15th September 2010 Archive

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Twitter facelifts its homepage

Endless stream of mini-messages still there

Twitter has revamped its homepage, offering a brand new microblogging UI that serves up more stuff alongside your collection of self-serving mini-messages – from embedded photos and videos to geolocation tags. "We’re introducing a new, re-engineered Twitter.com that provides an easier, faster, and richer experience," Twitter …

Music and Media 15 Sep 2010, 04:36
Google dismisses engineer who violated privacy policy

Security audits 'significantly increased'

Google has dismissed an engineer who had access to its back-end systems after he violated the company's internal privacy policies. On Tuesday, Gawker reported that the engineer, David Barksdale, was dismissed in July after he accessed at least four user accounts. And Google later released a statement confirming the dismissal …

ID 15 Sep 2010, 04:57
Intel and VC friends kick cash to IT startups

Windfall for Adaptive Computing, Joyent

Intel is spreading some of its cash around to help prop up a number of companies that will help it take on its foes in the data center and on the desktop. The company's Intel Capital venture funding unit today announced that it has filled the coffers of four small companies hoping to make a big impact in IT with over $30m. …

Financial News 15 Sep 2010, 05:00
Apple iPod Nano 6G

Review Finger tapping good?

Apple can’t seem to make up its mind about the iPod Nano. The new model that Steve Jobs unveiled recently is the 6th generation version of the Nano, and it seems as though each new generation has undergone a fairly major redesign. In fact, I’ve seen something similar before in the 3rd generation ‘phat’ Nano, which also had a …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 07:00
Capgemini signs MoU with Cabinet Office

Shakes hands on cost cutting

A second major vendor has announced what it calls an "outstanding new agreement" with the government. Further to discussions with Cabinet Office minister and chair of the Efficiency and Reform Group Francis Maude about cost cutting, the company announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding. It said on 13 …

Government 15 Sep 2010, 07:55
FSFE calls on governments to stop pushing Adobe Reader

Free advertising

Free software and open standards advocates are encouraging web users to put pressure on governments not to 'advertise' proprietary Adobe software as a tool for reading documents created in PDF format. Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is asking users to conduct a month-long 'hunt' for examples of what it says is the …

Applications 15 Sep 2010, 08:02
Hands on with Nokia's E7

Video Communicator heir gets aired

At Nokia World the E7 was described as being built on the Communicator 9000 heritage. You can judge for yourself in this demonstration that shows off the user interface and e-mail features of this Symbian^3 smartphone. The E7's HDMI output even drives a monitor and there's the USB On The Go storage accessory, which enables easy …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 08:42
Lego and RM plot robot future

Doing it for the kids

Lego's Education division is entering an exclusive distribution deal with school computer supplier RM. RM's subsidiary Dacta will get its hands on Lego's products - from early learning toys to more complicated robots and mechanical products to help kids pick up hands-on building skills, teamwork and mechanical skills. The …

Channel Register 15 Sep 2010, 09:11
Dell comes clean on open source

Froyo Streak hotly anticipated

Dell has provided the code needed to compile a Streak ROM, finally becoming compliant with the Open Source licence, and not before time. The more technical Dell Streak owner will this morning be celebrating the availability of source code for the Streak‘s hardware drivers. This code allows fans to compile their own Android …

Mobile 15 Sep 2010, 09:19
Mozilla puts brakes on auto Firefox updates

Newborn browser suffers crash probs

Patch Tuesday from Microsoft coincided with browser updates from both Mozilla and Google this month. Mozilla released a new version of Firefox 4 Beta that's designed to fix a pair of stability bugs that caused problems for some testers. One of the tweaks addresses a problem with plugins for the Mac version of the browser that …

Enterprise Security 15 Sep 2010, 09:33
Steve Jobs no ninja, says Apple

That's just what you'd expect a ninja to say

Apple has denied that Steve Jobs is a ninja and dismissed reports that he was stopped at a Japanese airport with a set of throwing death stars in his hand luggage. But before Jobs' more paranoid rivals in Silicon Valley relax, they should consider that this is exactly the sort of corporate response you'd expect to the …

Bootnotes 15 Sep 2010, 09:38
Girl, 3, buys iPad apps, using mum's credit card

Should go far

A Sydney toddler bought AU$50 worth of apps using the family iPad, while her parents' backs were turned. Sienna Leigh, 3, was able to buy some games from the Apple Apps Store, because, her mother, Lisa, 29 says: "It turns out that after you buy one app, which I had bought for her, it doesn't ask for the password straight away …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 11:01
Social Schmidt eyes up Facebook integration

Whether Zuck likes it or not. Ha!

