The Week in Summary

Monday, 23 November 2009

Wind turbines to power phone masts

~~Cold~~ Green calling?

Forget mobile phone covers made of recycled plastic bottles or handsets powered by sunlight. If you really want to make a green phone call then move to California, where some phone masts will soon run on wind energy. Helix Wind's turbines capture wind using a helix shaped blades Wind turbine manufacturer Helix Wind has …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 16:03

T-Orange won't share the airwaves

Get your own damn spectrum, mooch

T-Mobile and Orange won't be handing over any radio spectrum when they merge, despite the fact that T-Orange will own almost half the available airways. The combined force will have licences to operate in 170MHz of radio spectrum, compared to Vodafone's holding of 76MHz and Orange's 66MHz, but the operating officers of both …

The Register 23 Nov 15:49

Exascale computing: How do we get there from here?

IBM guru Dave Turek tells us what's what

Exascale supercomputers, the computing industry’s next frontier, will run 1,000 times quicker than the fastest computers of today – and the world’s scientific researchers are sure to drum up plenty of projects to harness their compute power. But how do we get there from here? It won't be easy. So who better to ask than Dave …

The Register 23 Nov 15:38

Moller Skycar to finally crash and burn?

Desperate last-gasp spin: 'Virtual flight tests' start

(In)famous flying-car firm Moller International - whose four-decade quest to produce an Everyman aerial ride has seen no aircraft delivered and a 2003 fine from the SEC for selling "fraudulent unregistered stock" - has now announced "Virtual Test Flights of [a] New Flying Car". It seems that Moller has "created a full-featured …

The Register 23 Nov 15:19

Spotify embraces Symbian

Appy talking

Music-streaming service Spotify is now available on Symbian handsets too, for paying subscribers at least. Spotify already has a mobile client, but that's limited to Apple's iPhone and devices running Android; Symbian might not have as many headlines, but it's running on more than half the world's smartphones and Spotify needs …

The Register 23 Nov 14:54

Savage roo mauls Oz man

What's that Skippy? You're trying to drown my dog?

An Oz man has taken a serious pasting at the hands of a "savage" kangaroo which was attempting to drown his dog, the Herald Sun reports. Chris Rickard, 49, was walking on his property in Arthurs Creek, Victoria with his pet mutt Rocky when the pair woke the 'roo, which was having a kip in long grass next to his farm dam (water …

The Register 23 Nov 14:52

AOL taps strategy boutique ahead of Time Warner spin-off

Dotty logo revamp strikes bum note

AOL has revamped its logo and plans to launch the new look after its parent company Time Warner dumps the struggling web outfit early next month. What starts with A, ends in L and has a big fat O in the middle? The firm, like an ageing divorcee whose husband ran off with a younger, leggier mistress, announced its brand …

The Register 23 Nov 14:34

Erotica 09: Bit limp, but crowds still up for it

NSFW I'll have what she's having

In a week when scientists trumpeted the discovery of a new drug to boost flagging female libido, Erotica 2009 - the UK’s premiere female-friendly erotic event - was looking decidedly limp. According to its lavishly illustrated brochure, Erotica is all about "serious fun". The annual event, now in its 14th year, is starting to …

The Register 23 Nov 14:33

Pegatron smartbook uncloaked?

Early 2010 release possible

Following recent confirmation that Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron plans to launch a machine of its own early next year, a 10in fanless netbook sporting the firm’s logo has been spotted. Pegatron has confirmed plans to launch a smartbook in Q1 2010 Source: Shanzai Powered by an ARM processor and running the Ubuntu …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 13:50

Drobo restrings boxes to double-up product range

New storage boxes are bigger on the inside

Data Robotics has added two new products, enhancing both the basic Drobo and the more capable Drobo Pro. It now claims to provide the simplest and best value iSCSI SAN in the world. Drobo has - had - two products; the basic Drobo and Drobo Pro. These provide a protected and consolidated pool of storage that can withstand drive …

The Register 23 Nov 13:39

iPhone worm hjacks ING customers

No messing this time

The second worm to infect jailbroken iPhone users reportedly targets customers of Dutch online bank ING Direct. Surfers visiting the site with infected devices are redirected to a phishing site designed to harvest online banking login details, the BBC reports. ING Direct told the BBC it planned to warn users' of the attack via …

The Register 23 Nov 13:28

We're going for optimised workload delivery...

Workshop Are we nearly there yet?

Who wouldn’t want IT to be delivered in a more dynamic, flexible, agile, [insert your least detested buzzword here] way? Optimal configurations for server and desktop workload delivery have been discussed, and indeed, attempted, for many years. So how close are we to really nailing this? The answer to this question may depend …

The Register 23 Nov 13:23

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2

Review Windows 7 on a netbook - worth the wait?

Lenovo’s new IdeaPad S10-2 is an update of the S10e. The hardware is conventional netbook fare with a dual-core Atom processor and a 10.1in screen all dressed up in a smart chassis that makes it look like a baby ThinkPad. There have been a number of updates for this model, such as an increase in the frontside bus speed for the …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 12:57

Credit crunch? It won't be over by Christmas

Cheap credit is over and its not coming back, says CBI

The impact of the recession on British businesses may well be permanent, and will certainly last until well into the next decade, the UK's union for bosses has declared. The downturn has had four major impacts on UK firms, according to business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry. British business does not …

The Register 23 Nov 12:44

Google to anoint Android, Chrome OS love (eventually)

When two become one

Google has confessed that its Chrome OS and Android projects are likely to come together at some stage down the line as the firm continues to tinker with its operating system vision of the future. The world's largest ad broker has been developing two platforms independently from one another. Android is an operating system …

The Register 23 Nov 12:35

Microsoft's IE 9, Silverlight 4 and the whiff of lock-in

Radio Reg Shoulda bought ~~Yahoo!~~ Amazon

Basking in the afterglow of the recently released Windows 7, Microsoft has rallied the faithful to share the love at its annual Professional Developers' Conference in Los Angeles, California. Traditionally, PDC has been about looking ahead and charting the roadmap of the next few years. Previous years saw Windows Vista and …

