19th February 2010 Archive

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CrackBerry mimics Jesus Phone with WebKit browser

Like Apple. But 'network efficient'

Research in Motion has uncloaked a WebKit-based browser for the BlackBerry, tapping the same open-source rendering engine that underpins browsers on the Apple iPhone, Google Android mobile operating system, Palm webOS, and the Symbian OS. RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis demoed the browser this week at the Mobile World Congress in …

Mobile 19 Feb 00:32
Dell's profits shrink as revenue grows

Blame cheap PCs

Profits for Dell - the world's third-largest computer seller by shipments - declined 4.8 per cent during its fiscal fourth quarter despite an increase in sales for each of its business units. Steeper component costs were part of the problem. Plus, cheaper consumer PCs accounted for a larger percentage of sales. Dell's net …

Financial News 19 Feb 00:40
Engineers sweat Oracle's Sun-Java integration promise

The Devil inside JRockit and HotSpot

Oracle's top brass might have committed to merging its Java technology with that of Sun Microsystems but the specifics are still being worked out. The plan on how to merge Oracle's JRockit Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and Sun's HotSpot JVM is "still evolving", Oracle principal engineer Mark Reinhold has said. Leads from two JVM …

Developer 19 Feb 06:02
IBM betas click-recording Firefox add-on

Scripted web surfing

IBM Labs has squeezed out a beta version of a Firefox add-on that records a user's online activities so they can be repeated automatically or be printed out for others as step-by-step instructions. Concocted by IBM Almaden Research Center, the CoScripter Reusable History add-on is designed to reduce repetitive browser-based …

Music and Media 19 Feb 07:02
Microsoft chucks bargain bin at world's youth

Empowers IEEE tots with Windows of yesteryear

How does Microsoft tempt students into its development tools bandwagon? By parking it outside the school yard and promising free love and software to the tiny tots. The Redmond giant is teaming up with industry standards body the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to give its student members gratis access …

Applications 19 Feb 07:02
Samsung N220

Review Will this 2G Atom netbook give the Eee a hiding?

Ever since Samsung released its first netbook in 2008 - it was the NC10 - it’s been churning out new models like there’s no tomorrow. And with the recent arrival of Intel’s second-gen Atom 'Pine Trail' platform, it’s no surprise Samsung has taken the opportunity to get some new netbooks to market. Matte screen fans, rejoice! …

reghardware 19 Feb 08:02
No quick decision on Google books deal

Madoff judge wants more time

Judge Denny Chin, best known for overseeing the Bernie Madoff trial, said yesterday he would not be rushing into judgement in the Google books hearing. Chin said: "To end the suspense, I'm not going to rule today. There's just too much to digest. And however I come out, I want an opinion that explains my reasoning." The court …

Law 19 Feb 09:29
3 gets Desire

HTC's new Android phone on O2 too?

It's not just Orange - mobile phone network 3 is to offer HTC's Android-based Desire smartphone too. So is O2, we understand, though the cellco hasn't yet formally announced as much. Orange announced earlier this week it will offer the Desire in April. For its part, 3 is simply saying "spring 2010". HTC's Desire: out on …

reghardware 19 Feb 09:40
T-Mobile intros compact Android smartphone

Pulse Mini debuts

T-Mobile is gearing up to release its second pay-as-you-go Android smartphone: the Huawei-made Pulse Mini. Set to be priced at £100, the 2.8in touchsreen-equipped handset runs Android 2.1. There's a 3.2Mp camera on the back. T-Mobile's Pulse Mini: Android 2.1 on board The Pulse Mini uses Micro SDHC cards for storage, and …

reghardware 19 Feb 09:53
HP stacks up QLogic

Switches attention away from Cisco

HP is to OEM QLogic's stackable 5800 Fibre Channel switch, which is making QLogic quite excited. HP will sell an SN6000 product. This is sourced from QLogic's 5800, an 8-port, 8Gbit/s Fibre Channel (FC) base switch, which can have up to five additional switches stacked on it using 10Gbit/s inter-switch links (ISLs). As each …

HPC 19 Feb 10:11
More questions over biometric ID cards and national security

Copying of passports Israel problem for the IPS

In the last ten days we have learnt that “persons unknown” stole the identity of British citizens and cloned modern UK passports to enter Dubai to perform an assassination. Last week, the Foreign Secretary got up in the House of Commons to say that his legal action before the Court of Appeal was to protect intelligence vital to …

