4th May 2010 Archive

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Craigslist subpoenaed over thriving adult services ads

Lawmaker renews 'brothel' fight

Already under fire for its thriving Adult Services section, Craigslist on Monday was subpoenaed by Connecticut's top law enforcement official, who is investigating whether the site is doing enough to get rid of ads for prostitution and other illegal activity. The demand came from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal …

Music and Media 4 May 00:03
Google tilts with windmills

Sinks $38.8m into air power

Google has sunk $38.8 million into a pair of American wind farms, calling the move its first direct investment in a "utility-scale" renewable energy project. On Monday, with a post to the Official Google blog, the online ad broker said it has invested in a pair of North Dakota wind farms developed by an outfit known as NextEra …

Business 4 May 00:08
Internet Explorer drops below 60% market share

How low can you go?

Less than two thirds of surfers are now using Microsoft's browser on the web as Google's Chrome continues its northward assault. Internet Explorer slipped below 60 per cent of the market in April - 59.95 per cent, to be precise - according to the latest figures from Net Applications. That was down from 60.65 per cent in March …

Applications 4 May 00:14
Review Emporia Talk Elegance

Emporia bills its handsets as lacking "unnecessary extras" so what you get it as very stylish and well made handset designed to make calls and send texts but nothing else. The brand new Elegance looks very smart in its piano black and brushed aluminium casing and it has a fine large-button keyboard. The OLED screen is …

reghardware 4 May 07:02
Review Nokia 7230

The UK product lists of the major phone makers are surprisingly barren of handsets designed specifically for the more advanced in years, but I thought it wise to include at least one from a major name that can be picked up on the high street with a PAYG deal. Nokia's 7230 is an entry-level handset but today even that gets you …

reghardware 4 May 07:02
Review Amplicom M5010

The Amplicom is a traditional candybar phone design with a conventional keypad, menu and shortcut buttons. However, all the buttons are usefully larger than you will find on most regular mobile handsets, while the high contrast mono screen is not only very easy on the eye but is one of the most crisp and clear I have ever come …

reghardware 4 May 07:02
Granny friendly phones

Group Test Six simple handsets for your aged relatives

Explaining to your grandmother how to use a mobile phone can be a challenge. To those of us under the age of 40, the basic menu structure and controls of a mobile handset need no more explanation than the act of breathing, but to the over-60s it may as well be a concept that has dropped through a stargate from some far-away …

reghardware 4 May 07:02
Review Binatone Binatone SpeakEasy Mobile

Binatone's SpeakEasy isn't aimed at the hard of hearing, but rather at users who simply want a large-buttoned phone with some aids for the elderly. The lack of an HAC rating is reflected in the asking price. At just over £55, including a desk charger, it's the cheapest handset on test. The basic layout of the SpeakEasy is …

reghardware 4 May 07:02
Review Beafon S50

Beafon's S50 is one of the more stylish handsets here. It's a sleek and curvy slider finished in gun-metal gray, and when the handset is shut, the only controls on display are the call make and break buttons, and a vertical rocker nav control. The rocker may lack the four-way steering of a navpad, but it's a lot more …

reghardware 4 May 07:02
Review Doro 334gsm HandlePlus IUP

Without doubt, this is the easiest phone to use among those grouped here. The Doro 334 dispenses with a keypad altogether in favour of four pre-assigned dialer shortcuts. Who you have assigned each button to can then be written on a small notepad that attaches to the face of the phone. Five notepad pages are included along with …

reghardware 4 May 07:02
Spider-Man and Jedi Knights bust X-Men comic thief

'A real team effort'

The combined forces of Spider-Man and the Jedi Knights took time off from battling Green Goblin and The Empire on Saturday to bust an Adelaide comic store thief. The unnamed perp attempted to lift a copy of X-Men Omnibus, worth A$160 (£97), from the Adelaide Comics Centre during an event to mark International Free Comic day. …

Bootnotes 4 May 08:14
Agilysys blames Oracle/Sun for bum quarter

Eager to push Cisco-EMC Vblocks

Agilysys might have gotten out of directly distributing server technology from all the tier one players a few years back, but just the same its financials can be hammered by what the server makers do - and don't do. And so it is with the fourth fiscal quarter ended in March for Agilysys, which peddles various application stacks …

Channel Register 4 May 08:49
Apax buys control of Sophos for $830m

Updated Trebles all round

Apax Partners has bought a majority stake in UK-based net security firm Sophos in a deal announced on Monday valuing the company at $830m. Dr Jan Hruska and Dr Peter Lammer, who co-founded Sophos 25 years ago, will retain a significant minority shareholding, reportedly valued at $300m. TA Associates, a minority shareholder in …

Enterprise Security 4 May 08:53
Compellent declares beginning of an era and offers dedupe

