25th March 2010 Archive

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Commodore 64 reincarnated as quad-core Ubuntu box

'Let's fall in love again'

The Commodore 64 has been reincarnated as a 3GHz quad-core PC with 3D graphics, Gigabit Ethernet, a DVD-RW drive, and a 500GB hard disk. All that's left is the built-in keyboard. And the name. In this case, that 64 can only mean a 64-bit processor - not 64 kilobytes of memory. Memory's up to a decidedly un-1980s eight …

PCs & Chips 25 Mar 2010, 00:02
iPhone, IE, Firefox, Safari get stomped at hacker contest

CanSecWest Ashes, ashes all fall down

It was another grim day for internet security at the annual Pwn2Own hacker contest Wednesday, with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari and iPhone succumbing to exploits that allowed them to be remotely commandeered. Like dominoes falling in rapid succession, the platforms were felled in the …

Malware 25 Mar 2010, 02:45
QLogic spans Dell's InfiniBand

Blade pass through

When Dell sells servers to an HPC customer, QLogic wants to be the network interconnect provider of choice when it comes to the InfiniBand protocol. In the HPC market, every hop in the network interconnect is something to be avoided, and density in server form factors is an issue. This is why blade server makers don't just …

HPC 25 Mar 2010, 03:55
Don't blame Willy the Mailboy for software security flaws

In defense of developers

There's a low rasp of a noise being made in the software world. Customers want software vendors to hold programmers responsible if they release code containing security flaws. Actually, that's not strictly true. Security vendors want customers to start wanting software vendors to hold the programmers responsible. As we …

Developer 25 Mar 2010, 05:16
Dell Mini 10

Review A chip off the old block?

As every netbook maker worth its salt hurries to replace its existing line-up with second generation models using Intel's new Pine Trail chipset, we are clearly going to have to get used to being presented with an ever increasing slew of machines which frankly are pretty much the same as the ones they replace. Dell's Mini 10 …

reghardware 25 Mar 2010, 08:02
Darling confirms telephone line tax

Townies to pay for rural broadband

Yesterday's budget confirmed Labour's intention to tax every phone line in the UK to the tune of 50 pence a month, providing funds for connecting the disconnected by 2017. The tax was widely expected, and was part of the Digital Britain proposals, but yesterday's speech confirmed that it will come in once Labour gets past the …

Telecoms 25 Mar 2010, 09:45
Dell OEMs Data Domain and Celerra

Adding its own object storage technology

Dell is broadening its storage product range by OEMing EMC's Celerra and Data Domain products, and developing its own object storage product. The background to this is the continuing and dramatic rise in the amount of semi- and unstructured information. This leads to a sheer storage capacity problem and to infrastructure …

Storage 25 Mar 2010, 09:55
Domain registrar follows Google out of China

Cynical PR or moral capitalism?

Domain registrar GoDaddy is ending business in China after the country introduced new rules on registering internet domains. The decision only emerged yesterday when the company gave evidence to a Congressional committee. GoDaddy said it would continue to maintain existing .cn domains but would not take new registrations. …

Telecoms 25 Mar 2010, 09:59
Toshiba announces world's biggest 2-platter drive

Bigs up 3-platter too

Toshiba has announced the highest-capacity twin platter laptop hard drive in the world at 750GB, as well as a 1TB, three-platter laptop drive. The two-platter model fits in a standard 9.5mm z-height notebook drive bay whereas the 12.5mm x-height three-platter drive does not. Both drives spin at 5400rpm - 200rpm faster than WD' …

Storage 25 Mar 2010, 10:27
French suspect grilled over Obama Twitter hack

Yes we can reset your password

A French suspect has been arrested over accusations he hacked into the Twitter accounts of President Obama and other public figures, the BBC reports. The unnamed 25-year-old was questioned by French police after an arrest on Tuesday and following a months-long investigation involving the FBI. Investigators reckon the suspect …