ID 19 Feb 10:35
1.3 million phones found down back of the sofa in UK

Although not all in the same one, obviously

More than half of mobiles reported stolen in the UK later turn up down the back of the sofa or somewhere similar, according to the UK Home Office. Last week we asked the Home Office what happens to the 1.3 million handsets that they had told us were reported stolen, but don't appear in the official crime figures. Now we know …

Mobile 19 Feb 10:36
NetApp says tiering is dying

Comment The FAST and the dead

NetApp CEO Tom Georgens thinks 3PAR, Dell, EMC, Compellent and others are wrong - automated tiering of data across different levels of drives is a dying concept. The tiering idea is that data should be on the correct type of drive at any point in its life cycle. Fast access data should be on fast access solid state drives (SSD …

Storage 19 Feb 10:53
Cisco ejects HP from privileged partner camp

Updated No more roadmap information boy

HP is being booted out from the circle of Cisco's confidantes receiving confidential Cisco product roadmap details, as the competitive war between the two gets fiercer. Time was when HP, with its servers and storage and who-could-care-less ProCurve networking operation, was a terrific partner to Cisco, giving Netzilla an entry …

HPC 19 Feb 10:58
Apple squashes wobbly jub app

No iBoobs on your iPhone, says Titfinder General

Apple has decided to pull the jubtastic Wobble iBoobs from its App Store as part of an alleged puritanical clamp-down on "overtly sexual content". Jon Atherton, the developer of the bouncy-bouncy entertainment, told TechCrunch that he received this missive from the powers that be: The App Store continues to evolve, and as …

Mobile 19 Feb 11:11
WIN a 500GB Wacko Jacko hard drive from Samsung

Competition Man in the Mirror's movie pre-loaded

Well, This is it. Yes, we're talking Samsung's latest 2.5in portable external hard drive, a gold-look model branded to tie in to the recently released Michael Jackson movie. The Samsung drive packs in 500GB of raw storage capacity, is powered over the USB 2.0 bus and in addition to Sammy's usual excellent array of freebie back …

reghardware 19 Feb 11:11
TomTom touts second iPhone GPS-boost car cradle

ProClip attachment this time

TomTom has introduced its second iPhone accessory: a new cradle that fits onto a special dashboard fixture. Said car mount is the ProClip, from the US company of the same name. ProClip - the product - is clipped around the dashboard's air vents so it should keep your phone in place better than a mount that's attached to the …

reghardware 19 Feb 11:46
US Army moves rocket-buster raygun from lab to firing range

At last: ~~Sharks~~ Whales with frikkin lazors on their heads

The US Army says it's time to move battle rayguns out of the lab and onto the firing range: and it is doing so. According to the Space and Missile Defence Command, a prototype electrically powered war-blaster which has shown combat-worthy power levels of 100+ kilowatts is even now being set up on a test range in New Mexico. …

Science 19 Feb 11:51
Sex.com goes titsup

Sex sells... again

Sex.com, arguably the web's most valuable address, is up for sale after its owner went bust. Escom LLC, which bought Sex.com in 2006 from Match.com founder Gary Kremen for a reported $14m, is in foreclosure. The coveted address currently hosts text links to porn websites. It will change hands again at auction in New York on …

Bootnotes 19 Feb 11:53
Microsoft finally debuts Euro-choose-a-browser screen

Enforced choice for those who don't care

Microsoft has unveiled its EU-mandated Web browser choice screen, and will start rolling it out next week. Redmond's deputy general counsel Dave Heiner warned Explorer users "what to expect", in a not at all grudging blog posting. He said the design and operation of the screen "was worked out in the course of extensive …

Applications 19 Feb 11:55
Eco computer game cost taxpayers £47 per play

The true cost of astroturf

In what may be the most expensive "spontaneous" outburst of grassroots political expression since Mao's Cultural Revolution, the old farming ministry DEFRA paid more than £8m over two years to civic society groups if they spread the correct message about Global Warming. These included a computer game that was used so …

Government 19 Feb 12:02
Two Chinese schools implicated in Google Aurora attacks

Not us guv, we only teach Photoshop here

Two Chinese schools with links to the armed forces have become implicated as suspects in the ongoing Operations Aurora attacks against Google and at least 33 other western conglomerates last December. Security experts, including investigators from the National Security Agency, now reckon the attacks date from April last year, …

Crime 19 Feb 12:14
Desktop evolution offers alternative admin options

Lab New and improved or more of the same?

