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5th August 2010 Archive

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  • Nokia C3

    Review Budget Qwertyphone that looks the business

    It might look like Nokia's high-powered, business-centric E72, but the C3 offers a stripped-down spec with a price to match and the emphasis on social networking with a full, hard-key Qwerty keyboard. Key feature: Nokia’s C3 The Nokia C3 isn't exactly tiny at 116 x58 x 14mm and 114g but its tapered edges mean it slides …

    reghardware 5 Aug 07:02

  • Alien spymobile menaces Street View

    Navteq geographic analysts prowl Blighty

    Google had better watch its back, because El Reg has obtained evidence that a powerful rival is about to poke Street View in its all-seeing eye. Check out the following vehicle, spotted on Monday in Banbury Road, Oxford, by reader Ian Chard. Note the sinister, four-camera spypod atop a big black box which doubtless contains …

    Bootnotes 5 Aug 07:05

  • iPhone 4 satisfaction high, but lower than iPhone 3GS

    Beleaguered AT&T not a fanboi favorite

    Results from a small-scale survey rating satisfaction among iPhone 4 owners were released Wednesday. The verdict? Mixed. ChangeWave Research, a self-described "independent research boutique", conducted a survey of 231 iPhone 4 owners to determine what they described as "one of the biggest unknowns" in the ongoing handset dust- …

    Mobile 5 Aug 07:45

  • Ofcom enlists 4-year-olds to boost dodgy DAB stats

    Unborn, recently deceased to follow?

    Ofcom has an interesting new definition of what constitutes a "radio listener". It now includes four-year-old children. And at a stroke, DAB radio's prospects suddenly look a lot healthier. Last month Ofcom released its "Digital Radio Report". One graph purports to demonstrate the reach of digital-only stations. Ofcom claims …

    Music and Media 5 Aug 08:02

  • HK 'Dog Man' jailed for voodoo ritual sex

    Fails to work his magic on judge

    A Hong Kong self-proclaimed voodoo master dubbed the "Dog Man", who engaged in ritual sex with a gullible 20-year-old student, has failed to work his magic on a judge and will spend the next 21 months behind bars. Acoustics technician Lo Fuk-yee, 64, was arrested last October on two counts of "obtaining unlawful sexual …

    Bootnotes 5 Aug 08:26

  • Monitoring for security effectiveness

    Workshop ROI beyond the bounds of security

    In the last of this mini-poll series, we wanted to find out whether the security monitoring mechanisms you have in place are seen as effective. To kick off, we should introduce a couple of factors we thought might make a difference, namely whether you want to monitor, and whether you have to monitor against security breaches. …

    Security that Fits 5 Aug 08:27

  • Report questions millions spent on NHS.crap

    4,121 websites cost £86m

    An internal report into the state of NHS websites found thousands of sites that were all but impossible for the public to find, badly designed when they did find them and irrelevant to their needs. The Department of Health's digital communications review managed to find 4,121 separate websites but 1,000 were no longer …

    Government 5 Aug 08:40

  • Naomi Campbell admits handling 'blood diamonds'

    Tells Charles Taylor's war crimes trial of 'dirty stones'

    Naomi Campbell has admitted that she was given diamonds in the form of "dirty stones" by henchmen of former Liberian president Charles Taylor. Campbell was subpoenaed to appear before the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague, where Taylor stands accused of 11 counts of war crimes in Sierra Leone, "including charges of murder, …

    Bootnotes 5 Aug 08:43

  • Swedes decline to FCKU2MF

    Vanity numberplate applicant told to eff off

    A Stockholm chap will not be inviting fellow motorists to FCKU2MF, after the Swedish Transport Agency, aka Transportstyrelsen, told him to take his vanity numberplate application and eff right off. Swedes have been able to apply for personalised plates since 2000, but the 6,000 kronor (£530) statements "may not be formed in …

