The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

8th September 2010 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • 'Copyright troll' seeks $150,000 from republican candidate

    When infringement is big business

    A copyright enforcement service has filed a lawsuit seeking $150,000 from Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle for posting two newspaper articles without authorization. The complaint, which was filed in US District Court in Las Vegas, is at least the 117th lawsuit to be filed since March by Righthaven LLC, a …

    Music and Media 8 Sep 00:36

  • Firefox 4 beta gets hard on Windows

    Drops 60s psychedelia API

    Mozilla has released a fifth Firefox 4 beta, offering graphics hardware acceleration on Windows and a new API that lets site developers code pages that visually display audio data inside the browser. "The latest update to Firefox 4 Beta brings super fast graphics and incredible new audio capabilities to the Web," reads a blog …

    Applications 8 Sep 00:43

  • What does the Hurd mentality bring to Oracle?

    Comment Wielding the executioner's axe for Ellison

    It's going to be a long time before Oracle can take on the likes of HP and IBM for the IT-market crown. But before he retires, you can bet Larry Ellison's last billion bucks that he most surely wants to become the dominant systems supplier in the data center. This goal is not as unattainable as it might seem, especially now …

    Business 8 Sep 06:00

  • Intel Sandy Bridge preps for AMD Fusion fracas

    Monday unveiling

    At next week's Intel Developer Forum, Chipzilla will unveil its long-awaited Sandy Bridge microarchitecture — and the more we learn about it, the more it appears to share with AMD's oh-so-late Fusion effort. After architecture-group headman David Perlmutter unveils the Intel's "next generation" microarchitecture in his Monday- …

    Servers 8 Sep 06:00

  • Nokia Home Music HD-1

    Review The Great Lost Jukebox turns up in captivity

    Best known today for its mobile phones, Nokia has released a connected jukebox at a knock down price. Nokia Home Music is an unusual beast: essentially it's a radio – primarily an Internet radio – built around a giant mono 10W speaker, but there's a Swiss Army knife selection of I/O options for getting music in and out of the …

    reghardware 8 Sep 07:00

  • Web-happy iPhone dev kit gets Jobsian silent treatment

    Like Unity. Like Titanium

    Much like the San Francisco-based startup Unity, Appcelerator has asked Apple if iPhone applications coded with its dev kit violate the new Jobsian rule against the use of languages other than Objective C, C, or C++. And like Unity, Appcelerator hasn't received an answer. "We've talked to them. They are aware of what we're …

    Developer 8 Sep 07:00

  • Apple flooded by Japanese iPod battery swaps

    Five thousand fixes in three weeks

    In the three weeks following its offer to replace the batteries in overheating first-generation iPod nanos, Apple Japan swapped out a total of 4,994 suspect cells. Apple made the offer in early August under pressure from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which had previously asked Apple for more …

    Music and Media 8 Sep 08:00

  • Nokia names N8 release date, pricing

    Much in demand, apparently

    Nokia's N8 smartphone will go on sale at the end of this month priced at £429 for the SIM-free version, the Finnish phone giant said today. The Pamela Anderson-promoted handset will arrive in the "last week of September" - presumably Monday the 27th - at Nokia's online store, before appearing on carriers and retailers websites …

    reghardware 8 Sep 08:22

  • Flaming work laptop toasts cottage

    Did dodgy battery cause £350,000 of damage?

    A retired schools inspector is suing her former employer because her work laptop allegedly set fire to to her thatched cottage, causing £350,000 of damage. The case, currently before the High Court, could have serious implications for any company which lets staff work from home. The inspector, Eileen Visser, is taking action …

    PCs & Chips 8 Sep 08:33

  • Vodafone gets out of China

    Turning a tidy profit on the deal

    Vodafone is planning to raise $4.3bn selling its stake in China Mobile, and will be handing most of the cash to its shareholders. The deal will be done through an "accelerated bookbuilt" arrangement, backed by some of the more popular investment banks. About a third of the money will be dropped into Vodafone's existing debt, …

    Mobile 8 Sep 08:54

  • RIM goes for Documents To Go

    BlackBerry chalks up another acquisition

    BlackBerry maker RIM has apparently bought out DataViz, publisher of the popular Documents To Go, in a deal worth $50m in cash. The acquisition is being reported by the Crackberry blog, and while we've not had confirmation from either company CNET says that DataViz has confirmed that "RIM has acquired some of the assets of …