Love them or loathe them, desktops are integral to IT service delivery. They are the most common point of access for users, and their performance has a disproportionately high bearing on user satisfaction and the perception of IT generally. Beyond this, we know from research that allowing the desktop environment to drift and …

Virtualisation Lab 19 Feb 12:41
Google Energy gets OK

Can now wholesale and retail 'leccy in the US

Google has been granted a license to trade energy on the wholesale market, as well as retail it to the consumer market. The approval comes from the US Federal energy regulator FERC. Google made the request quietly on the day before Christmas Eve, via its new subsidiary Google Energy. California's public utilities commission …

Environment 19 Feb 12:44
Government drops jail for data thieves... again

Information Commissioner's campaign thwarted

The government has quietly dropped plans to jail personal data thieves, frustrating the Information Commissioner and arousing criticism of the Data Protection Act as toothless. Ministers had planned to grant judges stronger powers against unscrupulous private investigators and journalists from April. In a private briefing to …

Government 19 Feb 12:46
Hey, Mr Games Addict! Do you have a problem?

Too much coffee? Check

Problem video game users are: More likely to play certain online role-playing games Find it easier to meet people on line Have fewer friends in real life Are more likely to report excess caffeine consumption These are the results of a recent survey into video gamers' habits, completed by 1945 respondents, which revealed …

reghardware 19 Feb 12:49
BT settles multi-million spat with cost-cutting consultants

Still not clear how much was saved...

BT has settled an £88m dispute with a consultancy it asked to find cost savings at its troubled Global Services division. Telecoms consultancy Magenta netLogic, owned by Global Capacity, was suing BT for £88m for alleged breach of contract. The consultants claim they were hired by BT to find savings at its troubled Global …

Telecoms 19 Feb 13:04
Aussies cane cane toads with cat food

Carnivorous ant solution to amphibious assault

Researchers from the University of Sydney have joined the battle to rid the Lucky Country of cane toads by suggesting cat food might be a useful tool in seeing off the invasive amphibian. They found that just a small amount of the feline chow left next to Northern Territory ponds was enough to attract carnivorous meat ants, …

Biology 19 Feb 13:23
Lost Nazi nuke-project uranium found in Dutch scrapyard

Atomic CSI team fingerprints 1940s 'Joachimsthal' metals

EU nuke boffins say that mysterious bits of uranium found last year in a Dutch scrapyard originated in the Nazi nuclear-weapons programme of the 1940s. Forensic nuke scientists at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) traced two pieces of metal - described as a cube and a plate - back to their exact origins and …

Physics 19 Feb 13:37
Sony seeks 'universal console controller' patent

Emulates PS3, Xbox 360, Wii controllers and more

It's perhaps a step too far to say that just because Sony has applied for a US patent that covers a "universal game console controller" that it's actually developing one with a view to bringing such a product to market. But applied for such a patent it has. The patent application - number 2010041480, and spotted by website …

reghardware 19 Feb 13:42
Motorola Droid - the not quite iPhone killer

Review Easy to like. Hard to love

Motorola's Google-happy Droid handset can be summed up in three words - and a bit of punctuation: "Nice phone, but..." The Droid has been out for some time now in the US, but we got our hands on one only last month. And although our sister site RegHardware has already had their way with its UK counterpart, the Motorola …

Mobile 19 Feb 14:02
The Not-Invented-Anywhere Syndrome

Teen sensation does a Chris Anderson

A teenage literary sensation who lifted large parts of her debut hit novel from the Web, without giving credit, says she's justified because "there's no such thing as originality". For good measure, Helene Hegemann said the plagiarism was justified, because copyright holders had it coming. 17-year old Hegemann's Axolotl …

Music and Media 19 Feb 14:08
Interpol issues arrest warrant for fake passport hit team

'Assassins' used forged old-school documents, says FCO

International police agency Interpol has out put stop and detain notices for 11 suspects reckoned to have used fake passports to enter the UAE before taking part in the murder of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month. The development came as UK officials said that a preliminary investigation showed that six …