Crime 25 Mar 2010, 10:34
Belkin hopes apps buzz will boost latest broadband boxes

802.11n router range revamped

Never one to miss an opportunity, Belkin has launched a set of new 802.11n broadband wireless routers. Taking note of World+Dog's interest in iPhone and Android apps, Belkin is pitching the devices' functionality as a series of "apps", each with its own small, square icon. In fact, many of them are simply features that are …

reghardware 25 Mar 2010, 11:05
First WiMAX handset launched, again

But even Clearwire reckons LTE is the future

Americans will get a 4G handset in the summer from HTC and operating over WiMAX, though even America's WiMAX operator admits that LTE is technology of the future. The handset is called the EVO, rather than "supersonic" as was rumoured, but the specs remain the same as it sports Android OS running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon …

Mobile 25 Mar 2010, 11:09
Selecting an ERP supplier - the pitfalls and practicalities

Workshop It's not just about the product

The selection of an ERP system is a pretty strategic decision for most companies. Software of this kind tends to operate at the core of your organisation, and can therefore have a big impact on business robustness, efficiency and flexibility. Furthermore the time, resources and disruption generally associated with ERP …

ERP 25 Mar 2010, 11:13
Met launches net café spy operation

Patriotic owners to peer over customer shoulders

Internet café owners are being asked to spy on their customers as part of the Met police's terrorism prevention efforts. Under a pilot project in Camden some have agreed to monitor their customers' internet habits for evidence of interest in Islamic extremism, the BBC reports. They are intalling police screensavers and putting …

Policing 25 Mar 2010, 11:17
Google blames glitch not hacker for 'Chinese' bio bug

Manchurian madness

Google has blamed a snafu that resulted in an executive biography page for senior execs at the search engine giant rendering in Chinese for some on an unspecified glitch, rather than politically motivated hackers. The peculiar glitch happened on Tuesday, just a day after Google pulled down the shutters on its Google.cn search …

Enterprise Security 25 Mar 2010, 11:40
Complete ACTA text leaked online - at last

Floodgates open on secret copyright talks

After weeks of extracts of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) being published on the interwebs, a French digital rights group has finally leaked a complete copy of the deal online. La Quadrature du Net published a consolidated version of the ACTA text dated 18 January, 2010. "This document contains information …

Music and Media 25 Mar 2010, 12:11
Power monitoring across the desktop estate

Workshop What can be done and is anyone doing anything?

Despite the pressure on organisations to operate to more “green” agendas, the reality is that for many the reasons they actually fund anything are related to a desire to save electricity or to meet external requirements, usually legislative. So far the majority of “green” projects have usually been focussed on reducing …

Desktop Management 25 Mar 2010, 12:13
Expedition to seek out 'alien' ocean-abyss life sets sail

Boffins to probe hot bottom with battery powered machine

Seagoing British boffins are about to plunge deeply into hot Caribbean bottom vents using a long, cigar-shaped, battery powered device. They expect the probings to offer valuable insights into the behaviour of alien life. The aliens soon gave up their secrets after a good probing. The bottom vents in question are the so- …

Science 25 Mar 2010, 12:25
MPs criticise government's climate of fear

'All terror all the time' presumption prodded

The "permanent state of emergency" over terrorism since 9/11 has blocked debate over whether the dozens of new laws introduced to combat the threat are justified, according to a cross-party group of peers and MPs. The Joint Committeee on Human Rights today questioned ministers' claim that there has been a "public emergency …

Government 25 Mar 2010, 12:27
German cable operators told to tighten up

Interference is your problem, not ours

A German court has ruled that any interference to cable TV services is the cable operator's problem, and can't be used to delay the Digital Dividend auctions in the country. The Cologne Administrative Court rejected an action brought by Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg which sought to delay the auction. The cable operator claimed LTE …