    Mobile 8 Sep 09:02

  • Cisco & Citrix marry on virty PCs

    A bundle of Windows 7 joy

    It looks like someone didn't get the deal done in time for the VMworld virtualization and cloud extravaganza last week. Today, server wannabe and networking giant Cisco Systems and virtualization player Citrix Systems will announce their first partnership, bundling up the XenDesktop Swiss army knife of desktop and application …

    Virtualization 8 Sep 09:03

  • BT takes 40% of CfH spending

    CSC gets a pittance

    Connecting for Health spent £470m with BT last year, more than twice as much as went to CSC. BT's dominance of health service IT has been revealed by government figures showing the firm received more than two-fifths of NHS Connecting for Health's 2009-10 £1.1bn supplier budget. The data, released by the Department of Health ( …

    Government 8 Sep 09:13

  • Pliant does MLC flash

    Cheaper flash storage array drives

    The march of MLC flash into mainstream enterprise storage took another step forward today as Pliant launched its Enterprise Flash Disk (EFD) products. Pliant is a startup focused on competing with industry leader STEC to supply solid state drives (SSD) as hard disk drive replacements for storage arrays, where they provide a …

    Storage 8 Sep 09:18

  • Nikon updates Coolpix range-topper

    Tasty

    Nikon has introduced a new top-of-the-range Coolpix compact camera, this one coming in above the previous line leader, the P6000. No surprise that it's called the P7000, then. Nikon is doing a Canon here. Canon's premium PowerShot G11 had a lower megapixel count than its predecessor, the better to reduce picture noise and in …

    reghardware 8 Sep 09:29

  • O2 rolls out early-bird ticket app

    Fast access to priority bookings

    O2 has been tempting existing and potential customers with the carrot of early access to event bookings for some time. Now it's made getting hold of tickets easier. Well, for iPhone owners at any rate, though the operator did promise today that Android and WebOS versions are in the pipeline. You need to register - enter your …

    reghardware 8 Sep 09:59

  • MS prices up Xbox 360 Kinect console combo

    250GB bundle

    Microsoft has priced up the Xbox 360 Kinect bundle it's hoping will tempt console-less consumers when the motion control tech launches on 10 November. An Xbox 360 250GB bundled with a Kinect sensor and a Kinect Adventures game pack will set you back £300. It's $399 in the US, which is, give or take a pound or three, exactly …

    reghardware 8 Sep 10:24

  • UK hacker fined for personnel database mischief

    Email salary details to everyone ploy foiled

    A court has ordered a UK hacker to pay compensation after he used a purloined laptop to hack into his ex-employer's personnel database. Colin Parker, 31, gained unauthorised access to staff contracts containing salary details and emailed this to around 400 workers at his ex-employer, CHI and Partners. Parker's attempt to …

    Crime 8 Sep 10:26

  • Bullish analysts: N8 will save Nokia

    What's Finnish for Jesus?

    Strong operator demand for new kit from Nokia means the company may be emerging from its darkest period in modern history, according to a report from Morgan Stanley. The company reckons the N8 camera phone, the first Symbian^3 device, will gross around €1bn in operating profit next year, and raised its rating and target price …

    Mobile 8 Sep 10:28

  • Eric Schmidt warns Berliners: 'We know where you are'

    Be happy, and hand over your memory to Google

    Eric Schmidt did his best to raise the bar on his harshest critics yesterday, by telling an audience in Berlin that "we know where you are, we know what you like". A week after the US www.consumerwatchdog.org launched a campaign portraying Schmidt as a "privacy pervert", the Google CEO chose an audience in Germany to deliver a …

    Government 8 Sep 10:33

  • Save us from our users

    Sysadmin blog Doomsday Weekend 3: sometimes a god complex isn't a bad idea

    Many sysadmins among us certainly have a god complex. The truth is, no matter how well-prepared for a large project we try to be, we can't control our users. I took great pride before Doomsday Weekend in typing detailed emails about the changes that users should expect to see. The documents were necessary. They helped users …

    Desktop Mgmt Blog 8 Sep 10:45

  • Samsung scents strong Android tablet sales

    We'll sell 10m in a year, predicts exec

    Watch out, Apple, Samsung wants your market share. The South Korean giant has forecast that its Galaxy Tab 7in Android tablet will account for a third of the slate market by this time next year. To do so, Samsung expects to sell 10m of the things, the vast majority through network operators, company executive Hankil Yoon told …

    reghardware 8 Sep 10:57

  • Sussex police try new tactic to relieve snappers of pics

    Section 19. Nanananana..........