ID 19 Feb 14:41
UK manufacturing getting worse more slowly

'Muted recovery'

UK manufacturing is showing some signs of improvement in export orders, thanks to the weak pound, but total orders remain low. Export orders are higher than normal at 14 per cent of firms but below normal at 38 per cent of companies, according to a CBI survey. That gives a balance of -23 per cent - which is the least negative …

Small Biz 19 Feb 14:57
US school comes out fighting over webcam spy claim

UK.gov promises it couldn't happen here

The UK agency in charge of IT in UK schools has insisted there is no chance of the government's free laptops program exposing the bedroom activities of British students. The calming words for British parents comes after a US school district was sued for allegedly spying on a student in his bedroom via the webcam on his school …

Government 19 Feb 15:10
First Freeview HD TV goes on sale

Pre-order a Panasonic, says Comet

Eager to get watching Freeview HD? Retailer Comet has begun taking orders for Panasonic's TX-P42G20B 42in plasma TV with a built-in DVB-T2 tuner. Comet wants a whopping £1100 for the telly. That price buys you a 1080p set with 600Hz motion interpolation technology, cinema-style 24f/s playback and a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio …

reghardware 19 Feb 15:27
iPad pitch to the Wall Street Journal laid bare

No FLASH in the pad

Steve Jobs took the iPad to the Wall Street Journal to explain why the paper should drop Adobe's Flash, to a cool reception. The details of Mr. Jobs' presentation to staff at the Journal were revealed by ValleyWag. They included his dismissal of Adobe's Flash technology along with the arguments about why the Journal should …

Mobile 19 Feb 15:32
Crims jailed for hiding 'e-detonators' in robot camel jockey

Booster-dromedary race fix blag backfires

A man and a boy have been found guilty by courts in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi of concealing "electric detonators" in robotic camel jockeys, according to reports. The crooks' plan was to get racing dromedaries to run faster, in defiance of good sportsmanship and local laws. The Khaleej Times reports on the case today, noting …

Bootnotes 19 Feb 16:02
Archaeologists nail Bosworth Field

Finally reveal site of Richard III's downfall

Historians have finally revealed what they reckon is the definitive site of the Battle of Bosworth - the 22 August 1485 scrap in which Henry Tudor's army defeated Richard III's forces. As history records, Richard himself led a direct charge against Henry, but was driven back into marshy ground where "he and his heavily …

Bootnotes 19 Feb 16:15
Symbian needs your help. Please

Especially on a Friday

Symbian won't run unless a lot of volunteers get their hands dirty, with internal sources confirming it's most likely to be three months before the code can compile. There are two issues here: getting the source code to compile, and getting v3 (once it's compiled) to boot into a GUI. The former needs an open source toolchain, …

Mobile 19 Feb 16:40
Nokia pulls the plug on wireless payment handset

While China Unicom builds new ones

Nokia has scrapped its third NFC handset, the 6216, which never got launched despite being scheduled for last year and despite China Unicom's plans for an NFC launch. The 6216 would have been Nokia's third NFC handset, but the first to have handed control of the payment system to the operator's SIM through the Single Wire …

Mobile 19 Feb 16:49
Open sourcers fortify Ubuntu's Koala food

Scalr adds vitamins to Eucalyptus

With Eucalyptus - the open source platform that put the Koala in Ubuntu's Karmic Koala - you can mimic Amazon's so-called infrastructure cloud inside your very own data center. At least up to a point. At the moment, Eucalyptus duplicates the APIs for Amazon's three primary Web Services: Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Simple …

Developer 19 Feb 18:24
Cisco and HP - the gloves come off

Like we knew they would

The pretense of friendship is officially over between Hewlett-Packard and Cisco, though the two giants have been rallying their banners for war since the launch of Cisco's Unified Computing System last year. In a blog post late Thursday, Keith Goodwin -chief of Cisco worldwide partner organization - announced that his company …

Servers 19 Feb 20:40
Opera cuts cord on first open-source baby

Dragonfly set free

Opera has freed its first open source project, moving code for its Dragonfly debug tool onto the popular BitBucket hosting service. Dragonfly - a website debug tool similar to Mozilla's Firebug - was always intended as an open source project. From its inception in 2008, it carried an open source BSD license. But until this …

Developer 19 Feb 23:26