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9th July 2010 Archive

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  • Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro Symbian smartphone

    Review Out of touch?

    I've seen the original Vivaz - reviewed here - and found it to be a bit of a curate's egg: good in parts, though I forgave its quirks in favour of its stylish look and quality camera. Sony Ericsson's Vivaz Pro: eye-catching and comfortable in the hand Now comes the Vivaz Pro, aimed, as the name suggests, at more serious …

    reghardware 9 Jul 07:02

  • Australia unbans the internet

    Delays compulsory filters

    Australia's minister for broadband, and censorship, Stephen Conroy has delayed the switch-on of its Chinese-style national firewall until after the election. Conroy's moves have been criticised on technical, practical, economic and moral grounds to no avail. But it seems the danger of losing votes has focused his mind. Trials …

    Government 9 Jul 08:10

  • NSA: Secret 'Perfect Citizen' project does not spy on US

    Merely 'provides technological solutions'

    The US National Security Agency (NSA), the world's premier codebreaking and eavesdropping organisation, has strongly denied that it is setting up monitoring equipment on American privately-owned networks deemed to be critical national infrastructure. A story in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, which we reported on here, said …

    Government 9 Jul 08:59

  • Maude talks cost cutting with ICT suppliers

    UK.gov seeks efficiency and savings

    A group of prime government ICT suppliers has met Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude to discuss plans for cost cutting. A spokesperson for the Office of Government Commerce told GC News that on 8 July 2010 19 major public sector ICT suppliers were involved in "an initial meeting to discuss how money can be saved from the …

    Channel Register 9 Jul 09:14

  • Oracle bricks up BI customers

    Serves up more elevenses

    Hot on the heels of EMC buying business intelligence (BI) vendor Greenplum, Oracle has released Business Intelligence 11g, putting another brick in the wall of its integrated software products. As part of the effort to persuade customers not to buy third-party appliances to run analytics on Oracle-sourced data, BI 11g has been …

    Developer 9 Jul 09:26

  • Council websites falter on business services

    Only 5% compliant with EU directive

    A Socitm survey has revealed that only five per cent of council websites comply with an EU directive to help businesses find out about licensing and other formalities. The document, based on a survey of how well 433 local authority websites and websites from another 107 "competent authorities" complied with the EU Services …

    Government 9 Jul 09:29

  • BT settles pay row with union

    Stand down, brothas

    BT and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have reached a pay deal that will grant staff a three per cent rise every year until 2013. The accord means the threat of a summer of strikes is dropped. It comes days after the union was forced to abandon a ballot for industrial action on a legal technicality. The CWU was unhappy …

    Telecoms 9 Jul 09:38

  • Windows Help update stars in MS Patch Tuesday

    3 critical, 1 important address 2 zero-days

    Microsoft plans to fix a Windows Help and Support Center vulnerability as part of next week's Patch Tuesday update batch. The flaw, which has been the target of hacking attacks over recent weeks, was disclosed to Microsoft's displeasure by Google engineer Tavis Ormandy last month, in a move to renew the age old debate about …

    Enterprise Security 9 Jul 09:47

  • Ofcom: Mobe numbers to be ported within a working day

    PACs to be issued by SMS within 2 hours, too

    Mobile phone users must be able to port their numbers to a new network within one working day from April next year, Ofcom has ruled. The new rules due to come into force next year will also specify that a customer requesting a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) by phone must be given one either immediately during the call or by …

    Mobile 9 Jul 09:58

  • For sale: Dr No's Scottish bunker complex

    Lounge, 2 bedrooms, 9,000 sq ft subterranean lair

    Aspiring Bond villains looking for a "truly unique property" with space for the usual world domination paraphernalia, such as big models of Fort Knox, spacecraft-eating rocket ships and so forth, should check out this Aberdeenshire des res: Nice gaff, but the real interest lies beneath the surface, because "adjoining the …

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 10:05

  • Malaysian politico gets knighted in Photoshop

    Her Maj in fake honour snap shocker

    A Malaysian politician is facing eviction from his party after faking snaps of himself receiving a knighthood, the Telegraph reports. Jeffrey Wong Su En, deputy publicity chief for the Democratic Action Party, applied some top-quality Photoshoppery to show he'd been honoured by no less than Her Maj Liz 2, and became an " …