Eric Schmidt took a passive-aggressive stance towards Facebook yesterday as he outlined the search'n'ads giant's plans for social networking. Speaking at the Zeitgeist conference in Arizona, Schmidt said Google's product lineup would get more social networking add-ons by the end of this year. According to sources quoted by …

Applications 15 Sep 2010, 11:02
The Ringtone tolls for Nokia Brother Number Two

Nokia World Farewell, Anssi – and farewell S60

As Nokia World began yesterday, speculation buzzed about the identity of the two opening keynote speakers. The line-up had been settled months ago. First on the bill was CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, but he was defenestrated on Friday. And yesterday, the second keynote speaker on the bill, Anssi Vanjoki, announced that he'd be …

Mobile 15 Sep 2010, 11:02
Public sector earning more than private, but less than last month

Lies, damned lies and statistics

Public sector workers, even excluding financial services staff, earn more than those in the private sector. Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that average total pay including bonuses in the private sector was £451 a week in July 2010 while in the public sector it was £464. Excluding financial services …

Government 15 Sep 2010, 11:08
Blizzard issues fatwa against Starcraft II cheaters

Virtual death for virtual dishonour

Blizzard is threatening to permanently ban Starcraft II players, found to "be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form. "This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play StarCraft II with his or her account,” Blizzard said yesterday. This is hardly new news as Blizzard already …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 11:21
Cyber security challenge organisers in email privacy blunder

Updated Carbon copy oversight

Organisers of the UK's cyber security challenge committed an embarrassing email blunder by inadvertently revealing the email addresses of everyone who entered a forensics challenge to each other. A single challenge registration confirmation email was CCed to everyone who entered, handing over a complete email list in the …

Enterprise Security 15 Sep 2010, 11:23
Facebook fudges policy in page-purging pickle

Aus net filter bad - gay pride threats, er... we'll get back to you

Facebook yesterday vigorously denied suggestions that it responds selectively to complaints, or that it favours the blocking of politically progressive links over the slightly more reactionary. Still, there are red faces today at Facebook Central over the strange and divergent fate of two controversial pages. First up is the …

Music and Media 15 Sep 2010, 11:49
Police spent tens of thousands on failed BitTorrent probe

OiNK bust laid bare

A failed three-year police investigation of a filesharing website, run in cooperation with the music industry, cost taxpayers at least £29,000, and probably much more. Figures released by Cleveland Police detail some costs of Operation Ark Royal, a raid on invitation-only BitTorrent site OiNK.cd. The probe was launched with a …

Law 15 Sep 2010, 11:54
Mozambique blocked rioters' texts

Pre-pay punters switched off

A letter apparently from the Mozambique communications authority asked mobile networks to block text messages during food riots in the southern African country earlier this month. Hundreds of people were arrested over the protests and 13 killed, after the government put up the price of bread by a third. Petrol and electricity …

Mobile 15 Sep 2010, 11:56
Mexican Twitter-controlled botnet unpicked

The Speedy Gonzales of cybercrime

Security researchers have discovered another botnet that uses Twitter as a command and control channel. Malware-infected drones in the Mehika Twitter botnet, active in Mexico this summer, take instructions from a Twitter account maintained by hackers instead of conventional command and control servers. The use of Twitter as a …

Crime 15 Sep 2010, 12:11
UK geothermal gets a tiddling little boost

As money's thrown at wind farms

Geothermal energy, one of the few renewables with promise, has been given a small boost from the government. The Department for Energy and Climate Change has announced a £1m fund to help locate sites for small power facilities, producing up to 2MWe. It's a very, very small boost, though. The size of the plants envisaged and …

Energy 15 Sep 2010, 12:13
Tinfoil 'radiation shield' maternity wear hits 'Frisco

Fearmongers rebrand stench-buster fabric

A fearmongering company has this week launched its brand of maternity tinfoil, dubbed "Belly Armor", in San Francisco. The makers of Belly Armor claim that it offers "guaranteed protection" for a pregnant wearer's unborn child from the dangers of "everyday radiation", for instance from mobile phones or computers. Using a Mac …

Science 15 Sep 2010, 12:36
An HTC named Desire. OK, two HTCs...