    Bootnotes 5 Aug 09:27

  • Facebook gets mobile privacy

    And a new Android client too

    Social networkers stricken by a sudden attack of paranoia can relax - you can now adjust your Facebook privacy settings from the palm of your hand. Android users get a new client too, with embedded video playback and photograph management, but even Android users have to switch to the browser to adjust their privacy settings …

    ID 5 Aug 09:32

  • Treasury considers Coins replacement

    Project Oscar begins to take shape

    HM Treasury is looking at the possible replacement of the Combined Online Information System. A spokesperson for the department told GC News that work has begun on Project Oscar, which could possibly lead to the creation of a new database called the Online System for Central Accounting Reporting. If it is adopted, it would …

    Government 5 Aug 09:41

  • Solar plasma aurora storm ONGOING UPDATE

    Glowing green UK skies expected tonight

    As Earthlings have been going unconcernedly about their business this week, the biggest radiation storm for a decade has been lashing the planet. A mighty "solar tsunami" event on Sunday caused vast clouds of particles to belch from the Sun in our direction, and these have been piling into the planet's magnetic field since …

    Space 5 Aug 09:42

  • NetApp slims for Storage Foundation

    Goes on thin reclamation diet

    NetApp is supporting Symantec's thin reclamation API, almost two years after it was announced. Symantec announced its thin reclamation API as part of a Veritas Storage Foundation update in October 2008, with 3PAR first off the block in supporting it. IBM gave the API the thumbs up a year later. It solves a problem with thinly- …

    Storage 5 Aug 09:52

  • Virus writer charged with destroying property

    Squid virus targets pirates

    Japanese police have arrested a suspected virus writer over allegations he created and distributed an old-school virus that targeted freetards and destroyed data. Masato Nakatsuji, 27, from Osaka, allegedly created the "ika-tako" (squid-octopus) virus. The malware programmed to searched out and destroyed data files from file …

    Malware 5 Aug 10:34

  • IBM ditches DS6000

    Last cigarette for storage array

    IBM has withdrawn its DS6800 storage array from the market. The DS6000 product line provided enterprise-class storage array products positioned in a marketing sense underneath IBM's high-end DS8000 line. The market withdrawal, effective from June 11 this year, references a withdrawal announcement number 910-032. This is dated …

    Servers 5 Aug 10:41

  • Australia imposes parental lock for digital TVs

    No controversy here

    The Australian Communications Media Authority (ACMA) has searched for several months for a "technical standard to make parental lock a required feature of digital television receivers" sold in Australia. The fruits of its labours are published this week as The Broadcasting and Datacasting Services (Parental Lock) Technical …

    Music and Media 5 Aug 10:48

  • UK ICT classes killing kids' interest in tech

    Like PE lessons but with computers

    The Royal Society is to investigate why British schools are failing to interest children in information technology - and why numbers taking classes are falling so fast. Since 2006 there has been a 33 per cent fall in pupils taking ICT GCSEs, and numbers taking A-levels in ICT have fallen by a third in six years. The number of …

    Government 5 Aug 10:49

  • Lonely Planet augments muggers' earnings

    Wander around holiday hotspots with your phone at eye level

    Lonely Planet's latest Compass Guides offer Android handset-packing city visitors an augmented version of reality, if they aren't busy finding the perfect geek destination at FourEyesUp. Anyone planning a late summer trip might like to take a look at that new service, which promises to provide details of educational sites …

    Applications 5 Aug 10:57

  • Murdoch predicts iPads all round

    Still taking the tablets

    Rupert Murdoch is betting big on the iPad, claiming it heralds sales of "hundreds and hundreds of millions" for tablet computers, and a revitalised newspaper industry. His optimistic assessment was delivered as News Corp posted a net full-year profit of $2.5bn, reversing a $3.4bn loss a year earlier. TV and movies - including …

    Financial News 5 Aug 10:59

  • Google boss turns Wave demise into success of sorts

    'We're watching you - get used to it'

