17th August 2009 Archive

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• 18th August 2009 →

• Pressure group aghast at Hillingdon ID card scheme

  Cheaper local shops for local people

  Has Hillingdon Borough managed to find a way to introduce an ID card scheme that is non-intrusive, respects civil liberties – and is actually welcomed by local residents?

  Government 17 08:02

• Open source, proprietary or a little of both?

  IT in the real world

  The Register's latest video webcast, an expert look at open source and traditional proprietary software models, is now available on-demand from the Reg archives. This broadcast explores the relative merits of open source and traditional proprietary software, and discusses how they can best be made to co-exist happily.

  Operating Systems 17 09:02

• IBM halves mainframe Linux engine prices

  Feeling the Nehalem Xeon pinch

  The IBM mainframe may not have a lot of direct competition when it comes to z/OS-based batch and transactional work, but the story is different when it comes to Linux. There's plenty of competition among Linux platforms, and Big Blue can't ignore the pressure that Moore's Law brings to bear.

  Servers 17 09:28

• USB connector-sized Flash drive launched

  Even harder to lose now

  We've seen tiny Bluetooth adaptors that are barely bigger than a standard USB connector and now here's a Flash drive built to the same form-factor.

  Hardware 17 09:37

• Apple iTablet snaps emerge

  The real thing?

  As Apple fanboys eagerly await the firm’s 7 September announcement, images of the much-rumoured iTablet have appeared online.

  Hardware 17 10:27

• Advent to launch MacBook Air-alike next week

  Skinny Altro made of metal

  Dixons' own PC brand, Advent, is having a go at taking on Apple MacBook Air. While the skinny Altro won't beat the Air on thinness, it does have it licked on price.

  Hardware 17 10:28

• Dell's Android phone unmasked

  The rumours were true...

  The first phone developed by Dell has finally been revealed, thanks to the PC manufacturer’s tie-up with a Chinese network operator.

  Phones 17 10:38

• Capital markets recover but tech must wait for cash

  VCs and private equity get pickier, survey shows

  The economy may be looking up but the ever cash hungry tech sector will have to wait before the capital markets begin loosening their purse strings.

  Financial News 17 10:42

• Judge rules for the Finns in Nokia/InterDigital spat

  Verdict could trigger InterDigital licence apocalypse

  A US International Trade Commission judge has ruled that Nokia is not infringing four disputed patents owned by InterDigital, paving the way for the Finns to walk away from the lengthy spat come December.

  Mobile 17 10:47

• Second Life figures cast doubt on Ofcom report

  Virtual monitoring is virtually impossible

  Disputed figures put out by broadcasting industry regulator Ofcom last week, in respect of Second Life usage, raise questions as to how seriously we should take Ofcom reports.

  Media 17 10:47

• WD TV part two on its way

  New series of Western Digital media boxes

  Western Digital appears to be working on a networked version of its WD TV streaming media package.

  Storage 17 11:04

• Facebook phishers cast multiple lines

  Scammers bait social networking site with hooky apps

  Miscreants have recently begun peppering Facebook with a variety of new phishing scams with sex, sex, sex and more sex featuring prominently.

  Security 17 11:07

• Apple VP makes magic real

  iPhone app store's Mr Fixit goes talkabout

  Apple VP Phil Schiller has expanded his one-man operation to sort out the iPhone application store, this time conceding that magic tricks can indeed be "confusing" to users.

  Mobile 17 11:15

• MoD stokes media-paralysing UFO feedback loop

  Getcher old govment loony files here! They're luvverly!

  Fans of enormous government files will be overjoyed today as the National Archives release the third tranche of accumulated Ministry Of Defence (MoD) UFO-sightings bumf.

  Science 17 11:17

• Communist car given electric overhaul

  Trabant to become Trabant nT?

  The truly wretched East German Trabant looks set to make a comeback at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show. But, unlike the fume-belching 1950s-era model, the updated Trabant will run on electricity and sunshine.

  Science 17 11:42

• Samsung gets 'stupid fast' in gaming grab

  Directly engages gamers with 256GB SSD

  Samsung is pitching its fast 256GB solid state drive (SSD) at desktops and notebook gamers and cites a YouTube blogger saying it will make their systems "stupid fast."

  Hardware 17 11:53

• Mandy not swayed by ents mogul on illegal file sharing

  Says piracy chat with David Geffen never happened

  The government has dismissed reports that suggest business secretary Lord Mandelson plans to crackdown on illegal file sharing, by slapping hefty fines on thousands of individuals found guilty of abusing their web access.

  Government 17 11:59

• Apple MacBook Air June 2009

  Laptop lightweight packs more punch

  Now in its third generation, the MacBook Air hasn’t had the same sort of overhaul as the rest of the MacBook range has had in recent months. Even so, Apple’s super-slim laptop has received a welcome price and performance tweak that should help broaden its appeal in more ways than one.

  Hardware 17 12:02

• Jetpod 'flying taxi' inventor dies in prototype crash

  VQSTOL city-hopper pranged in Malaysia

  The inventor of a potentially revolutionary super-quiet "flying taxi" has died in a crash while test-flying his prototype in Malaysia.