The Register 23 Nov 12:24

GPS alarm seems alarmingly useless

You're safe with me. Unless stuff crashes

The Freedom Personal Safety is a GPS device that's supposed to alert loved ones that you're in trouble, but actually seems about as trustworthy as the only other man in the train carriage who appears to have moved a seat closer to you every time you look. The product will set you back £79.95, but comes in a nice yellow box …

The Register 23 Nov 12:23

MIT boffins invent robot clam-grapnel

Tech has important mole-cruiser implications, too

MIT boffins are pleased to annouce that they have at last perfected a long-sought-after technology - that of the robot clam. It seems that metal shellfish able to dig themselves into the seabed will make excellent anchors for somewhat larger droid submarines. Amos Winter and colleagues at MIT unveiled their mechanical …

The Register 23 Nov 12:17

Coprocessors ride again

Hybrid-core computing

The idea that hybrid computing is becoming a mainstream technology was one of the major threads running through SC09 last week. Convey Computer, founded in 2006, has a different take on how to best implement hybrid architectures, to deliver better performance and to simplify use. Its approach is to add an FPGA coprocessor that …

The Register 23 Nov 12:10

Palm Pre update inbound

From WebOS 1.1.3 to 1.3.1

The Pre smartphone will be refreshed with an updated webOS “within the next few days”, manufacturer Palm has promised. A Pré update is due within days Customers of Telefonica – that’s O2 to you and me – in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Spain will be automatically updated from WebOS 1.1.3 to version 1.3.1 when within range of …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 12:10

Microsoft stands tall over Xbox Live lawsuit threat

'We're well within our rights,' claims software giant

The possibility of class-action lawsuit arising from the ban of roughly 1m gamers from Xbox Live doesn’t worry Microsoft, because the firm believes it is in the right. With a view to launching a class action lawsuit against the software giant, US law firm Abington IP last week published a webpage calling for anyone remotely …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 11:29

Fusion-io whips out fast gov-grade ioDrive

Cramming eight on a card

Fusion-io has put eight of its ioDrives on a single PCIe card to produce 800,000 IOPS and 6GB/sec bandwidth. The ioDrive is a NAND flash solid state drive (SSD) that sits on a PCIe X4 card and comes with 80 or 120GB of single level cell (SLC) flash or 320GB of slower but cheaper multi-level cell (MLC) flash. These ioDrives …

The Register 23 Nov 11:28

New hacker peril for older IE versions

New species of unpatched bug bites IE6 and 7

Internet Explorer users are at risk from a newly discovered and unpatched vulnerability in older versions of Microsoft's browser. A security flaw involving a dangling pointer in Microsoft's HTML Viewer (mshtml.dll) creates a possible mechanism for hackers to crash the browser and inject malware, providing they can trick marks …

The Register 23 Nov 11:19

Looking back at packaged application rigidity and lock-in

Workshop Have we progressed that much in 25 years?

When packaged applications first appeared on the scene a quarter of a century ago, it was normal for them to be very proprietary in nature. Modifications and extensions were generally implemented through toolsets and programming languages that were each specific to the application concerned. Integration between systems was …

The Register 23 Nov 11:06

Dell details smartphone spec

Mini 3i internals revealed

Dell has come clean on the full specifications of its Mini 3i smartphone, and it doesn't impress. Dell's Mini 3i: not the iPhone killer some had hoped for Dell announced earlier this month that its Mini 3i smartphone – which runs China Mobile’s Android-based oPhone platform - would launch in China towards the end of this …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 11:05

O/S bloat: What's the cure?

Comment Code belly's gonna get you

It is becoming increasingly obvious that a virtual server wastes great chunks of its memory occupied by the operating system wrappers around the applications in the virtual machines (VM) running in the physical server. If each VM occupies 50MB, and 20MB of that is the Windows O/S, then around 40 per cent of the servers's DRAM …

The Register 23 Nov 10:48

eBay blames success for failure

Saturday search fail

eBay suffered an embarrassing failure on Saturday as no one was able to search on the site - not a good thing at the start of Christmas shopping season. The outage is made worse for the online tat bazaar because it is moving away from mom'n'pop traders to more professional sellers who expect better service, in exchange for …

The Register 23 Nov 10:44

E-book readers to stay pricey next year

Won't hit $100 for ages, says screen supplier

Holding out for a £100 e-book reader before snapping up one of these gadgets for yourself? You may get lucky this year, but don't expect prices to fall any further. Scott Liu, head of screen maker PVI - the Taiwanese firm that recently bought e-ink pioneer E Ink - forecast today that readers will not drop to hit the $100 (£61 …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 10:41

DVLA doubles annual IT spend

IBM can buy itself a Bentley

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is to more than double what it spends annually on its IT deal with IBM. It has signed a three-year extension to its existing Partners Achieving Change Together (Pact) ten-year deal, which covers technical infrastructure, operation and support, as well as transformation and system …

The Register 23 Nov 10:39

Virtualisation in the smaller business

Lab Are things really any different to the big boys?

Many of your comments on some of the virtualisation articles we have written to date have suggested that smaller organisations have different challenges and priorities when it comes to virtualisation. Here we report back on what we have been told so far and ask you for your insights. The majority of vendors assume that small …

The Register 23 Nov 10:37

New sensitive space gloves: NASA spends wad freely

Glovely cash for astro haberdashers

NASA handed out $350,000 in prize money to astronautical haberdashers vying for glory in the space agency's Astronaut Glove Challenge this weekend. They said I was mad. Mad! Peter Horner of Maine, a previous Glove Challenge victor, saw off stiff opposition from Ted Southern of Brooklyn. Horner's glove was deemed to have all …

The Register 23 Nov 09:57

eBay stamps on Mussolini's brain

Pulls Il Duce body bits auction

Customers of online tat bazaar eBay were on Friday denied the chance to bid for bits of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, when the site swiftly pulled a listing for samples of his blood and brain. The alleged remains of Il Duce, in three glass ampoules, were pitched at a starting price of €15,000. His granddaughter …

The Register 23 Nov 09:30

Murdoch puffs Microsoft over Google

Redmond aligns with the empire of The Sun

Rupert Murdoch is in talks with Microsoft over his plans to delist his newspaper websites from Google. Of course, if he was serious about this, he could get his techies to add a robots.txt file to all News Corp sites and effectively disappear from Google immediately. But he needs to keep an audience or he'll lose advertising …

The Register 23 Nov 09:27

Chrysler dumps e-car plans

Leccy Tech Gone, but not forgotten?