    Google boss Eric Schmidt has labelled Wave, which the company just ditched, “a very clever product”. He was speaking to reporters at the Techonomy conference yesterday, just hours after the Mountain View Chocolate Factory confirmed that it was dumping Wave because no one was tinkering with the minimalist and very shaky real- …

    Applications 5 Aug 11:25

  • Caretaker faces jail for putting abuse images on boss's laptop

    'Wickedly evil and vile plot'

    A school caretaker has been warned he faces a likely jail sentence for putting child sex abuse images on another caretaker's laptop. Neil Weiner, 39, of Dagenham, East London, also sent police a CD containing 177 child sex abuse images he claimed came from his co-worker's computer. Police acted on the information and found …

    Crime 5 Aug 11:26

  • Human hive-mind game whups computer boffinry ass

    Science glory for 57,000 protein-origami Tetris players

    Most Reg readers are familiar with the idea of ordinary laypersons contributing computer time to academic research, in distributed computing projects such as SETI@Home. But it turns out that in some kinds of science, human brainpower - not that of trained boffins, but everyday people - can be a much more valuable resource, and …

    Biology 5 Aug 11:55

  • Leicester Council's iPad can chair meetings

    Updated Tells dwindling staff it's not a 'luxury, must-have toy'

    A rattled Leicester City Council has reassured its staff that no extra cash has been splurged on iPads for its councillors because the four currently in use were paid for out of existing annual support packages. In an internal email dated 4 August and seen by The Register, the council’s boss Sheila Lock tried to draw a line …

    PCs & Chips 5 Aug 12:10

  • Aussie opposition will scrap firewall

    'The internet filter will not work'

    Joe Hockey, shadow treasurer, has told Australian radio that the Liberal Party will oppose the Australian government's planned compulsory net filter. Communications minister Stephen Conroy has staked his reputation on blocking content from the internet which would be censored if it were a film for cinema release. The …

    Government 5 Aug 12:11

  • Verizon, Google agree to bury net neutrality - reports

    Can we have our campaign back?

    Howls of outrage have greeted a report that Verizon and Google are discussing a framework for internet regulation. Politicians and regulators hope that a widely-accepted industry agreement will kill the net neutrality issue stone dead. Campaigners fear the same outcome. For where would that leave them? According to a report in …

    Telecoms 5 Aug 12:23

  • Brian Blessed lends his tongue to TomTom

    Drive, my Hawkmen, Drive...

    Brian Blessed will become the new sound of satnav this October after a Facebook group of 25,000 showed support. With no current TomTom voices similar to the actor's famous boom, Mancunian motorist Richard Gardner started the unwieldily-named Facebook group, Campaign to get Brian Blessed to do a voice-over for my sat nav, …

    reghardware 5 Aug 12:46

  • Ofcom sets out recompense for luvvies

    Find out what those old mics are worth

    Ofcom has published a rate card for professionals wanting to know how much they'll get in exchange for shifting frequencies, averaging out at just over half the cost of replacement kit. The compensation is for the Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) crowd who've been asked to shift frequencies to create a bigger block …

    Wireless 5 Aug 13:14

  • Want to use WD diagnostics? Buy Windows

    Linux lovers left out in the cold

    A Windows host must be used to run Western Digital disk drive diagnostic software, forcing Linux, Unix and other O/S users to buy a Windows system if they want to use it. This was the message given to Keith Edmunds of Tiger Computing, a company specialising in Linux, who suspected he had a problem with a pair of Caviar Green …

    Storage 5 Aug 13:16

  • Conficker's 6m strong botnet confounds security probes

    Analysis Cross-industry group baffled by super crypto shield of infamous botnet

    The unknown crooks behind the infamous Conficker worm may be quietly selling off parts of the huge botnet established by the malware, but virus fighters have no way of knowing because the cryptographic defences of its command and control network have proved uncrackable. Conficker (aka Downadup) first appeared in November 2008 …

    Malware 5 Aug 13:28

  • Feds admit storing pervscanner pics

    Court captures 35,000 naked ghosts

    US Marshals have built a collection of more than 35,000 "virtual strip search" body scans at one Florida courthouse in just six months, despite wider assurances the technology cannot store images, it's been revealed. The service has installed a millimetre wave scanner at a federal court in Orlando to detect concealed weapons …

    Law 5 Aug 13:34

  • Carphone's music service to seek and destroy freetards?