The industrial revolution is over

Compellent is to offer dynamic block deduplication, a move it puts down to the end of the manufacturing age and the dawn of the Facebook era. CEO Phil Soran outlined the company's plans to channel partners at the C-Drive event in Minneapolis on Monday. The pitch is that the world has transitioned from a manufacturing-focused …

Storage 4 May 09:05
TPC starts designing server virt test

Not a partition-buster benchmark

The server virtualization wave might have crested by the time the Transaction Processing Council and its vendor members get a virtualization benchmark into the field, but the TPC has to be given credit for coming up with a useful test to gauge how virtualized environments perform and scale and what kind of bang for the buck they …

Servers 4 May 09:22
State senator eyeballs smut during abortion debate

Topless beauties enliven 'boring' Florida session

Florida State Senator Mike Bennett was busted last Thursday eyeballing a bevvy of topless* beauties during an evidently dull debate on a "controversial abortion bill", Sunshine State News reports. Rather splendidly, as cameras catch Bennett in flagrante delicto, fellow Senator Dan Gelber can be heard to protest: "I'm against …

Bootnotes 4 May 09:26
Asus Eee Keyboard launched

With some interesting tweaks

Asus' Eee Keyboard - a full netbook built into a keyboard chassis - has been demo'd time after time by the manufacturer and now, more than a year after it was first seen, the computer may actually be coming to market. You can see our video of the product here. This weekend, Asus formally announced the machine in its native …

reghardware 4 May 09:54
Spaceship 'salad units' to farm special astro strawberries

Efficient juicy fruits to ward off scurvy on Mars voyages

Fruity boffins in America say they have identified a type of strawberry which would be ideal for growing in hydroponic spacegoing mini-farms to feed astronauts on long-duration space voyages of the future - missions to Mars, for instance. In related research, the boffins tested strawberries for use in French surrealist cinema …

Space 4 May 10:03
Broken-hearted email servers mark LoveBug anniversary

It was 10 years ago today...

Tuesday marks the tenth anniversary of the infamous LoveBug worm, the prolific malware strain that proved opening "flirty" emails from acquaintances seriously endangers internet hygiene. MessageLabs security team was the first to stop and name LoveBug, a mass-mailing worm later reckoned to have infected 45 million computer …

Malware 4 May 10:08
UK console chipper jailed for five years

Fencing master

A Yorkshire man has been jailed for five years for operating a chipping service for games consoles. Aamer Ali, 26, was certainly a busy bee - he also sold counterfeit games and DVDs and was a fence for stolen TVs and laptops. At his arrest he was found to have more than 1,000 counterfeit DVDs, £14,000 in cash, 128 chipped …

reghardware 4 May 10:19
UK small biz gets sterling boost, no thanks to banks

Not drowning but waving

Demand from home and overseas customers is helping UK small and medium manufacturers, but getting credit from banks is still a nightmare. The CBI's quarterly survey found 36 per cent of companies had seen a jump in orders in the first three months of the year, compared to 26 per cent which reported a fall in orders. The plus …

Small Biz 4 May 10:37
Ten Essential... Android Apps

Product Round-up The mobile applications to download first

You've taken delivery of your shiny new Android handset, you've logged into the Googleverse and now you're thinking 'what next?'. Well, you can start by downloading the following ten apps that will help you get the most from your handset. Whether you want to read, write, chat, work, travel, watch some TV or just to keep your …

reghardware 4 May 10:39
Apple boots STD psychic healing app out of bed

Wart a palaver, etc

Apple has decided psychic healing has no place in the App Store, despite last week approving a "distance healing" application for warts available for only $12.99. The faithful who bought a copy of Wart Healer were asked to take a photograph of their wart which is sent to the "professional mental healer", who spends the next …

Mobile 4 May 10:41
Google brings @gmail.com back to Blighty

Oogle ousted by trademark settlement

Google is to offer @gmail.com webmail addresses to British users again, after resolving a long-running branding dispute. The dominant search engine was forced to switch to the domain @googlemail.com in 2005. It declined to pay Independent International Investment Research £25m to use the gmail brand, describing the cost as " …

Applications 4 May 10:43
.XXX accuses ICANN of 'lip service' on porn domain

Porn domain bidder calls whitewash

The company behind the proposed .xxx internet domain has accused ICANN of trying to weasel its way out of approving the porn-only domain. ICM Registry, which has been fighting for the right to run the domain for a decade, said ICANN staff members prepared “fundamentally flawed” advice, designed to confuse its own board of …

Telecoms 4 May 11:06
Amazon UK scores John Grisham exclusive for Kindle

Got Time to Kill?

Amazon UK is now stocking all of John Grisham's titles as Kindle books, the first time the author's books have been available electronically to UK or EU customers. Amazon's Kindle is the market leading e-reader, but new entrants such as the Alex e-reader and Barnes and Noble's Nook, are popping up everywhere. Also Apple is …

reghardware 4 May 11:07
Nokia puts out platform-slutty Qt SDK beta

I'll take you all on!