Chrysler's e-car strategy has vanished down the plughole, taking with it any chance of us getting intimate with the Lotus Europa-based Dodge Circuit. Chrysler's ENVI arm is to close, ending hope of the Lotus Europa-based Dodge Circuit Things have been ominously quiet at Chrysler's ENVI e-car division for a while and now the …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 09:02

Imation ships wirelessly-connected hard drive

USB 2.0 wireless

Imation has announced its external hard drive that connects by wireless USB to PCs and Macs is now shipping. The Pro WX Wireless USB hard drive comes in a 3.5in form-factor and holds up to 1.5TB of data. It is based on Imation's Apollo external hard drive platform fitted with a USB wireless facility that talks on a one-to-one …

The Register 23 Nov 08:02

Freeview HD - your questions answered

All you need to know

With the first Freeview HD transmissions scheduled to start on the 2 December in the London, Liverpool and Manchester areas, Register Hardware answers all your questions about the new telly technology. New Zealand's Freeview HD logo. What will Blighty' look like? What do I need to receive Freeview HD? You’ll need a TV or …

Reg Hardware 23 Nov 08:02

EU ministers agree e-government aims

Get smart

European ministers have signed a declaration outlining policies to deliver 'smarter' online public services by 2015. At the fifth Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö in Sweden on 19 and 20 November 2009, EU ministers agreed measures to make e-government more accessible, interactive and customised. The aims over the …

The Register 23 Nov 07:02
Sunday, 22 November 2009

Atlantis astronaut flying high over baby's birth

Houston, we have a daddy

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik ventured out on his first spacewalk on Saturday, just hours before his daughter was born 220 miles below. Waking up early this morning aboard the International Space Station to the song "Butterfly Kisses," mission specialist Bresnik was informed that his wife Rebecca had given birth to daughter …

The Register 22 Nov 23:28

First malicious iPhone worm slithers into wild

Jailbreakers under assault

A Dutch internet service provider has identified a worm that installs a backdoor on jailbroken iPhones and makes them part of a botnet. The worm, according to XS4ALL, targets jailbroken iPhones whose owners have carelessly failed to change the default password. In addition to connecting to a Lithuanian master command channel, …

The Register 22 Nov 22:57

eBooks: What to read on which reader

Your pre-Christmas guide to what's on

eBook readers will be everywhere this Christmas, in the shops if not under the trees, but even publishers don't seem to know what books one can read on the things. Amazon's Kindle makes things simple: one store with 296,947 books available, and if it's not there then you can't have it. But competitive hardware can get content …

The Register 22 Nov 10:02

Is data overload killing off human initiative?

Book Review Time to add a delete button to the internet

Delete – The Virtue of Forgetting in a Digital Age is one of those high premise pseudo-techy works that appeals to the chattering classes – not least because it beguiles them with a false sense of "doing technology". As modern technology has enhanced our ability to remember everything, no matter how inconsequential, the time …

The Register 22 Nov 09:02

Apple voids warranties over cigarette smoke, users say

No repairs for 'biohazard' Macs

A Mac user claims that Apple voided her warranty and refused to repair her machine because it was "contaminated" with cigarette smoke. The claim mirrors a similar report from last year, when another user complained that the Jobsian cult wouldn't service a system due to the "health risks of secondhand smoke." Both complaints …

The Register 22 Nov 06:13
Saturday, 21 November 2009

Triumph in Geneva! LHC beams up and running again

Dimensional portal invasion back on track

There were emotional scenes last night at the headquarters of underground international atom-smasher science alliance CERN, as joyful boffins celebrated the successful restarting of the Large Hadron Collider. The colossal machine circulated its first beam around the entire 27-km supermagnet circuit at 22:01 Swiss time, and sent …

The Register 21 Nov 09:39

TomTom Start satnav

Review Made for map lovers, apparently...

TomTom's Start is essentially the satnav specialist's new low-end model. Rather than say so, though, it's not pitching the product on price but for its simplicity. It's a device designed to get you from A to B and nothing more. TomTom's Start: cuts to the chase with a simple, straightforward UI But it's also being described …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 09:02

Channel 4 raises Bing word-extinction alarm

UK TV channel forecasts end of language

Roll over Wittgenstein, Channel 4 has a bold claim to make, thanks to New Media guru Benjamin Cohen. It's trumpeted in what must be the weirdest press release we've received in years - or at least since the Blooks one. We reproduce it in full, trying to give you a flavour of the insane typography: PLEASE CREDIT CHANNEL 4 NEWS …

The Register 21 Nov 08:02

SQL Server 2008 - from semi-relational to sublime

Review Inside Microsoft's R2 preview

SQL Server 2008 R2 is a step closer to reality. On the heels of August's first code drop, Microsoft has released a second, more-fully-featured community technology preview (CTP) of its next database server. It promises a number of things, including improved business intelligence through database changes and integration with …

The Register 21 Nov 00:57

Blogger outs back-end Google tech

'Super elastic, soft, smooth. Highly absorbent, for you always!'

A Vietnamese blogger has alerted the world to another Google product. Details are sketchy at best. In fact, all we have is a photo: Another Google product The photo - whose authenticity has yet to be verified - seems to indicate the product is some sort of "2 ply bathroom paper" made from "100 per cent virgin pulp." …

The Register 21 Nov 00:26
Friday, 20 November 2009

FDA takes aim at illegal net pharmacies

Please don't feed the spammers

The US Food and Drug Administration said it has completed a sweep of illegal online pharmacies that targeted 136 websites that appeared to be illegally selling drugs to American consumers. In a campaign dubbed the International Internet Week of Action, the FDA issued 22 warning letters to operators of the websites. It also …

The Register 20 Nov 23:30

Oman cuffs 212 for selling VoIP calls

Net phones verboten

This year, police in the Arab nation of Oman have raided 121 internet cafes throughout the country and arrested 212 people for providing VoIP services, according to a local report. "Around 212 accused of various Asian nationalities have been arrested since the beginning of the year [until October 26]," a senior police officer …