Telecoms 25 Mar 2010, 12:29
YouTube does a Lindsay and takes a tumble

Both face down in a cactus

YouTube was having a little lie-down this morning, as its home page served up an error message to fans of cute kittens and falling-down Hollywood types everywhere. Anyone trying to reach the front page got a bald message - "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable" to be precise - prompting some to speculate whether the site had been …

Music and Media 25 Mar 2010, 12:34
Unified Communications and the productivity debate

Workshop It pays to think macro

The word ‘productivity’ is a somewhat wearied term that is perhaps too readily associated with the benefits that Unified Communications (UC) brings to a business. To some extent this has arisen out of necessity. After all, when companies are trying to put together a business case around UC they need tangible, positive outcomes …

Unified Comms 25 Mar 2010, 12:43
Brown's website as mad as he is

Number10.gov.uk - all the news on piercings and Ada Lovelace

The Ten Downing Street website has a rather odd collection of meta-tags including entries for piercing, tattoos, Israel, Ada Lovelace and Sarah Brown. Ada Lovelace Day was yesterday so we can only assume they're keeping up to date at least. Presumably Number Ten techies also prefer Ada to some dull old Budget stuff which …

Government 25 Mar 2010, 12:50
Corduroy cuffed, banged up for teaching while drunk

Squiffy pedagogue's cooler stay 'appropriate'

A teacher in Southern California has been arrested and jailed for being drunk in charge of a class of schoolchildren. The Desert Sun reports that unfortunate corduroy Tonya Neff, 47, was arrested "on suspicion of felony child endangerment" and transported to the Riverside County jail in Indio, after administrators at Toro …

Bootnotes 25 Mar 2010, 12:56
Freetards storm Westminster

Shed Bloke is out and about

The Open Rights Group held its demonstration against the Mandybill after work yesterday, and here's a photo diary. It was held at Old Palace Yard opposite Parliament. We arrived a few minutes after the scheduled start time of 5:30pm. The ORG had cleared their first hurdle: finding 25 stewards requested by the Police. The …

Music and Media 25 Mar 2010, 13:04
WD stage whispers up new AV surveillance drive

Best-in-class reliability? Hmm

Western Digital has a new disk drive for audio-visual applications with a claimed best-in-class reliability which is far below enterprise drive reliability levels. The target markets are surveillance camera systems, digital video recorders and other audio-visual applications. The WD AV-25 is a 2.5-inch SATA 3Gbit/s drive with …

Storage 25 Mar 2010, 13:25
Microsoft tickles Bing with feather duster

Don't fence me in, Google

Microsoft has given its Bing search engine a spring clean and added status data from geolocation outfit Foursquare into its maps service as an app. This is Redmond's first big upgrade to Bing since it debuted in June last year, when it replaced Microsoft's clunky old Live Search offering. Since then the company has been …

Applications 25 Mar 2010, 13:58
Reseller exposes Opteron 6100 speeds and prices

But quickly pulls pants up

Ohio computer components reseller Provantage accidentally let slip pricing information for the forthcoming "Magny-Cours" eight- and 12-core Opteron 6100 series of processors for two- and four-socket boxes. The Opteron 6100s, as El Reg readers well know, are due to be launched on March 29, to be followed up the next day by …

Channel Register 25 Mar 2010, 14:00
News TVs, set-top boxes to get Sky Player

Extra devices to support broadcaster's online service

Telly makers Cello and 3View are to build Sky's Sky Player online viewing app into their offerings, the satellite broadcaster said today. Cello will integrated the software into its iViewer connected TV application, while 3View will build the Sky service into its Freeview set-top box. Sky Player doesn't provide free access to …

reghardware 25 Mar 2010, 14:01
Mozilla site to offer multi-browser add-on security check

Keeps tabs on more than just Firefox

Mozilla plans to expand the reach of its web-based Plugin Check service so that it monitors whether add-ons on browsers from other suppliers are up to date and secure. An earlier version of Plugin Check only checked whether Firefox installations were running with the latest version of Adobe Flash and Apple's QuickTime, for …

Applications 25 Mar 2010, 14:41
Biometric harvest network can handle just 700k a year

Either scheme dies or we die before getting a card

Home Sec Alan Johnson gave another insight into how big a trickle of applications for ID cards the government expects when he revealed the full extent of its biometric enrolment network yesterday. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling had asked "how many biometric enrolment centres are in operation; where they are located; how …

Government 25 Mar 2010, 14:54
Intel online software stores set to conquer world

First North America, now Europe, then...