Nokia has released a beta version of its Qt SDK, allowing developers to create applications that will compile down for Symbian, Maemo and even MeeGo. Qt is Nokia's preferred development platform, and will become the primary Symbian platform come Symbian ^4. For the moment it allows developers to create applications, …

Mobile 4 May 11:18
Google waves goodbye to Docs offline function

Developing HTML5-style alternative, it's just not here yet...

Google yanked its Docs offline function offline for good yesterday, much to the chagrin of some users. The Mountain View Chocolate Factory announced last month that its online document and spreadsheet editors would no longer offer offline access as of 3 May. But at the same time it was unable to confirm when the function would …

Applications 4 May 11:20
The desktop provisioning palaver

Workshop Policy, practice and patience

Setting and maintaining desktop policy and provisioning equipment and software sounds like something that should be done once and then left to gather dust while people just get on with things in the knowledge that it’s all been agreed. Perhaps this would be practical if such interesting developments weren’t afoot in consumer …

Desktop Management 4 May 11:45
US netwar-force Cyber Wings badge unveiled

Digital aces must pass fearsome 'X course'* to win them

The US Air Force - perhaps the keenest of America's armed forces to get stuck into network warfare - has unveiled the cyber "wings" which will be worn on the chests of its digital warriors. Cyber wings upon their chests/These are men**, our geekiest The new "Cyberspace Badge" features lightning-bolt wings extending from a …

Enterprise Security 4 May 11:53
Virgin churns out 200 mil on demand views

Catch up. Content?

On demand TV is in huge demand in the UK and Virgin Media is a player. The cableco served up 200 million on demand views in Q1 this year - it claims 2.1 million regular customers for what it likes to call catch-up TV, up a quarter of a mil on same time last year. The most popular channels were inevitably the BBC, with 50 mil …

reghardware 4 May 11:58
Wireless wee detectors hit Aussie grundies

ZigBee gets into knickers

ZigBee-equipped underpants are being used to detect incontinence in Australian care homes. The Smart Incontinence Management (SIM) System from Simavita connects a moisture detector with a ZigBee transmitter to log incontinence "events" for plotting on a helpful SIMchart while alerting staff with an SMS message, as RFID Journal …

Biology 4 May 12:08
Server financing: CAPEX, OPEX or something else

Workshop Whose money should pay for servers?

In the current economic climate access to spending money is tight across all businesses. In truth, the spotlight has been thrown ever more closely onto IT spend over the course of the last decade, not just the past two years. This focus on IT spend has brought forward the question of the best way to budget for IT systems and …

Server Management 4 May 12:09
Google buys BumpTop, could target 3D interface at iPad

Apple passes 1m sales with launch of 3G tablet

After the US launch of the 3G/Wi-Fi version of the Apple iPad, the tablet has passed the one million sales mark, prompting the firm's co-founder Steve Wozniak to say the PC-Mac war was over as the new formats took Apple well beyond its traditional user base. But other players will bid for the upper hand in the hybrid PC/mobile …

Mobile 4 May 12:36
Building high availability into IT

Lab How would yours fare in a disaster?

What does ‘high availability’ actually mean in the context of IT today? We’ve written elsewhere about more general availability and good systems design, but what if you want to assure availability when things go unexpectedly wrong? From a systems perspective this is where we start adding to the number of nines we talk about, …

Platform Evolution 4 May 12:51
Oz gov in confusion over net filter plans

Yes we're not. No, we are

The Australian government appears confused as to whether or not it will try to pass laws concerning net filtering before a general election. The Australian Labor party has previously promised to pass laws that would oblige ISPs to apply net filters to block pornography and other illegal content. Critics argue that the measures …

Government 4 May 12:57
Pirate Bay dishes up Iron Man 2 ahead of US release

Dodgy video shop bloke's secret stash is yesterday's news

Iron Man 2 is the latest Hollywood blockbuster to be leaked onto The Pirate Bay ahead of the movie’s official release in the US. The film’s studio actually spun out the release early internationally in a move to big up interest in the sequel ahead of next month’s World Cup tournament. However, the North American audience won’ …

Music and Media 4 May 13:00
Why Enterprise Analytics - and why now?