The Register 20 Nov 23:28

IBM chases HP (and Sun) with tiny mem prices

AIX pipeline lubrication

In an effort to boost the amount of money that IBM is getting from competitive takeouts of Unix systems from Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems, Big Blue has taken a sharp machete to the memory prices on its Power Systems, reducing prices by between 28 and 70 per cent. The Power Systems line of servers is based on IBM's …

The Register 20 Nov 22:35

Hackers free Snow Leopard from Jobsian cage

Apple Atomness restored

Snow Leopard users are once again free to run the Apple operating system on hardware with Atom processors, courtesy of hackers in Russia. A custom version of OS 10.6.2 distributed here works around changes introduced earlier this month that prevented the latest OS X version from running on the Intel netbook processor. A …

The Register 20 Nov 22:28

MySpace makes peace with Indies

Merlin deal at last

MySpace Music has settled with one of its fiercest critics, Merlin, settling a 14-month standoff. MySpace - the social networking sensation of 2005 - launched a music portal in September last year, but only with the four major labels. Since MySpace had built its reputation on new independent bands, you can see why the snub hurt …

The Register 20 Nov 19:46

Nvidia previews next-gen Fermi GPUs

SC09 The supermodels of HPC: hot, and worth it

Graphics chip maker and soon-to-be big-time HPC player Nvidia raised the curtain a little higher on its next-generation of graphics co-processors at the SC09 supercomputing trade show in Portland, Oregon, this week, and it is arguable that the GPU co-processors aimed at personal supers and massive clusters alike were the star of …

The Register 20 Nov 19:38

Potty-mouths charged for Comcast hijack

Destination '69 dick tard lane'

The potty-mouthed hackers who hijacked Comcast's domain name for several hours last year were charged with intentionally damaging a protected computer system. Christopher Allen Lewis, 19, of Delaware, James Robert Black Jr., 20, of Washington, and Michael Paul Nebel, 27, of Michigan were indicted Thursday on a single felony …

The Register 20 Nov 19:18

Microsoft Silverlight - now with hidden Windows bias

PDC So much for cross-platform

Silverlight 4.0 was the big hit at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference (PDC) this week. "I can see that Silverlight is the future of Windows client development" one attendee told me. The basis for this enthusiasm is an array of new features that resolve many of the frustrations discovered by developers working with …

The Register 20 Nov 18:18

Apple cult leader emails outside world

11 words from the Messiah's Jesus phone

Apple cult leader Steve Jobs has communicated with the outside world. As revealed by Crunchgear, Jobs recently sent an 11-word email to a longtime Mac developer who had come groveling to the cult leader after being threatened by a band of Apple lawyers. John Devor is the CEO of The Little App Factory, a tiny shareware outfit …

The Register 20 Nov 18:16

Sony demos monster 3D TV

280in 'wall' made from 70 28in sets

What better way to prove your commitment to the 3D TV market than showing off a big, massive whopping 280in 3D-capable TV? That seems to Sony’s opinion, anyway. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com The electronics giant this week displayed the monster screen at Japan’s annual International Broadcast …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 18:02

Wrecking CRU: hackers cause massive climate data breach

Secretive scientists' source code goes walkabout

The University of East Anglia has confirmed that a data breach has put a large quantity of emails and other documents from staff at its Climate Research Unit online. CRU is one of the three leading climate research centres in the UK, and a globally acknowledged authority on temperature reconstructions. CRU declined to say …

The Register 20 Nov 16:51

Skinny Acer notebook delivers six-day battery life

Just ask Windows 7

Acer appears to have found a solution to notebook users' battery life woes. Its Aspire Timeline 1810TZ apparently delivers a 10x improvement in runtime when compared to other thin'n'light laptops equipped with six-cell lithium-ion batteries. After five hours' usage at a day-long conference the other day, we thought we'd check …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 16:18

VTOL gyro-copter flying car mates with killer robot

Droid jump-choppers to be offered to military

A flying-car company which has struggled for 15 years to win acceptance for its radical gyrocopter/aeroplane technology may have finally broken through into the mainstream. It was announced this week that Carter Aviation technologies - aspiring designer of the CarterCopter Personal Air Vehicle - has partnered with successful …

The Register 20 Nov 16:03

Oracle begs EC for more time

Commission extends deadline

The European Competition Commission is extending the deadline set for Oracle to provide evidence that its proposed takeover of Sun Microsystems will not damage competition for European consumers. Oracle now has until 27 January to present its defence of the takeover and its reaction to the Commission's statement of objections …

The Register 20 Nov 16:03

QinetiQ mail virus patent attracts barbs

Looks a bit familiar

An anti-virus expert has poured cold water on a patent from British technology firm QinetiQ that supposedly offers a new technique for tackling malicious email attachments. New Scientist reports that the researchers at the defence technology firm have patented a technique for blocking malware in email attachments without …

The Register 20 Nov 15:57

Lawyers pursue banned Xbox Live gamers

Anti-Microsoft class action in the offing?

Are you an Xbox 360 owner recently banned from Xbox Live? Has the ban left you feeling short changed? Perhaps you’ve experienced other console problems as a result of the ban? If you can answer 'yes' to any of these questions, then US law firm Abington IP wants to hear from you. The “intellectual property law and consumer …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 15:52

Nokia swings axe again

Suffers from arrested development

Nokia is streamlining again, this time to the tune of 230 employees in Finland and another 100 in Copenhagen. The staff are being cut from the Research & Development division, representing around two per cent of that division, which is all part of the Nokia plan to focus its tech on fewer platforms and thus do less research. …

The Register 20 Nov 15:19

ISPA slams Mandy's copyright land grab

Someone tell Lord Sith about encryption

Claims from minister Stephen Timms this morning that the Digital Economy Bill has widespread support have been thrown into question, after the Internet Service Providers Association insisted it is strongly opposed to aspects of the legislation. Mandelson's bill gives him power to change copyright laws as he sees fit, using a …

The Register 20 Nov 14:48

Asus intros netbook with desktop CPU

Category killer?