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 10:24

  • ISPs mark disapproval of the Digital Economy Bill

    Mandy roasted at 2010 Awards ceremony

    The great and the good of the internet world turned out in force last night at the London Marriott, DJed and evening gowned, to learn who had won prizes at the ISPA annual awards dinner. What a difference a year makes: last year the talk was all around safety, particularly for children. Last night the focus had shifted, with …

    Telecoms 9 Jul 10:43

  • Piles for Windows - a pain in the arse?

    Sitting comfortably? Not for long

    Those of you who reckon Windows is a pain in the arse will enjoy this confirmation of the fact from Dragonshorn Studios: Well, we reckon Dragonshorn might want to rethink that name. Chalfonts for Windows? Works for us. ®

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 10:46

  • Europe approves mass data transfer to US

    Data hoover helped catch suspects in Norway

    The European Parliament has passed SWIFT II - the renewed treaty giving the United States access to financial information in order to investigate terrorism. The previous version of the treaty was rejected in February. Changes included a promise to phase out mass transfers of data. Instead Europol will work to filter US …

    Policing 9 Jul 10:56

  • Waterfall Niagara speakers

    Review How does 25 grand's worth of speaker sound?

    The UK is slowly trudging its way through an economic crisis and belts are being tightened across the country, so what better time to announce a new set of speakers with a price tag of £25,000? Waterfall's Niagaras: cascade of sound? Yes, that’s right, for a smidgen less than what many people earn in a year, you can pick up …

    reghardware 9 Jul 11:02

  • Hup Holland, viva España

    Dr Stats' head says Holland, heart says Spain

    Holland are favourites to win the World Cup according to The Reg's resident football stats expert Dr Ian McHale. But the football fan in him says Spain. Dr McHale, senior lecturer in statistics at Salford University, had Holland as favourites and Spain a close second before the tournament started. After the group stage Dr …

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 11:03

  • Those demanding mobile users

    Workshop Please IT, can we have some more?

    For years, when we asked Reg readers what worried them about mobile, "security" was top of the list. Now business mobility has become a victim of its own success in many organisations, at least when looked at from IT's point of view. The problems of managing user expectations, integrating kit or compliance are familiar if you …

    Mobile Workshop 9 Jul 11:20

  • Motorola flips out candybar Android Twitterphone

    Will Charm win over BlackBerry buffs?

    Having now released the Flipout social networking phone, Motorola has announced another Qwerty keyboard-equipped Android-based smartphones for Twitbook buffs. Dubbed the Charm, the rather BlackBerry-esque handset sticks screen - a 2.8in job - and keyboard on the same panel, unlike the Flipout, which tucks keyboard behind …

    reghardware 9 Jul 11:26

  • Lindsay Lohan: The interactive court drama

    An awful lot of crying in YouTube vid tomfoolery

    Here's something entertaining for this fine Friday afternoon: an interactive Lindsay Lohan court drama, featuring an awful lot of crying from El Reg's fave bespeckled thespiatrix... A good effort, and it's a big thumbs up to film-makers Benny and Rafi Fine, aka the Fine Brothers, who tell us they put together the total of …

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 11:29

  • Dell exec questions UK.gov's 'value proposition'

    Government shuns Dell in talks over ICT spending cuts

    A shunned Dell has hit out at Francis Maude’s plans for cutting costs among ICT suppliers by claiming the coalition government’s approach to public sector procurement is too one-sided. The computer maker’s EMEA public sector services veep Ferenc Szelenyi made the comments this morning, following a meeting between the Cabinet …

    Channel Register 9 Jul 11:45

  • China renews Google's internet licence

    Mountain View outsources censorship to Beijing

    Google's internet licence has been renewed in China, after the company stopped automatically redirecting Google.cn users to its "uncensored" servers in Hong Kong. The world's largest ad broker added a brief update to its 28 June blog post in which it confirmed the licence renewal. "We are very pleased that the government has …

    Government 9 Jul 11:54

  • iPhone 4 burns, hurts owner

    His hand or his pride?