It's big and it's heading your way

I’ve been bloviating about predictive enterprise analytics for more than a year now, discussing it with clients, vendors, my mom, the kid who mows my lawn, and anyone else who will listen. I think it’s going to be the ‘next big thing’ in business, and thus enterprise technology. The last time I saw a tidal wave this huge on …

HPC 4 May 13:06
Indie music mogul: The net's great for us

Interview Beggars boss Martin Mills

Beggars Group office in a suburban street in Wandsworth doesn't look much like a media corporation. There's no chocolate ice sculpture in reception, and no giant video screens or inspirational slogans. It does look a lot like you'd expect a real independent record company to look, though: behind the receptionist's desk is the …

Music and Media 4 May 13:45
Phillies fan tasered for field incursion

No home run for baseball fan

A 17-year-old Philadelphia Phillies fan, who "scurried around the outfield" during his team's clash with the St Louis Cardinals last night, had his home run attempt brought to an abrupt end by a solid tasering. The unnamed male jumped a fence and managed to dodge two security operatives before taking a high-voltage hit from a …

Bootnotes 4 May 14:15
Parliament to turn itself into computer game for young ones

Patronising? Us?

How do you engage Britain's apathetic, apolitical, antipolitical teenagers in the political process? Simples. You hook them up to a computer game that will "engage and immerse young people in learning about democracy and the role of Parliament in scrutinising the government, representing the public and making laws". Can't …

reghardware 4 May 14:47
Mariposa botnet suspects duo sought jobs at Panda

Er... do you have references?

Two of the three suspects arrested for allegedly running the infamous Mariposa botnet in February personally applied for jobs with Spanish firm Panda Security, whose researchers helped track them down just a month earlier. The brazen duo optimistically doorstepped Panda Labs technical director, Luis Corrons, on 22 March, in a …

Crime 4 May 15:34
Cloud.com takes on virty infrastructure

Former VMOps comes out of stealth

Cloud.com, formerly known as VMOps, has come out of stealth mode today as it raised its second round of funding and launched its first products for managing virtual server infrastructure across private and public clouds. The techies behind Cloud.com, which was founded a mere 18 months ago, are all seasoned IT execs with lots …

Servers 4 May 15:49
Handicapping the microprocessor race

Webcast The chip wars rage on

In my latest webcast, I talked to Nathan Brookwood, chief analyst at Insight64, about the current state of the chip wars. Nathan is one of those analysts who really knows the market and isn’t shy about expressing his opinions. We had a wide-ranging conversation covering the market as it is today, where the major players are …

HPC Blog 4 May 17:08
Opera betas 10.5 for Linux and FreeBSD

Solaris abandoned

Opera has released a beta of its latest desktop browser for Linux and FreeBSD. Opera 10.53 beta for Linux and FreeBSD is the first Unix beta of Evenes, the browser built atop the company's new Carakan JavaScript engine. "If you've been waiting [for] Opera 10.5 to stabilize before trying it on your Linux or FreeBSD system, now …

Applications 4 May 17:47
EFF fights Facebook bid to outlaw one-stop social apps

Opposes power play against aggregator site

A civil liberties watchdog has challenged Facebook's legal claims that an unauthorized third-party site that helps users login automatically violates criminal laws. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed Monday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Facebook users have a legal right to choose how they access their accounts. It …

ID 4 May 18:38
Nokia and Intel defensive on MeeGo Linux patents

Safety guarantee too late for HTC

Tech companies are playing hardball on smart phones, but Linux could gain the upper hand with Intel and Nokia going on the defensive with MeeGo. To get you on Facebook while on the bus, play a tune, and - oh, yeah - make a call, Microsoft and Apple are finding new ways to rein in the competition on phones: they're using patent …

Mobile 4 May 21:15
Nvidia's Fermi hits flop-hungry challengers

HPC players tool up

Nvidia's Fermi graphics coprocessors have begun shipping through its OEM partner channel with a slew of tier-two players hoping the flop-happy GPUs give them a competitive edge against established players in the HPC server racket. The Fermi graphics cards and GPU coprocessors that are based on them were both previewed last …

HPC 4 May 21:46
Twitter: It's the end of the sysadmin as we know it

Web 2.0 Expo Grow some Ganglia

Twitter says it's the end of the sysadmin as we know it. Speaking this morning at the annual Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, Twitter operations man John Adams warned sysadmins they won't succeed on today's intertubes unless they learn to do a bit more than system administration. Sysadmin 2.0, he said, must develop certain …

Software 4 May 22:29
ATM hacking spree foiled by tip from ex-con

Rick James look-alike apprehended

A North Carolina man's scheme to steal as much as $350,000 during an automatic teller machine hacking spree was thwarted by an ex-convict, who turned the man in to authorities, federal prosecutors allege. Thor Alexander Morris approached the Texas-based ex-con looking for help identifying the locations of specific models of …

Crime 4 May 22:36
SpringSource flips JBoss Pizza giant

A slice of history

Call it a testimony to the changing nature of workloads, evolving computing architectures, and the passing nature of your IT vendor. Mid-2000s, the advice - as well as the headlines - was about how to migrate from a costly and closed-source Java application server such as BEA Systems' WebLogic Server to the open and free JBoss …

Applications 4 May 23:40