Asus has once again extended it Eee PC netbook range, this time with a machine that not only includes Nvidia's Ion graphics but also a dual-core Atom processor - a desktop chip, to be precise. Asus' Eee 1201N: 'desktop replacement' netbook? Including Ion means the Eee PC 1201N can drive a 1366 x 768 resolution display, in …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 14:36

Yank objects to Reg cherry-popping headline

'Find another line of work, like as a Hooters waitress'

Vulture Central's Kelly Fiveash has until now kept a pretty low profile, avoiding the kind of flak which regularly peppers our inboxes as indignant readers vent their spleen and propel steam from their ears. That changed this week, though, when she rather ill-advisedly decided to trumpet a story with the headline "Google to …

The Register 20 Nov 14:14

The pros and cons of business application packages

Poll Results It's all about horses for courses

Whether to build or buy, that is the question? Well, it is for many when it comes to business applications. It's a topic on which we asked for your feedback as part of our latest workshop, and over 100 of you came back with your views on it. So what did we learn? Firstly, the drivers for going down the ’buy’ rather than ‘build …

The Register 20 Nov 14:13

Ballmer waxes lyrical about Windows 7 double bubble sales

Shy about numbers, mind

Microsoft’s shouty boss Steve Ballmer made a few big noises about Windows 7 sales yesterday, by declaring it was jumping off retail shelves at twice the level of its unloved Vista operating system. However, he didn’t reveal any sales figures during the firm’s annual shareholder meeting in Bellevue, Washington on Thursday. “ …

Channel Register 20 Nov 13:34

MS denies Win 7 backdoor rumours

Oooh, spooky!

Microsoft has once again denied rumours that it built a backdoor into Windows 7. Long standing conspiracy theories that Redmond outfits Windows with a covert entry point for law enforcement resurfaced after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official told Congress it had worked with Redmond on the operating system. …

The Register 20 Nov 13:18

Vampires not good role models for Catholics, declares Vatican

Deplores use of 'extremes' to make a point

The Vatican has come out against vampirical toothy teen book'n'movie series Twilight, dismissing the epic girl loves vampire, girl loses vampire, girl becomes vampire cycle as a "deviant moral vacuum". The Holy See's attempt to drive a stake through the heart of the burgeoning film franchise came as it took £1.8m on its …

The Register 20 Nov 13:18

Ricoh CX2 super-zoom compact camera

Review Clever capture modes, but what about the video?

It doesn’t seem five minutes since we looked at the CX1 – well, back in April actually – so it’s quite surprise to find that Ricoh has already launched its successor, the CX2. Again, this is a super-zoom compact seemingly aimed at the enthusiast or the DSLR user who occasionally wants to pack something simpler and smaller. That …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 12:59

Riverbed going virtually into public cloud

Virtual Steelhead speeds iSCSI WAN traffic

WAN optimiser Riverbed has announced virtual Steelhead for the cloud and a way to speed up iSCSI data traffic. Riverbed's Steelhead is a physical appliance that sites inline at the entry/exit port to a data centre and speeds wide area network (WAN) traffic to and from the data centre. It co-operates with another Steelhead at …

The Register 20 Nov 12:58

LHC dimensional apocalypse from midnight: Your thoughts

Aliens, gov planetbuster boffins, many others write in

Well, this is it. In the early hours of tomorrow morning, scientists at the controls of titanic machines situated in mighty hollowed-out caverns and tunnels deep beneath Switzerland will begin to unleash forces so vast and complex as to tax the very limits of human comprehension. The mighty Large Hadron Collider, most powerful …

The Register 20 Nov 12:58

US immigration dodge is permanent

Global Entry forever

Janet Napolitano, boss of US Homeland Security, is making the Global Entry system - a quicker way through customs and border control - permanent. The voluntary scheme, for US residents, is currently being piloted at 20 airports. It allows pre-registered passengers to swerve long security lines and enter a booth, stick their …

The Register 20 Nov 12:43

Amazon punters go mad for 'Laptop Steering Wheel Desk'

'A total lifesaver', enthuses satisfied customer

Amazon customers have gone absolutely mad for the AutoExec WM-01 Wheelmate Steering Wheel Desk Tray, which "attaches to your steering wheel for easy access to a writing and drink storage surface". How, you may wonder, have we survived until now without a product which is "flat for writing and perfect for lunch or a snack"? …

The Register 20 Nov 12:31

Ubuntu in truffle shuffle with Chrome OS

'Sloth love Chunk'

Ubuntu’s commercial sponsor Canonical revealed late yesterday that it has been working with Google on its Chrome OS platform since before Mountain View announced its game-changing plans in July this year. The firm’s OEM veep Chris Kenyon said in a blog post on Thursday that “Canonical is contributing engineering to Google …

The Register 20 Nov 12:13

Taiwanese sex scammer's net double is NYC model

'Shocked' Richie Kul expresses dismay to El Reg

The news this week that a 55-year-old bald and "physically unattractive" Taiwanese man had posed online as a "youthful male model" to convince up to 20 women to have sex with his ailing father - who was actually himself - provoked a certain amount of incredulity among Reg readers. To recap, Hsu Shian-ming got plenty of …

The Register 20 Nov 12:02

Where is server virtualisation taking us?

Lab Crossing the virtual chasm

No, no, not the v word...! There are few topics that have garnered as much interest recently as virtualisation. And that’s not just coming from us – the level of feedback we get on this is head and shoulders above many other areas. But let’s be realistic. As the Reg Tech Panel has informed us, the majority of workloads that …

The Register 20 Nov 11:25

Mandelson to get Nominet reform powers

Just in case

Ministers have revealed new legislation that will allow the government to take over and reform Nominet, following a boardroom battle over the .uk registry's future. The reserve powers are included in the Digital Economy Bill, published today by Lord Mandelson's Department for Business. Officials said they believed it is …

The Register 20 Nov 11:22

Humax Freeview HD set-top box to debut 'early 2010'

Ahead of the rest?