    Some bloke's iPhone 4 has reportedly caught fire. Well, kind of. What appears to be a duff USB port - whether on the handset or the device it was connected to isn't known, the marks on the cable's connector suggest the former - caused the conflagration which scorched the phone and melted the dock cable's plastic surround. …

    reghardware 9 Jul 12:02

  • T-Mobile tardily talks iPhone 4 tariffs

    How low do they go?

    Network operator T-Mobile has at last revealed its price-plans for the iPhone 4. With the announcement taking much longer than those of T-Mobile's counterparts, one might easily think T-Mobile had been studying existing deals to offer a competitive alternative. Maybe even undercut the undercutters. Hmm... wishful thinking. …

    reghardware 9 Jul 12:49

  • Business guru tries to silence bloggers over 'misleading' mailshot

    ASA aware and investigating

    A marketing mailshot, similar to one described as misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority in April, is reappearing in British offices across the country - and bloggers who complain are getting hit with threatening legal letters. The missive from Cardell Media looks like a handwritten envelope containing an article …

    Small Biz 9 Jul 12:55

  • .NET spell-checker trips over hypenation

    Does have integratet libaries and htesaurus, though

    Here's a top tip for purveyors of spell-checkers: use your spell-checker to spell check your blurb: Excellent stuff, and a round of applause for shattering the "library" misspelling world record. ® Bootnote Ta very much to Sandy Burger for the heads-up.

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 13:04

  • Reverse engineer extracts Skype crypto secret recipe

    VoIP service mulls legal action

    Cryptoanalysts have published what they claim is the secret recipe behind a Skype encryption algorithm. A group of code breakers led by Sean O’Neil reckon they have successfully reverse engineered Skype’s implementation of the RC4 cipher, one of several encryption technologies used by the consumer-oriented VoIP service. The …

    VoIP 9 Jul 13:13

  • El Reg marks Steve Jobs for termination

    Irate Yank claims assassination conspiracy

    It's come as quite a surprise to Vulture Central, but we've just found out that El Reg Strategy Boutique operative Philip Mitchell has been planning the assassination of Steve Jobs. The proof comes in the form of this teaser pic of Jobs we use to illustrate our insights into the wonderful world of Apple. According to one …

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 13:38

  • New dinosaur dubbed 'Mojoceratops' - 'over a few beers'

    'S'posed to use Greek, but this seemed more fun. Hic'

    A newly-discovered dinosaur has been officially named the "Mojoceratops". Apparently, beer was involved. Prehistoric head-frill mojo The discoverer of the new species is post-doctoral researcher Nicholas Longrich of Yale uni in the States, who found skulls and other evidence of the previously unrecognised species among …

    Biology 9 Jul 13:49

  • Treasury turns to Facebook for cut plans

    For f*ck's sake Osborne

    Facebook is no doubt celebrating today's free publicity provided by its supposed role in planning the UK's economic policy. In fact Facebook's role is limited to providing a link from its Democracy UK page, maintained by its PR company, to what looks like a micro-site cut and pasted from last week's YourFreedom website. The …

    Government 9 Jul 13:53

  • 'Bitter' priest blows $1.3m of church funds

    'Swanky hotels and male escorts'

    A "bitter" Connecticut priest blew $1.3m of his church's funds on "swanky hotels and male escorts", CNN reports. Father Kevin Gray, 64, is no longer a pastor at the Sacred Heart Church in Waterbury, having allegedly indulged in a spectacular, seven-year spending spree during which he splashed out on "fancy restaurants, …

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 14:29

  • Parliament misled over Climategate report, says MP

    Russell report is inadequate, says Stringer

    Parliament was misled and needs to re-examine the Climategate affair thoroughly after the failure of the Russell report, a leading backbench MP told us today. "It's not a whitewash, but it is inadequate," is Labour MP Graham Stringer's summary of the Russell inquiry report. Stringer is the only member of the House of Commons …

