedi chapter seeks leader after master resigns

Surrey feels a great disturbance in the force

Surrey's nascent Jedi community is looking for a new leader after the incumbent, Master Ajac, was forced to step down for health reasons. The Surrey Advertiser reports that the 25 strong group is looking for someone with "a background in martial arts and a deep understanding of the teachings of the Jedi, the religion featured …

Bootnotes 9 Feb 12:27
Battlefield skyhook robocopter 'passes US Marines' test'

Intermesh droidchopper can deliver supplies hands-off

The deadline for makers to bring forward unmanned skyhook robocopters - intended to move battlefield supplies in Afghanistan as soon as this year - is upon us, and one team at least is claiming a successful demonstration. Now available without that heavy, expensive, moaning pilot US defence colossus Lockheed, teamed with …

Science 9 Feb 13:24
Gmail to get real~~time~~ with Web2.0rhea makeover?

Plans to turn email service into Twitter, Facebook wannabe

Google is reportedly readying social networking features for Gmail in an effort to imitate Web2.0rhea vanguards Facebook and Twitter. Pushing aside Google Wave, which Mountain View is apparently beavering away at separately, the firm plans to slot a stream of status updates from online chums directly into Gmail. According to …

Applications 9 Feb 13:26
Iranian net slows to a crawl before planned protests

Shipping tests immoral fibre

Iranian authorities have blamed fibre-optic network damage for a convenient slow-down in net connection speeds in the country this week. The slow-down comes suspiciously close to planned opposition demos, timed to coincide with the 11 February anniversary of the Iranian revolution. Opposition groups, supported by many in the …

Government 9 Feb 13:27
Cultists aquiver as Applestore goes into hibernation

Rumour mill grinds out video iPad, 'taller' iPhone

The Applestore went dead this morning, sending Mac cultists into a frenzy of speculation over what goodies Saint Steve might shower upon them later today. The store's petit mort came as just ahead of the opening of Macworld 2010 in San Francisco - not that Steve or anyone else from Apple plans to make an appearance there this …

PCs & Chips 9 Feb 13:31
Global gov's shrugging lets cybercrims frolic

Comment Sex and drugs and Rickrolling in Madrid

Someone will have to die before governments take cybercrime as seriously as they take digital piracy, a panel on cybercrime and internet security was told last week. US-based investigative journalists met local industry representatives for a debate in Madrid last Thursday evening. Brian Krebs, investigative journalist and …

Crime 9 Feb 13:56
Nvidia launches dual-GPU tech for notebooks

Hybrid graphics done properly

Nvidia reckons it has finally cracked the problem of smoothly swapping between graphics chips in notebooks that have more than one GPU. Today, it launched its solution, which it has branded Optimus. Now, we're not talking two or more GPUs configured in SLI mode for greater graphics performance. Optimus addresses the use of a …

Reg Hardware 9 Feb 14:02
Mobile games developers shift to iPhone

Not good news for PSP or DS

More games developers are working on content for mobile phones - and a big majority are targeting the iPhone. There are twice as many developers working on iPhone games as there are creators of titles for the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. So says market watcher Game Developer Research, an off-shoot of Games Developer magazine …

Reg Hardware 9 Feb 14:07
Street View ~~spymobile~~ snowmobile prowls Winter Olympics

All-seeing eye takes to the pistes

Google has unveiled some fetching views of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics sites, courtesy of a snowmobile equipped with Street View's all-seeing eye. The games kick off on Friday, but those of you who prefer to experience snow from the comfort of your PC can enjoy the sights including the snowmobile's sinister shadow …

Bootnotes 9 Feb 14:35
Labour Party told to stop spam-calls

While Tory MP hunts for missing emails

The Information Commissioner's Office has told the Labour Party to stop using automated telephone diallers to contact people without their permission. In 2007 the party used a recorded message from Corrie's Vera Duckworth - or rather Liz Dawn, the actress who played her - to rally voters for the elections. The ICO received …

Law 9 Feb 14:40
YouTube use makes up 10% of mobile data

FTP heading the same way as GOPHER

Analysis of mobile traffic during the second half of 2009 shows YouTube accounting for a tenth of all data consumed on the move, but P2P is still clogging cells. Analysis from Allot Communications, providers of network optimisation for operators, shows that streaming over HTTP is the application of choice for today's mobile …

Mobile 9 Feb 15:14
PureDepth grabs no-specs 3D OLED tech

Looking beyond the active-shutter era

PureDepth, a US company that holds a stack of intellectual property covering multi-layer displays, has added the use of OLED technology to its roster of patents. The company this week said it has acquired - how much for, it didn't say - US patent 6,720,961, which details how two or more OLED panels can be placed one on top of …

Reg Hardware 9 Feb 15:39
Canadian cops taser 'naked and agitated' man

Baton, dog and pepper spray fail to do the trick

Cops in Victoria, British Columbia, were obliged to taser a "naked and extremely agitated" man after a baton, a dog and pepper spray failed to subdue the belligerent perp. Police responded to a call on Saturday night reporting a male in his 20s "yelling at a woman trying to park her car in her driveway", the Victoria Times …