Just days after Register Hardware was told by telly chiefs that no Freeview HD kit will be available in the UK ahead of the service’s switch-on next month, manufacturer Humax has announced the impending launch of its first Freeview HD-compatible set-top box. Humax's Fox-HD-T2 is set up for Freeview HD As its name suggests, …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 11:14

MS discovers flaw in Google plug-in for IE

Google whacked

Microsoft has helped discover a flaw in the Google Chome Frame plug-in for Internet Explorer users. The plug-in allows suitably coded web pages to be displayed in Internet Explorer using the Google Chrome rendering engine. Redmond warned that the plug-in made IE less secure as soon as it became available back in September, an …

The Register 20 Nov 11:10

PS3 to go 3D in 2010, says Sony

Specs at the ready

Sony has formally announced plans to bring true 3D gaming to the PlayStation 3. Five advantages of the PS3 over, presumably, the Xbox 360 Source: Kotaku In a presentation designed to outline the “five key advantages of PlayStation 3”, Sony stated: “All PS3 units will be firmware upgradeable to 3D.” The company also …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 11:04

ACPO proposes new domestic violence database

Fears over unsubstantiated and malicious allegations

The latest wheeze to emerge from ACPO and the Home Office is yet another new law and order database – this one including individuals who are unconvicted, but against whom there exist unsubstantiated allegations of domestic violence. Critics are also not impressed by the fact that this and other recommendations put forward this …

The Register 20 Nov 11:02

Asus serves up Windows 7 Home Server box

Updated 2TB of on-board storage - add more using eSata

Asus has taken the wraps off a home server build out of an Atom processor and up to 2TB of internal storage. The Home Server TS Mini uses the 1.66GHz Atom N280 allied with 1-2GB of 800MHz DDR 2 memory to run Windows 7 Home Server. Asus' Home Server TS Mini: bionic nettop, basically On-board storage slots into a pair of 3. …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 10:57

Filesharing laws to hit websites and newsgroups too

Mandelson to 'future-proof' P2P restrictions

The government is planning to award itself powers to change copyright law almost at will, in expectation that new anti-peer-to-peer laws will drive infringement to other services such as Rapidshare and newsgroups. The measure, which is the most severe contained in the Digital Economy Bill published today, will be interpreted …

The Register 20 Nov 10:38

Database anonymity at risk, warns researcher

Prof Ohm resists data safety claims

People might be more identifiable than previously thought from supposedly anonymised information contained in large databases, according to a technology law expert. New research recommends that privacy practices and even privacy laws need to change. Increasing amounts of personal information are collected by organisations and …

The Register 20 Nov 10:35

US forces developing 'miniature weapons' for killer robots

Phantom Works pocket missile ideal for 'suburban combat'

US Air Force boffinry chiefs have decided to spend as much as $7m developing "miniature weapons" for use by killer robots in the Wars On Stuff. Weaponry'n'aerospace globocorp Boeing was chuffed yesterday to announce that it had bagged an initial $0.5m deal to look into ideas, which will lead on into another $6.5m of work if …

The Register 20 Nov 10:04

Datacentre black box recorder gets take-off cash

$9m series B funding round

Axxana - the startup manufacturing the Phoenix RP black box data centre data recorder which can withstand a jumbo jet crash - has just received $9m in a funding round to help it take off. The Phoenix RP hardened box receives real-time data in the data centre and asynchronously replicates it to a remote site for complete data …

The Register 20 Nov 10:01

Auction's over for Skype

eBay rid of troublesome VoIP biz

The saga of eBay's sale of Skype is over - Silver Lake, Joltid Limited and other partners are now the proud owners of the VoIP provider. eBay got about $1.9bn, and a note worth $125m for 70 per cent of the firm - it is holding onto the remaining 30 per cent. The online tat bazaar paid over $3bn for Skype back in 2005 and …

The Register 20 Nov 09:36

Server upgrade and disposal plans

Poll Results Data protection 1, reuse strategy nil?

This week we asked you a number of questions around whether you have any immediate plans to change your server estates, who influences any such changes and how you dispose of your old kit. Your answers reveal a wide range of options are under consideration. Most popular response to the question “what are you planning to do …

The Register 20 Nov 09:15

Tesla Roadster used for videogame audio

Leccy Tech Electric engine fails to dampen screeching tyres

What are the real benefits of an electric car? Reduced CO2 emissions? Less dependency on oil? Quieter inner cities? Nope. The correct answer is actually cooler sound effects for videogames. Microsoft strapped mics to the Tesla for clearer tyres sounds in videogames That’s according to sound engineering boffins from …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 09:02

High Court ruled against Skype founders on day of settlement

US eBay action scooted over Atlantic

Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis were told their case against Skype-owner eBay had to be conducted in the English courts on the day that they later agreed a compromise with eBay. Zennström and Friis founded the internet telephony company in 2003 and in 2005 sold it to internet auction firm eBay, which announced …

The Register 20 Nov 08:02

HTC HD2 Windows Mobile smartphone

Review Big screen winner?

HTC has just about the fullest range of Windows Mobile smart phones on the market at the moment with a wide variety of types and prices. The HD2 is at the apex of its range, offering arguably the most bang, but also demanding a considerable amount of bucks. It lines up as HTC's most complete package to date though, with a huge …

Reg Hardware 20 Nov 08:02

Atrato replaces sales boss - again

To lose one is unfortunate, to lose two looks like carelessness

Atrato has replaced its sales VP, Marty Sos, after just three months, and recruited a marketing VP as well. Marty Sos joined Atrato, which makes disk drive storage arrays with canisters of 2.5-inch drives, in late August this year, having left collapsed optical disk drive and archive vendor Plasmon. He's now VP of sales at …

The Register 20 Nov 07:02

Google touts real-time RSS transplant

Web 2.0 NY What's all the PubSubHubbub?

Google is trumpeting a new messaging protocol it insists on calling PubSubHubbub. Brett Slatkin - a software engineer on Google’s App Engine team - demonstrated the protocol this week at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. It aims to turn RSS and Atom into real-time content delivery mechanisms - and maybe even revamp Google search …

The Register 20 Nov 06:49

Firefox millions - now only 9 per cent Google free

No banking on Microhoo

Mozilla revenues climbed to $79m last year - and 91 per cent of that came from Google. According to the Mozilla Foundation's latest financial statements, 2008 revenue leapt 5 per cent from 2007. But they also indicate the open-sourcers are more dependent on the Mountain View Chocolate Factory than previously thought. With its …

The Register 20 Nov 06:02

Google Wave relies on kindness of strangers

Dreamforce 09 Copy our cloud, please

Google has been stumping for its Wave real-time collaboration system among the Salesforce.com faithful. Wave lead business development manager Jeff Eddies told Dreamforce the search behemoth needs their support for Wave to succeed. Unveiled in May, Wave is still in an embryonic state. Google's manager told Salesforce.com …

The Register 20 Nov 06:02

Major IE8 flaw makes 'safe' sites unsafe

Exclusive Microsoft's XSS buster busted

The latest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser contains a bug that can enable serious security attacks against websites that are otherwise safe. The flaw in IE 8 can be exploited to introduce XSS, or cross-site scripting, errors on webpages that are otherwise safe, according to two Register sources, who discussed …

The Register 20 Nov 01:42

Dell is beat by The Street

Awaits Win7 bonanza

Dell released its financial results for Q3 ended 30 October on Thursday, and for its troubles, it took a beating in after hours trading. The good news is that the company remains profitable. The bad news is that those profits have sunk 54 per cent since last year - and were 5 cents a share worse than analyst estimates. And …

The Register 20 Nov 00:37

Google Chrome OS - do we want another monoculture?