    Environment 9 Jul 14:54

  • Russian spies dumped in Vienna after swap

    Moscow should've just looked on the net, claims lawyer

    Russia and the US exchanged 14 agents at Vienna Airport in the biggest spy exchange since the end of the Cold War. The 10 Russians, members of the illegals network, including Anna Chapman, were deported from America after pleading guilty to acting as agents for Moscow. Money laundering charges were dropped. An eleventh suspect …

    Government 9 Jul 15:07

  • Telco sets honey pot for nuisance marketers

    Call centre spivs get dose of their own medicine

    A small telco has decided to turn the tables on irritating unsolicited calls by setting up a block of dummy phone numbers that play messages to trick marketers into lenghty and pointless sales pitches. The wheeze is the work of Andrews and Arnold (AAISP), a small business provider, and was prompted by a deluge of unsolicited …

    Telecoms 9 Jul 15:17

  • The weekend Brocade rumour

    Three potential buyers

    It may be just a fabric(sic)ation but rumour central has Dell, IBM and Juniper throwing their acquisitive hats into the ring for Brocade, with Brocade preferring to be bought by the big blue fairy godmother rather than taking a trip to Round Rock or drinking gin. Rumour number two is Dell buying Commvault. This one is a hoary …

    Blocks and Files 9 Jul 15:27

  • Rockstar reveals Red Dead refreshments

    More content for cowboy crazy gamers

    Wild West wannabes who can't get enough of the highly rated Red Dead Redemption, will be pleased to know new features are on the way. Following the recent release of the Free 'Outlaws to the End' co-operative mission pack, Rockstar has announced four downloadable packs containing new games, maps, characters and much more. …

    reghardware 9 Jul 15:31

  • Rockstar Social Club goes Red Dead

    Compete against the Rockstar team

    As well as announcing new downloadable content for Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar is promoting several RDR multiplayer events happening over the next few months through its Social Club. Eight scheduled events have been organised for users to play against members of the Rockstar team, including some of those who helped create …

    reghardware 9 Jul 15:31

  • RIM nemesis slaps patent suit on Apple, Google, Microsoft...

    NTP. They're baaaack

    NTP, the patent-holding firm that tortured Research in Motion (RIM) throughout the middle of the past decade is at it again. This time, its targets are Apple, Google, HTC, LG, Microsoft, and Motorola. "Use of NTP's intellectual property without a license is just plain unfair to NTP and its licensees," wrote NTP co-founder …

    Mobile 9 Jul 17:23

  • Web happy iPhone dev kit grants free evals

    Jobsian vision

    WorkLight is offering coders free access to an evaluation version of its multi-platform development suite, billed as a means of building, deploying, and managing applications for iPhones, Androids, BlackBerries, Windows and Mac desktops and notebooks, and the web. Access to the evaluation suite for development purposes is …

    Developer 9 Jul 18:21

  • Google versus Facebook: stop your photocopiers

    Open...and Shut Battle beyond Windows, Jobs, and Linux

    The desktop is dead. Just ask Microsoft and Apple. Or, better yet, ask Facebook and Google. Sure, we still use our desktops and laptops, mostly Windows PCs and Macs. What else would we use to draft our faxes? But the industry has moved on, and the petty squabbles over Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux no longer resonate like they once …

    Developer 9 Jul 18:43

  • Apple bars radiation nanny from App Store

    Jobsian police in shock moment of sanity

    Apple's App Store police are barring yet another app, but this time the developers are taking their cause to the public. "It doesn't use Flash, and it's not porn, so why the ban?" asks Scott Piro, a spokesman for Tawkon, the Israeli developer of the eponymous app. Well, possibly the best answer to that question is: "Because …

    Mobile 9 Jul 21:05

  • Yahoo!: the future is HTML5 (plus native code)

    Whatever Google says

    For Yahoo!, the future of mobile applications is HTML5. But that doesn't mean they'll run solely on the web. "I think you'll always have [mobile] applications with native components because you'll have some elements where native will be better optimized," Sandeep Gupta, the man who oversees Yahoo!'s mobile app development, …

    Developer 9 Jul 21:07