Bootnotes 9 Feb 15:40
Buster's World gives Guardian Professional balloon-sized headache

Supplier coughs to DirectgovKids porno branding blunder

The website supplier responsible for the DirectgovKids porno brand name gaffe that we first reported late last week has admitted it failed to spot the clanger when searching for the name via Google. Guardian Professional, which currently supplies the DirectgovKids site and its content, created an unfortunate brand name - …

Bootnotes 9 Feb 15:55
Avatar whups Confucius's sorry ass

Eastern philosophy no match for 3-D wizardry

Sci-fi epic Avatar has administered a righteous kicking at the Chinese box office to a locally-produced film about the life of Confucius - despite the authorities' reported attempt to ensure the home-grown product's success. Historical drama Confucius has taken a mere 97 million yuan ($14m) since its release on 22 January, and …

Entertainment 9 Feb 16:12
Nasuni provides cloud-based filer

Just add storage

Startup Nasuni says it has cracked the problem of storing files directly in the cloud with a software virtual NAS appliance. The Nasuni filer is software that provides a CIFS and NFS gateway interface to files stored in the cloud and looks like a regular network-attached storage (NAS) filer to applications and servers. It …

Storage 9 Feb 16:15
PayPal suspends India service

Why? Mind your own business

PayPal, eBay's payment system, has suspended all payments to personal accounts in India. In fact the online payment service took the action on Saturday, but its UK arm still doesn't know how long the suspension is likely to last. A blog post says personal payments and transfers to Indian banks have been suspended "while we …

Financial News 9 Feb 16:16
Riverbed WAN optimizers get SSDs, 10 GE

3X throughput, 2X connections

WAN optimization appliance maker Riverbed Technology has taken the wraps off its Steelhead 7050 boxes, which sport the first solid state disks used in such an appliance as well as 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports on the data center side and over 1 Gb/sec of WAN bandwidth on the wide side. The Steelhead 7050s come in two flavors. Both …

Data Networking 9 Feb 19:46
Upstart crimeware wages turf war on mighty Zeus bot

All your bots belong to us

Purveyors of a new botnet toolkit are touting a feature aimed at aspiring cybercriminals: the opportunity to commandeer computers already compromised by an established crimeware package known as Zeus. The SpyEye toolkit made its debut in December on Russian underground forums with a retail price of $500. It comes with usual …

Malware 9 Feb 19:48
Cisco and Juniper armed for wireless showdown

The Falcon has (kinda) landed

The industry's two largest network vendors will be dueling on wireless with competing wares on display at the Mobile World Congress in Spain next week. Juniper Networks will demonstrate some fruits of its Project Falcon mobile push announced in late 2009, while Cisco will burn its brand on a 4G LTE gateway obtained from its $2 …

Wireless 9 Feb 20:25
Google Buzz - Gmail mod for the Tweetbook set

Looking for relevance in Web2.0rhea

Google has updated Gmail with a "social networking" add-on dubbed Google Buzz, a tool for sharing personal info with others à la Facebook and Twitter. The company has also introduced a mobile version at buzz.google.com - available on the iPhone and Google's own Android platform - and it provides hooks into service from the …

Music and Media 9 Feb 21:11
IBM gives birth to 'wire-speed' processor

ISSCC Neither server fish nor network fowl

IBM has introduced a new chip design that sits somewhere between a network processor and server processor. Dubbed the Wire-Speed Power Processor, the chip is aimed at what IBM calls "new, evolving markets in the system industry." Applications include edge-of-network processing, intelligent I/O for servers and network attached …

Servers 9 Feb 21:17
Feds say dev's 'cookie-stuffer' app fleeced eBay

'Saucekit' milked referral program

A Las Vegas web developer has been charged with fleecing eBay out of tens of thousands of dollars by selling a program that planted fraudulent web cookies on the PCs of people visiting the online auctioneer. Dubbed saucekit, the program deposited a cookie on end users' hard drives that contained a unique code identifying …

Crime 9 Feb 22:05
IBM chills sealed data center with outside air

Ambient air water tank cooling

If you want to be a player in cloud computing, you have to build data centers. Server maker IBM probably thinks it will sell a lot more internal cloud than external cloud, but it realized that customers will want a mix of public and hosted cloud infrastructure to run their workloads. Hence, IBM has shelled out $362m to build a …

Servers 9 Feb 22:21
Hitachi inks Xsigo pact for server I/O virt

Be like Dell

Xsigo Systems, which peddles an in-band I/O virtualization appliance for servers and their storage and networks, has inked a partnership deal with Japanese server and storage maker Hitachi. Hitachi is looking for some kind of leverage for pushing its storage and servers, and Xsigo's VP780 I/O Director helps fill in some gaps …

Servers 9 Feb 22:54