Microsoft ball breakers. Strings attached

Yes, Google has open-sourced Chrome OS, its much-discussed browser-based operating system. But as usual, the open sourcing only says so much about its openness. After all, this isn't something you can load on any PC. And it's not much of an operating system. You can't load local applications - not even one. As part of its …

The Register 20 Nov 00:16
Thursday, 19 November 2009

Al Gore entertains the supercomputer troops

SC09 Seeks political scientists

Former vice president and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore did his self-deprecating politician and climate change champion routine as a keynote for the HPC (high performance computing) faithful at the SC09 trade show in Portland, Oregon, this morning and did his best to get the HPC community fired up about the job they need to do to …

The Register 19 Nov 23:04

Write haiku, win home server

What's needed to win
Microsoft and Intel schwag?
Creativity

Intel and Microsoft want to give you a home server in exchange for 17 syllables of poetic artistry. Seeing as how, according to the companies' just-announced Home Server Haiku Challenge, a "home server is like having a samurai in a box," it's fitting that a haiku-writing contest would be just the culturally sensitive gimmick …

The Register 19 Nov 21:37

Why Microsoft's IE 9 will frustrate standards fans

PDC Return to render

Performance and standards look like dominating work on Microsoft's next version of Internet Explorer. As ever with Microsoft, though, it's likely to be the former that not just trips up the latter but that also continues to sour Microsoft's relationship with the rest of the industry. President of Microsoft's Windows and …

The Register 19 Nov 20:19

Google adds automatic captions to YouTube

Robo-transcription technology

Google is adding new technology to YouTube that can automatically add text captions to videos using speech recognition. The website has allowed users to manually add captions to videos for about a year now, but the process requires the author to pen a full transcription of their content and time it properly to the on-screen …

The Register 19 Nov 19:29

Intel invests in exafloppy future

'Calcul Intensif,' indeed

Intel has announced that it is joining forces with a trio of French institutions to create a European research center focused on the development of supercomputers with exaflop-level performance. An exaflop - for those of you who skipped that day at university - is 1,000 petaflops. Intel's contribution to the planned Exascale …

The Register 19 Nov 19:18

Users howl as Fedora 12 gives root to unwashed masses

Updated Breaks Unix 'zero-assumption' trust model

This story was updated about 11 hours after it was published to reflect that Fedora developers have reversed course. Operating system users once again will be required to enter a root password before installing software packages. Fedora users are revolting against a change introduced in the latest version of the operating …

The Register 19 Nov 18:59

Google open sources flash-happy Chrome OS

Updated Uber browser shuns hard drives

It's a big week for Microsoft. Which means Google has made a point of spotlighting a product designed to undercut its Redmond arch rival. Today, via webcast from its Mountain View headquarters, Google VP of product management Sundar Pichai and Engineering Director Matthew Papakipos unveiled an early version of Chrome OS, the …

The Register 19 Nov 18:20

Scareware tool dumps smut on Windows PCs

Rogue clean-up tool poses child abuse frame risk

Rogue anti-virus slingers are getting even sneakier. Instead of offering to clean up non-existent malware threats as per the traditional approach, one rogue scanner offers to clean up images of porn it claims to have found on a prospective mark's PC. In reality, these images get downloaded by the purported clean-up package …

The Register 19 Nov 18:05

AOL appeals for 2,500 job axe volunteers

Imminent Time Warner divorce puts web firm in bedsit

AOL has asked 2,500 workers to volunteer for redundancy packages at the ailing web firm. The company currently employs 6,900 staff. AOL hopes that enough volunteers will step forward otherwise layoffs will follow, it said. The firm’s owner Time Warner plans to set AOL adrift next month. It’s told employees that the voluntary …

The Register 19 Nov 17:15

FCC approves radio mast 'shot clock' rule

Not as fun as it sounds

The FCC has agreed that local authorities must approve or deny applications for new radio towers within 150 days, or 90 days for additional kit on existing towers. The new rule, widely known as a "shot clock" in reference to sporting time limits, means that state and municipal authorities will have to respond to applications …

The Register 19 Nov 16:59

NJ teen jailed over Scientology DDoS

Anonymess

A New Jersey teenager convicted of participating in a denial of service attack against the Church of Scientology has been jailed for a year. Dmitriy Guzner, 19, from Verona, was also ordered to spend two years on probation following his release and pay $37,500 in compensation at a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, The New …

The Register 19 Nov 16:11

IBM squishes systems software into new business unit

Making programs play nice with each other

As is usually the case at IBM, the official convergence is often announced long after various product lines were already well on their way toward a confluence behind the scenes. And so it is with a new unit of Big Blue's Systems and Technology Group, which put all of its operating systems and hypervisor virtualization software …

The Register 19 Nov 16:10

'Banned' Xbox Live consoles appearing on eBay

Cheap consoles without connectivity

Microsoft’s decision to ban gamers from Xbox Live as punishment for allegedly modifying their consoles has spurred many to simply sell their Xbox 360s through eBay, it has emerged. Earlier today, the number of Xbox 360s described as “banned” on eBay’s UK website was steadily growing, with prices for such machines ranging …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 16:08

California votes in HD TV power pruning law

Standby not good enough?