  Science 17 12:17

• Boffins build World's tiniest 'laser'

  Photons in, surface plasmons out

  Scientists in the US have developed what they claim is the world's smallest laser. The device, which is just 44nm in diameter, could pave the way for the development of chips that operate using light rather than electrons.

  Hardware 17 12:20

• TomTom navigates way onto iPhone

  Apple addicts get mobile

  TomTom has switched its attention to the iPhone, launching a “turn-by-turn” navigation application for the 3G and 3GS models.

  Phones 17 12:24

• HSBC Trojan warning tracked down as false alarm

  Kaspersky blushes abound after bank site misfire

  A false alert left users of Kaspersky's internet security software fearing there was malware on HSBC's website last weekend.

  Security 17 12:44

• Labour party unveils Tweeter-in-chief

  McCarthy to whip MPs into Web 2.0

  The Labour Party has appointed a 'Twitter tsar' to spearhead its social media efforts to win the next election.

  Government 17 13:09

• Orange challenges cheapo French spectrum

  €240 pour le radio 3G, arachide!

  The French regulator has put a price tag of €240m on a chunk of spectrum to run a fourth 3G mobile network - a third of the €619m paid by the incumbents, who are not amused and could challenge the decision.

  Mobile 17 14:16

• Earthquake-squelching, sonar-invisible 'active cloak' unfurled

  Will you just shut up about f*ing Harry Potter, pleads prof

  Boffins in America have violated every rule of Invisibility Club by stating that their astounding new "active cloaking" research has nothing to do with Harry Potter or Star Trek.

  Science 17 14:28

• Freecom pitches 'credit card' USB drive

  Freecom may say its new Hard Drive XS is "the size of a credit card", but as the following picture shows, there's a bit more to the mini storage add-on than that.

  Hardware 17 14:42

• Arizona sheriff prefers jail to handing over server password

  It’s like the Wild West out there

  A legal standoff has developed in Arizona between sheriff’s deputies and county officials over a management system overhaul.

  Management 17 15:27

• IBM twists DNA for future chip fab tech

  Organic armature for nanotubues, anyone?

  Read the release and you'd think IBM has discovered the Holy Grail of chip making: a way to "pack more power and speed" into microprocessors, while "making them more energy efficient and less expensive to manufacture".

  Hardware 17 16:24

• Microsoft recants branding excess with model merger

  Oslo joins tools line up

  Microsoft's long march towards model-based development has seen it integrate its latest effort with the Visual Studio and the .NET Framework teams.

  Developer 17 18:20

• Intel's consumer-friendly Nehalem chips arrive early?

  Core i5, i7, P-55 hit Asia

  Intel's long-awaited consumer-level Nehalem-based processors and motherboards are already available in Asia in "small volumes", ahead of their expected launch early next month.

  Hardware 17 18:33

• DNA-carbon nanotube microprocessors — small hope for a big shift?

  Moore’s Law on a new curve

  We may have a long way to go before Moore's Law, which calls for the doubling of transistor counts — and therefore computing capacity — every two years or so, runs completely out of gas on current electron beam and optical lithography techniques.

  Science 17 18:46

• Hackintosher denies Apple's documents allegation

  Psystar takes it to the street

  Psystar is vigorously defending itself against Apple's latest charge that the Florida Hackintosher has destroyed documents relevant to the two companies' ongoing legal brawl.

  Hardware 17 20:38

• Researchers forge secure kernel from maths proofs

  Machine verified micro-kernel

  Aussie boffins have developed an operating system micro-kernel mathematically established as free of many types of errors. The development points the road toward "safety-critical software of unprecedented levels of reliability" for applications such as aircraft and cars.

  Security 17 20:43

• TJX suspect indicted in Heartland, Hannaford breaches

  Networks pierced by garden-variety exploit

  Federal authorities have charged a previously indicted hacker with breaching additional corporate computers and stealing data for at least 130 million credit and debit cards, the biggest identity theft case ever prosecuted in the United States.

  Security 17 20:49

• Second open-source Silverlight hits beta

  November completion expected

  The second edition of the open-source edition of Microsoft's Silverlight media player has been released to beta testing.

  Developer 17 21:34

• Red Hat steps up channel reach against Novell and Microsoft

  Hoes long row

  It takes money to make money, and commercial Linux distributor Red Hat knows this.

  Operating Systems 17 23:32

• Apple tried to quash Sunday Times' Jobs profile

  Nothing personal - oh, sorry, it is

  A noted British writer has joined an exclusive literary league: authors whose writings about Steve Jobs Apple has tried to suppress.

  Media 17 23:48

• When ISPs hijack your rights to NXDOMAIN

  Get lost online, without ads

  Virgin Media's UK customers are about to experience a wonderful new service that intercepts unresolvable DNS requests and redirects the user to a page full of ads and search results.

  Media 17 23:57

• ↑ August 2009
• ← 16th August 2009
• 18th August 2009 →