    We know where you've been

    Carphone Warehouse's music streaming and locker service has plenty going for it - not least the price. The £29 a year subscription offers much more than Spotify, but at a quarter of the price. But one small item in the terms and conditions has caused a fuss. The service uploads the metadata from your music library to Music …

    Music and Media 5 Aug 13:49

  • Philips pumps out 7605 LCD TV series into the UK

    LED to the side

    Philips has begun flogging its latest collection of LCD TVs, the 7605 range, in the UK. At 42mm deep and available in 32, 37, 40 and 46in versions, the 7605s are the first Philips mid-range sets to use edge-lit LED technology. Prices range from £850 - £1500 With a contrast ratio of 500,000:1, a 100Hz panel and Pixel Precise …

    reghardware 5 Aug 13:57

  • Navy SEALs to deploy armoured dogs in A'stan

    Elite, bulletproof commando canines go to war

    Latest from the Wars On Stuff: The Register has learned that top-secret, super-elite US Navy SEAL special forces are to deploy heavily armoured bulletproof dogs equipped with infrared nightsight cameras and an "intruder communication system" able to penetrate concrete walls. No sky too high - perhaps some seas too deep …

    Biology 5 Aug 14:08

  • eBay car vendor flashes wedding tackle

    Claims accidental upload for bathroom shocker

    The vendor of a green 1996 MG MGF is likely to attract a fair bit of attention to his eBay auction after partially flashing his dangly bits on the world's favourite tat bazaar: This lunchtime, the semi-naked sports convertible owner wrote: Please note one of the pictures uploaded was NOT meant to be! I cant delete it ( …

    Bootnotes 5 Aug 14:09

  • Orange jumps on BlackBerry Torch bandwagon

    RIM holds a torch for 02?

    Yesterday, we wrote that Vodafone was to sell RIM's BlackBerry Torch 9800 in the UK. Our headline was wrong - we used the word 'exclusive', when we should have written first of the block - and we have changed the headline to reflect this. For unlike the US where AT&T is getting a first run, RIM is spreading its affections …

    reghardware 5 Aug 15:08

  • Clearwire puzzles over LTE migration

    Take two wireless standards to the airwaves?

    Clearwire will start working out how to migrate to LTE, the world’s 4G standard, and whether it will cause problems with the firm's existing WiMAX network. Clearwire runs a WiMAX network across dozens of US cities, offering “4G” connectivity through dongle modems, an innovative iPad case and one handset. But the company has …

    Telecoms 5 Aug 15:24

  • Microsoft dry-cleans browser trousers ready for IE 9 beta

    Slings out final, Acid3-happy preview to testers

    Microsoft completed its round of pre-beta tests of the company’s upcoming Internet Explorer 9 by releasing the fourth and final platform preview of the software yesterday. The next time the vendor pushes out an IE 9 update it will come in beta form. Presumably that test version of the browser will arrive at some point in the …

    Developer 5 Aug 15:25

  • Amazon opens UK Kindle store doors to teeming hordes

    Let the price war begin

    Amazon today opened its UK Kindle store for business and is offering popular e-books at massive discounts. The online retailer has already established a Top 10 best sellers league, and prices are between 50 per cent and 66 per cent off list prices, The Bookseller says. Helpfully, for us, this trade publication has checked out …

    reghardware 5 Aug 15:51

  • Indonesia joins BlackBerry wiretapping pile-on

    Stops short of ban threat

    Indonesia has joined Middle Eastern states to put pressure on RIM to provide authorities with BlackBerry interception capabilities. Today its communications regulator toned down earlier rhetoric, however, saying "so far there is absolutely no plan" to follow the UAE and Saudi Arabia in threatening to restrict BlackBerry …

    Policing 5 Aug 15:54

  • Comedy Central HD hits the UK

    A better quality of laughter?