    The problem of police decision-making on who is permitted to take photographs of what is highlighted again in a disturbing incident at the weekend, where film was seized at an anti-fascist protest in Brighton. According to a statement by Sussex Police: "Under Section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act [1984], an …

    Policing 8 Sep 11:07

  • Cattle-burp eco menace mastered - by oregano

    Herbal belch-squelch method also offers milky bonus

    A bovo-boffin in Pennsylvania says he has saved life on planet Earth from being gradually stifled into extinction by burgeoning clouds of cattle-belch methane. The solution is apparently to feed cows oregano. "Cattle are actually a major producer of methane gas and methane is a significant greenhouse gas," says Alexander …

    Environment 8 Sep 11:16

  • Safari and Firefox updates plug critical holes

    Drive-by download guard

    Tuesday marked a busy day for alternative browser security updates with patches from both Apple and Mozilla. An update to Apple's Safari browser resolves three vulnerabilities for Windows and two for OS X. One of the flaws is particular to Windows while the other two involve Safari's WebKit engine and affect both Mac and Win …

    Applications 8 Sep 11:21

  • Fourth-gen iPod Shuffle dissected

    Miniaturisation 1, Repairability 0

    The gadget take-apart guys at iFixit.com rate Apple's latest generation of iPod Shuffle at two out ten when evaluating the ease with which the device can be repaired. In other words, it's next to impossible - "you have to break it to open it", says iFixit. Of course, it is a forty quid music player - even Apple won't bother …

    reghardware 8 Sep 11:29

  • New mid-range product coming from EMC

    Early 2011

    EMC will introduce a new mid-range storage product in early 2011. EMC's chief financial officer, David Goulden, said the new product will refresh the low-end of EMC's mid-range storage array product portfolio, currently supplied with its CLARiiON and Celerra products. He was addressing an investor conference yesterday …

    Storage 8 Sep 11:32

  • Assange asks for new lawyer

    Denies blaming CIA for 'smear'

    Julian Assange has requested a new lawyer to represent him during a rape investigation in Sweden because his previous brief, Leif Silbersky, was not engaged enough with the case. Assange wants Bjorn Hurtig to represent him as authorities continue to investigate the allegations, according to AP. Various alleged Wikileaks …

    Law 8 Sep 11:49

  • Cisco pays millions to end DoJ probe

    Overcharging claims settled

    Cisco Systems and distie Westcon Group North America, owned by South African firm Datatec, are to pay $48m to end an investigation by the US Department of Justice into overcharging. The multi-million dollar settlement will end an investigation into allegations that the two companies knowingly provided incomplete information …

    Channel Register 8 Sep 11:59

  • Two-lane BRIDGE FOUND ON FAR SIDE OF THE MOON!

    Boffins still sceptical of alien/Elvis involvement

    In blockbusting news, a NASA spacecraft has discovered a bridge wide enough to carry a two-lane road on the far side of the Moon. Not so good for playing pooh-sticks. Images sent back by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as it sailed above the King Crater caused excitement among investigating boffins on Earth as the …

    Space 8 Sep 12:21

  • Coalition launches extradition treaty review

    Aims for fairness across the pond

    The controversial extradition treaty between the US and the UK is to be reviewed by the government. Critics argue the current system is unfair because it allows British suspects to be extradited to the US without the need to present evidence before a British court. British requests to extradite US suspects here, by contrast, …

    Government 8 Sep 12:43

  • Think tank rages at NHS' £700 bill for fertility clinic porn

    Sperm donation no excuse for viewing smut

    A right-leaning Health think tank has condemned the NHS for spending £700 a year on porn to assist male visitors to fertility clinics to produce samples. 2020health.org called for an immediate ban on the provision of such material, and suggested if men can't produce samples by willpower alone that they should produce their …