Making Sense of the Android experience

The Android phones are tumbling out thick and fast from HTC. The Taiwanese handset powerhouse is launching two phones today, the multimedia-tastic HTC Desire HD and a phone for Suits, the HTC Desire Z. Also it is touting software enhancements, branded under HTC Sense, which will help people monkey around with the pics and vids …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 13:21
Dell talks memory matters

VMworld Video Blog Put that script down Matt

The next stop on our tour of hardware vendors was the Dell booth. We talked to a good guy named Matthew who gave us a look at their latest server. He tried his best to stay on script, while I tried my best to take him off of it. He walked us through their latest tech stuff and talked up the merits of their modular design …

Virtualization 15 Sep 2010, 13:47
The sound and the fury and the kettle

Internet Governance Forum Noisy, expensive and weird

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania. And Lithuania is north-east of Poland and underneath Finland. In an exhibition center on the outskirts of Vilnius, over the Neris river from the big, beautiful Vingis park, are currently the 1,000 or so people in this world who spend their lives obsessing about internet governance. I’m one …

Telecoms 15 Sep 2010, 13:47
Ovi maps out Google competitor

Nokia World Any place you can find, I can find better

Ovi Maps has a new beta, bringing creepy tracking and Web2.0rhea to compete with Google Mobile Maps. The new beta sports an improved interface and better search (including suggestions). It also supports local reviews and comments, and "check-in" functionality for those who like the world to know where they are. But just to go …

Mobile 15 Sep 2010, 13:55
Naked woman demands cab ride to Michigan

From Louisiana...

A 29-year-old woman who was refused a cab ride from Louisiana to Michigan responded by whipping off her kit on the back seat and then stealing the taxi, the Times-Picayune reports. Jennifer Gille, 29, (pictured) caught a cab from a motel in Covington at around 1am on Sunday. The driver duly delivered her to a spot south of the …

Bootnotes 15 Sep 2010, 14:36
PARIS emerges triumphant from hypobaric chamber

Vulture 1's Mk 2 release mechanism cleared for take-off

We know you lot haven't been able to eat or sleep pending the outcome of Monday's test of our Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) Mk 2 release mechanism, so here's the news: it works. For PARIS newbies, we should explain that said mechanism is the pressure-operated device which will release the Vulture 1 aircraft. It's …

PARIS 15 Sep 2010, 14:42
Sony net-connected HD TVs get BBC iPlayer access

Catch up without a computer

Sony has updated its internet-connected Bravia TVs to include access to BBC iPlayer. The electronics giant promised to allow viewers direct access to the BBC's catch-up service when it launched its 2010 TV range back in the Spring. Other services it pledged at the time to provide, including Lovefilm and TV channel Five's …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 14:47
Deutsche Telekom CEO questioned over bribery claims

Company accused of oiling regulatory wheels

German prosecutors searched the home of Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann in August, it has emerged, and have questioned staff about alleged bribes paid in the form of dividends to stifle Macedonian competition. The investigation was kicked off in 2007 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which were tipped off when …

Telecoms 15 Sep 2010, 14:58
Czechs wait for Google Street View

Press conference next week

The Czech data protection authority has confirmed that Google does not have the proper licence to continue collecting images for its Street View service. The issue is not just about Wi-Fi data, as reported yesterday, but also images taken by its fleet of Street View cars which have already covered much of Prague, Český Krumlov …

Law 15 Sep 2010, 15:05
Parents back legal ban of violent vidgames sales to kids

But what if you change the question?

The war between the video games industry and critics who think that playing violent games are harmful to children moves to the US Supreme Court in November. The games industry may well be in a minority, if a recent survey conducted for a pressure group called Common Sense Media is representative of the public at large. …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 15:24
Shuttle ships skinny Nvidia Ion 2 systems

Tiny PCs

Shuttle has introduced a line of slimline, screen-mountable desktops based on Nvidia's second-generation Ion chipset and Intel's Atom processors. The XS35 comes in barebone form for the DIY PC crowd, but Shuttle will also sell a range of pre-built systems. They all used the 1.66GHz, dual-core Atom D510 and incorporate five …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 15:28
Cisco to pay divvy in 2011

Acquisitions are really, really, really, really, really hard

John Chambers, chief executive officer and chairman of networking giant Cisco Systems, must be getting ready for retirement three to five years from now. Because yesterday at Cisco's financial analyst conference in San Jose, Chambers announced that the company would start paying out a dividend to stockholders beginning in 2011 …

Data Networking 15 Sep 2010, 15:44
Vue denies cinema phone ban plan

Contradictory claims

Vue Cinemas is distancing itself from claims that it may shortly ban mobile phones from its auditoria. A company representative last week told blogger Dom Hodgson that Vue was pondering such a ban, the better to reduce piracy. It already bans other kit capable of recording sound and/or video. "I do fully recognise your …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 15:47
Mozilla sics sea monster on SunSpider and Google V8

Kraken. The 'realistic' browser benchmark

Mozilla has unveiled a new browser benchmark, claiming that – more so than the likes of SunSpider and Google's V8 – it focuses on "realistic" workloads and "forward looking" applications. The open sourcers call their new benchmark Kraken, which makes for a convenient headline for the blog post announcing its arrival. "Release …

Applications 15 Sep 2010, 16:56
Intel smarties rain on the clouds

IDF Has your data skipped town?