Intel has expanded the beta versions of its online Windows 7 and Windows XP netbook-software storefronts to include Moblin 2.1 in the US and Canada. It has also announced it will soon move across the pond to offer Windows and Moblin 2.1 apps to anyone whose currency is denominated with a £ or €. On March 31, the Intel AppUp …

PCs & Chips 25 Mar 2010, 15:32
Hackers hit where they live

MessageLabs dissects March email malware attack patterns

The countries of hackers originating malware-laced spam runs have been exposed by new research, which confirms they are often located thousands of miles away from the compromised systems they use to send out junk mail. A third of targeted malware attacks sent so far in March came from the United States (36.6 per cent), based …

Crime 25 Mar 2010, 16:04
Whitehall coughs £250k for Bletchley Park pothole repairs

That's £50k less than Milton Keynes council gave

Famed World War II codebreaking centre Bletchley Park has been given £250k by the British government - which owes its existence to work performed at the site - for urgent repairs. The money comes from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and is intended to allow managers at the historic site to deal with potholes and …

Government 25 Mar 2010, 16:10
Google booted from China's number two carrier

'We work with any company that obeys the law'

China's second largest wireless carrier - China Unicom - has said it will remove Google's search service from the Android phones it developed in tandem with the web giant, citing the company's decision to reroute Google.cn to uncensored servers in Hong Kong. “We are willing to work with any company that abides by Chinese law …

Mobile 25 Mar 2010, 17:28
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Register Hardware is the exciting one-stop-shop for hardware product news and reviews, focusing on the best gadgets, components and systems for today's tech-savvy enthusiasts and consumers. Combining the authoritative, 'take no prisoners' journalism pioneered by sister site The Register with a highly accessible, visually …

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Reg Hardware is published by Situation Publishing Ltd. Editorial Editor Tony Smith Tel: +44 (0)203 189 4611 Twitter: @HardRegTone Reviews editor Bob Dormon Tel: +44 (0)203 189 4613 Twitter: @HardRegReviews Staff writer Caleb Cox Tel: +44 (0)203 189 4612 Twitter: @HardRegCaleb Publisher Drew Cullen Regular …

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Hacker's record credit card theft fetches 20-year sentence

Millions pwned

Confessed TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for orchestrating one of the largest thefts of payment card numbers in history. The sentence, by US District Court Judge Patti Saris, is the lengthiest to be imposed in a US hacking or identity prosecution. Miami-based Gonzalez was also fined $25, …

Crime 25 Mar 2010, 22:50
HPC propped up server sales in 2009

Monster clusters, economic stimulus save the day

The economic Meltdown certainly curbed the appetite for HPC systems last year, according to a recent analysis by IT market watchers at IDC. But as bad as things were in the HPC server segment, with sales down 11.6 per cent to $8.6bn, the situation could have been worse. As El Reg previously reported, IDC reckons that in 2009 …

HPC 25 Mar 2010, 22:55
Apple director 'disgusted' by Jobsian health secrets

Deceased board member regrets not resigning

The web is abuzz with instant replays of Thursday's revelation by the Wall Street Journal that recently deceased Apple board member Jerry York told the paper that he was "disgusted" with CEO Steve Jobs' secrecy over his health problems. "Frankly, I wish I had resigned then," York told the WSJ in an interview last year, shortly …

Financial News 25 Mar 2010, 23:15