    Biology 8 Sep 13:14

  • Google squirrels into human brains with Scribe experiment

    Sounds like a subdural hematoma to me

    Google has created an atmosphere of McCarthyism and a postage stamp-sized image of what the hell the world will look like if us hacks use the firm's latest creepy tool, dubbed Scribe. In case you're wondering, the opening sentence of this story was written (almost entirely) in the latest feature to hit Google Labs, which is …

    Applications 8 Sep 13:23

  • Consultants bag £37m from failed e-Borders contract

    Project reopening to tender

    The Home Office paid more than £37m to just one consultancy for advice on the e-Borders contract, which was torn up by the coalition after the election. The advisory payments to Deloitte compare to the £750m cost of the floundering project to record details of every traveller into and out of the UK. Trusted Borders, the …

    Government 8 Sep 13:31

  • Three picks up the Tab

    Network to punt Samsung Android tablet

    Three has become the latest UK operator to tout tablets: specifically Samsung's Android-based Galaxy Tab. The 7in offering is "coming soon", the network said, but not soon enough for it to reveal device pricing. But Three did say it will offer £10 and £15 monthly voice contracts, respectively bundling 100 any-network voice …

    reghardware 8 Sep 13:37

  • Reg hack celebrates happy event

    Vulture Central welcomes new asinine arrival

    The IT angle obsessionists among you are not going to like this one bit, but we're delighted to announce that El Reg's Iberian Bureau today welcomed a new member to the Vulture Central fold, in the form of a small but perfectly-formed donkey foal, or buche, as they're known in these parts. The lad in question is being well …

    Bootnotes 8 Sep 13:38

  • Ofcom gives 3G upgrade thumbs-up

    But it'll kill all the bees and then we'll all die!

    Ofcom has decided to let 3G networks up their broadcast power, but only by half of what it had proposed: for the sake of 3 rather than the bees. The death of all bees was predicted by one of the more colourful respondents to Ofcom's consultation on the matter; others were concerned about signal leakage and more general health …

    Mobile 8 Sep 13:50

  • Software update to convert Humax set-top box to DVR

    Bring your own USB storage

    Humax will next month roll out a firmware update that will allow its HD-Fox T2 Freeview HD set-top box to record programmes on USB-connected storage devices. The T2 is a single-tuner device, so the update won't bring the box full DVR functionality, but you'll get the ability to pause and rewind live broadcasts. You'll also …

    reghardware 8 Sep 14:29

  • BioWare zeroes in on Mass Effect download snafu

    Fans treated to 1.5GB of 0s

    Top marks to BioWare which yesterday pumped out a downloadable module for Mass Effect 2. The only problem: the DLC consisted of nothing but zeros - all 1.5GB of it. Dubbed Lair of the Shadowbroker, the DLC went live yesterday evening. Within minutes, fans reported that the installer failed to work on their PCs. At first, …

    reghardware 8 Sep 14:30

  • Google search button is, like, so 2009 - or something

    Is this an invite to a necktie party, Reverend?

    Google’s search engine doodle turned from the somewhat troublesome bouncy balls to a shade of chrome today in the build-up to the company’s web search event in San Francisco. Ahead of that, there’s been speculation about what the ad broker will announce. Google has already hinted that its doodle has something to do with the …

    Applications 8 Sep 14:44

  • iOS 4.1 out today, iPhone hackers say

    Jailbreakers beware

    Hackers at the iPhone Dev Team think Apple will begin pushing out iOS 4.1 today - and warn anyone keen to jailbreak their handset to leave the update well alone. "Don’t accept it… it’s a trap!" they say. The reason? iOS 4.1 will update the iPhone's modem software, potentially blocking future attempts to unlock the phone. " …

    reghardware 8 Sep 14:56

  • Brits don't want in-flight calling

    Er, too late, probably. Sorry

    A new survey reveals that the majority of Brits don't want regulations on in-flight calling relaxed... a shame since those regulations were relaxed more than two years ago. Online store Mobile Phone Expert asked more than 1500 people if they "welcomed the change in legislation that allows passengers to use their mobile phones …

    Mobile 8 Sep 15:12

  • Has HP blundered big time?