Two of Intel's best and brightest engineers rained on the cloud-computing parade on Tuesday. And Google's broswer-based Chrome OS suffered collateral damage. "We really have a lot of meta-questions to answer that affect how cloud computing rolls out, particularly in the areas of privacy and security," Kevin Kahn, director of …

Applications 15 Sep 2010, 16:57
Novell breakup and sale imminent, says report

SUSE Linux to VMware?

Commercial operating system maker Novell is close to selling itself off after breaking it into two bits, according to the is New York Post. Citing unnamed sources, the Post says a "strategic buyer" will shell out cash to acquire the SUSE Linux business that Novell paid $210m for in November 2003. That Linux business has just …

Financial News 15 Sep 2010, 17:35
Microsoft delivers ~~Google Chrome~~ IE9 beta

First look Overdue features, at last

Microsoft is offering Internet Explorer 9 beta for download. Although this follows four earlier platform previews, this is the first time the new IE user interface has been shown to the public. Like Google Chrome, IE9 combines the address and search boxes into a single "OneBox". It also integrates with the Windows 7 taskbar, …

Applications 15 Sep 2010, 17:39
CES pitted for Intel Wireless Display boost

IDF More supporters, more kit coming next year

Intel made a point of highlighting its Wireless Display (WiDi) technology at IDF this week, but expect an even bigger push at next January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The chip giant announced WiDi at this year's CES, but few hardware makers have voiced their support for the technology. Twelve months on, however, and CES …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 18:20
Die-hard bug bytes Linux kernel for second time

Get your root access here

The Linux kernel has been purged of a bug that gave root access to untrusted users – again. The vulnerability in a component of the operating system that translates values from 64 bits to 32 bits (and vice versa) was fixed once before – in 2007 with the release of version 2.6.22.7. But several months later, developers …

Enterprise Security 15 Sep 2010, 18:21
Road test: putting the iPad to work

Can the Apple tablet hack it as a laptop substitute? Only one way to find out...

Can the iPad ever replace the netbook or notebook? There seemed only one way to find out: take the Apple tablet to Intel Developer Forum and leave the laptop at home. That's what I did, and after four days spent checking email, browsing the web, posting on Twitter, taking notes and writing up stories, I can say the iPad comes …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 18:44
Unofficial fix brings temporary relief for critical Adobe vuln

User beware

Security researchers have released what they say is an unofficial fix for the critical Adobe Reader vulnerability that's being actively exploited to install malware on machines running Microsoft Windows. The download replaces a buggy strcat call in a font-rendering DLL module with a more secure function, according to this …

Malware 15 Sep 2010, 20:47
Intel seeks security through app stores

IDF Walled gardens are good for us... er... you

Intel appears to be proposing to turn the x86 software market into an Apple-style apps store, and it's doing so in the name of security. One casualty will be anti-virus software as we know it. Speaking at IDF this week about Intel's purchase of anti-malware monger McAfee, CEO Paul Otellini spoke of a need to move from a "known …

Security 15 Sep 2010, 21:52
Intel eats crow on software RAID

IDF SAS on motherboard shocker

When Intel releases its Sandy Bridge-based two-socket "Romley" platform in the middle of next year, its "Patsburg" platform controller hub (PCH) will include support for serial attached SCSI (SAS). By putting SAS support on the motherboard, Intel is embracing what it formerly shunned: software RAID. "I'll plead guilty. We …

Storage 15 Sep 2010, 22:05
Intel to keep laptops from losing cool in bed

IDF Chip giant teases with 'pillow-proof' tech

Intel has developed a notebook cooling system it claims will make laptops safe to take to bed. The chip giant's engineers proved unwilling to lift the covers on their "pillow proof" technology. However, they did say it doesn't involve stuffing up the vents typically found on the base and sides of modern notebooks. This, they …

reghardware 15 Sep 2010, 22:31