    An HD version of Comedy Central arrives in the UK this month, with Sky Digital first to broadcast, shortly followed by Virgin Media. Launched in the US back in January 2009, Comedy Central HD will finally cross the water and join an on-growing list of High Definition channels available to the UK. Cindy Rose, executive …

    reghardware 5 Aug 16:25

  • Cracking software retrieves iPhone 4 passwords

    No jailbreaking necessary

    A Russian password-cracking company has released software it says can recover passwords stored on Apple's latest iPhone without modifying the device or any of the data stored on it. ElcomSoft of Moscow says the latest version of its iPhone Password Breaker will recover the encrypted keychains that the iPhone 4 uses to store …

    Security 5 Aug 16:41

  • Teradata records historic second quarter

    Pent-up demand builds

    Data warehousing pioneer Teradata has posted yet another strong quarter, begging the question (once again) what NCR was thinking when it let go of the company. Mike Koehler, Teradata president and chief executive officer, said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts Thursday morning the company booked the best second …

    Storage 5 Aug 16:53

  • Adobe plans emergency patch for critical Reader bug

    That was fast

    Adobe plans to release an emergency update patching a critical vulnerability in its ubiquitous Reader application that was disclosed at last week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. The fix will be made available during the week of August 16 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix versions of Adobe Reader 9.3.3, company …

    Malware 5 Aug 17:25

  • Why the mobile App Store bubble will burst

    And why Ovi will fail

    The rush to pour resources into mobile App Stores is doomed to fail, reckons one analyst, in a scathing overview of both the scene, and Nokia's prospects. Marek Pawlowski, who organises the MEX conference writes: "The ever increasing complexity and number of these developer programmes is driving billions of dollars of …

    Mobile 5 Aug 17:59

  • IE9's Acid, speed and HTML5 trip to land lost surfers

    Review Microsoft back in the browser wars

    The browser wars have taken a fresh twist with Microsoft's release of the fourth - and final - preview of Internet Explorer 9 before the beta in September. The notable features are that it has improved standards support to the extent that it scores 95 per cent on the Acid 3 CSS test, that its JavaScript and graphics …

    Applications 5 Aug 18:04

  • Ballmer's 'lost generation' note finds resonance

    Bad, getting worse — for Windows

    At least one seasoned analyst agrees with Steve Ballmer's admission Microsoft has "lost a generation" of users — but from this number-cruncher's point of view, the situation is worse than Microsoft's CEO concedes. "Our research is indicating that Microsoft is unable to connect with the new generation of users," wrote Global …

    Software 5 Aug 18:13

  • Microsoft to set record with next Patch Tuesday

    14 patches, eight critical

    Microsoft's security patch release scheduled for next week will include a record number of bulletins that fix dozens of vulnerabilities in several of its products, the company said on Thursday. The next Patch Tuesday, scheduled for August 10, will include 14 bulletins, eight of which are rated critical, Microsoft's highest …

    Malware 5 Aug 18:43

  • Oracle chops Sun HPC jobs

    Will talk systems next week

    The word coming out of the Sun portion of software giant and seemingly enthusiastic hardware supplier Oracle is that the axe has fallen on the company's HPC group. While details are scarce — just the way Oracle likes it — El Reg hears from sources familiar with the matter that layoffs took place last week, with most of the HPC …

    HPC 5 Aug 19:52

  • Google, Verizon deny secret FCC end run

    Network neutrality battle cranks up to 11

    As The Reg reported early Thursday, the Wall Street Journal claims that Google and Verizon are in talks to create a tiered pay system for content. The same sub-rosa confabs were also cited by The New York Times, which said that an agreement could be reached "as soon as next week". According to the WSJ, "a tentative agreement …

    Government 5 Aug 21:44