    Ejected CEO joins Ellison

    Oh dear HP, what have you done, what Pandora's box have you opened to unleash terror and despair on yourself? This is all to do with ejected HP CEO Mark Hurd who is joining Oracle as its co-president. You couldn't get this okay'd as a film script; a famously successful CEO of HP, who made it the largest IT supplier in the …

    Blocks and Files 8 Sep 15:21

  • HP punts MicroServer for SMBs

    Honey, I shrunk the ProLiants

    Hewlett-Packard is keen on scaring up some business at small and medium businesses, and today will dust off the old MicroServer brand from Digital Equipment and slap it on a new entry ProLiant x64 server aimed expressly at cheapskates who don't want or need a full-on ProLiant tower, rack, or blade box. It may look a bit like a …

    Servers 8 Sep 16:13

  • Google pulls trigger on 'Instant' search engine

    Updated Results rejig as you type

    Update: This story has been continually updated with additional info from Google's press event. Google has unveiled what it calls Google Instant, a "streaming" version of its search engine that rejigs results pages in "real-time" as you type individual characters into its search box. "Today's announcement does represent what …

    Music and Media 8 Sep 17:00

  • Apple releases iOS 4.1 into the wild

    Old devices need not apply

    Apple has released iOS 4.1, which Steve Jobs outlined in his presentation one week ago, during which he also introduced Cupertino's new iPods, revamped Apple TV, and iTunes-based music sales social networking effort, Ping. Although the update can be installed on the iPhone 4, 3GS, and 3G, plus the iPod touch second-generation …

    Operating Systems 8 Sep 18:30

  • Hurd to take $950,000 salary after Oracle pay cut

    Shares and $10m bonus topper upper in play

    Mark Hurd will take a 25 per cent pay cut to work for Larry Ellison — if HP fails in its legal maneuver to block the Oracle CEO's audacious hire. Ellison has offered HP's former chief a salary of $950,000 as an Oracle president and board member — stratospheric by mortal standards, but down from Hurd's $1.27m take at HP. Hurd …

    Business 8 Sep 18:37

  • Adobe Reader 0day under active attack

    No mitigations for click-and-get-hacked exploit

    Researchers have uncovered sophisticated attack code circulating on the net that exploits a critical vulnerability in the most recent version of Adobe Reader. The click-and-get-hacked exploit spreads through email that contains a booby-trapped PDF file that remains virtually undetected by most anti-virus programs, according to …

    Security 8 Sep 19:13

  • Netezza, Symantec jump on takeover rumors

    Eat or be eaten

    The global economy might not be on the mend as much as we would like, but there are plenty of IT behemoths sitting on big bags of cash, and tongues are a-wagging today about data warehousing appliance maker Netezza and security and systems software maker Symantec both being possible takeover targets. It's hard not to be …

    Financial News 8 Sep 20:59

  • NoSQL CouchDB founder turns to phone and cloud services

    CouchIO no more

    NoSQL start-up CouchIO is targeting mobile and clouds after just a year of trying to monetize the company's CouchDB document store. CouchIO has changed its name to CouchOne while unveiling CouchOne Mobile, which puts the open-source, non-relational store on handsets. It has announced plans to start charging for CouchOne …

    Developer 8 Sep 22:26

  • Appro sells another flash-happy HPC cluster

    Trestles gives Opteron 6100s some love

    Appro International, the upstart HPC cluster maker, has got another big order from its biggest customer, the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The new machine is called "Trestles" because it is a bridge system until the 245 teraflops "Gordon" super is installed next year. But the Trestles box will weigh in at 100 teraflops, have …

    HPC 8 Sep 23:32

  • Microsoft wins court order crushing mighty spam botnet

    Waledac's 276 domain names seized

    A federal magistrate judge has recommended that Microsoft be given ownership of 276 internet addresses used to control “Waledac,” a massive botnet that the software company has been working to bring down. The recommendation by Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson of the US District Court for Eastern Virginia is a victory in …

    Malware 8 Sep 23:53

  • Amazon buys (some of) digital music site Amie Street

    Founders sing a new Songza

    Digital music site Amie Street has been bought by Amazon, but the founders of the user-fueled music service aren't abandoning their efforts to bring social networking to music lovers. "We've been straddling two spaces for years now — streaming and download," Amie Street cofounder Elias Roman told The Reg. "We've basically been …

    Financial News 8 Sep 23:58