Legislators in California have voted to exterminate overly energy-hungry TVs, creating a law that insists the state’s tellies meet strict energy consumption standards. Set to come into force in 2011, the law will require TVs with screen sizes of 58in or less to consume 33 per cent less electricity than existing models do. For …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 16:02

Will Ferrell is Hollywood's most ~~over-rated~~ overpaid star

Tops Forbes' list of fiscal shame

Will Ferrell has landed Forbes' "Most Overpaid Star" honour, topping a list of names who sometimes "cost more than their box office worth". Ferrell's elevation to fiscal fame and shame is partly as a result of this summer's Land of the Lost crash and burn, which saw the movie cost $100m and recoup just $65m at the box office. …

The Register 19 Nov 15:58

Qualcomm's nifty Skifta home P2P

It's Orb-tastic

A 6 man "startup" was one of the highlights of Qualcomm's first European R&D showcase today. Skifta is a private P2P network for media sharing - much like Orb. There's a small daemon that runs on Linux, Mac or PC and this sprays music, photos and other movies around different devices such as games consoles, TVs, your mobile or …

The Register 19 Nov 15:30

Santa menaced by sex offender postie

US Postal Service grinches Christmas

The US Postal Service has pulled the plug on a Santa Claus letter service which has run since 1954. Thousands of letters sent by children around the world to "Santa Claus, North Pole" were opened by volunteers and replies written and sent. Envelopes were returned with a North Pole postmark. [The North Pole in question is in …

The Register 19 Nov 15:28

US monster-truck roboguns to blast enemies autonomously

While simultaneously shooting rockets out of the air

Military boffins in the US are now equipping a small fleet of armoured lorries with automatic defensive weapons which can detect incoming antitank rockets and shoot them down in mid-air before they strike, meanwhile retaliating upon the enemy gunmen with devastating firepower - all without human input. Don't shoot it, you'll …

The Register 19 Nov 15:14

Boffins try to get closer to hot bodies

Quantum dots: making electricity from waste heat

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a way of of increasing the amount of energy that can harvested from a hot body*. If the discovery lives up to the hype then it could possibly pave the way to devices that can use waste heat as a power source. Pointing out the potential of wasted heat, the press …

The Register 19 Nov 15:02

US flights suffering nationwide delays

Computer says whoa

The Federal Aviation Administration has blamed a computer glitch for flight delays across the US today. Flight plans which are normally entered onto the system automatically are not being loaded. A spokeswoman for the FAA told the Register: "We're experiencing a system wide outage. It started at 5.06am and we're still working …

The Register 19 Nov 15:01

Sony Ericsson goes web crazy

Who wants to be native these days?

Sony Ericsson has decided web applications are the way of the future, with a new SDK and emulators enabling the development of cross-platform applications. Like many of the non-aligned manufacturers Sony Ericsson is forced to support application development on a variety of platforms, including Android and Symbian, so shifting …

The Register 19 Nov 14:52

HP workers eye walkout over engineer jobs dispute

Updated 'Sacrificial offering on the altar of stock exchange'

Hewlett-Packard workers have voted in favour of strike action in the UK, following a ballot among members of the Unite union who complained about 150 customer engineers being shunted over to a subsidiary company. Unite said 77 per cent of members at HP voted for a staff walkout, while 85 per cent called on "action short of …

The Register 19 Nov 14:40

Judge batters Bluebeat with injunction over Beatles downloads

Site owner gives long and winding explanation

An LA judge has slapped an injunction on the Californian website that was flogging downloads of the Beatles catalogue at 25 cents a pop. According to the LA Times, Judge John F Walter said the defendant in the case, BlueBeat.com and its owner, Hank Risan, rejected Bluebeat's argument that it had not breached copyright in the …

The Register 19 Nov 14:12

Spanish payment breach prompts huge German card recall

Holidaymakers at risk of fraud

German authorities have recalled more than 100,000 credit cards over fears that crooks may have obtained details of the cards via an unnamed Spanish payment processing firm. Holidaymakers who used their Visa or Mastercard credit card in Spain may be at risk of fraud following the reported security breach, which prompted the …

The Register 19 Nov 14:01

Japan claims latest long distance e-car record

Leccy Tech Sorry, Tesla!

A Japanese e-car has set a new world record for the longest distance travelled on a single charge, travelling the 345 miles from Tokyo to Osaka without pulling over to re-charge. Tateuchi drove his modified Mira from Tokyo to Osaka The distance trumps the 313 miles managed by a Tesla Roadster through a strip of Australia …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 13:58

ISA report reveals email security lapse

Safeguarders slightly slipshod on safeguards

The Independent Safeguarding Authority's first annual report reveals that it sent an email with confidential data to the wrong address. The incident, which occurred in the organisation's first full year of operation, was followed by an investigation which concluded that the lapse was due to human error rather than procedural …

The Register 19 Nov 13:26

Downfall writer praises Hitler rant net meme

'I find those parodies tremendously amusing'

The writer of 2004 German film Downfall has described as "tremendously amusing" the plethora of parodies featuring a ranting Hitler reacting angrily to various topical bad tidings - including the news he's been banned from Xbox Live, and Frank Lampard is signing for Inter Milan. The net meme may, Variety suggests, have started …

The Register 19 Nov 13:18

Sony Bravia KDL-46W5810 46in LCD TV

Review Setting the standard for Freesat tellies?

The W5810 range represents Sony’s first move into the Freesat market, allowing you to sample the delights of true HD broadcasting without coughing up any extra cash for a Blu-ray player or Sky HD subscription. Sony’s Bravia KDL-46W5810 – one of the company’s first Freesat tellies As the name implies, the KDL-46W5810 is the …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 13:02

Parents demand control over text messaging

cnt tlk, mum's listnin 2 my txtz

More than 90 per cent of parents want more control over their sprog's texting habits, and would buy more phones if they had it. Messaging company Acision spoke to 1000 mobile phone users and established that parents would be happy to equip their ankle-biters with mobile phones at an even younger age, if only they had more …

The Register 19 Nov 13:01

Ofcom talks to spook firm on filesharing snoop plan

Exclusive Peering inside your packets

Ofcom has held talks over a monitoring system that would peer inside filesharing traffic to determine the level of copyright infringement, in preparation for new laws designed to protect the music, film and software industries. The Digital Economy Bill, to be published by Lord Mandelson tomorrow, will require the …

The Register 19 Nov 12:54

Casio casts ultra-slim 'freezeproof' compact

Tougher than old boots?

Blighty’s winter mornings can get rather cold, so if you insist on taking pictures of frozen flowers and iced-up lakes then at least Casio is here to help with a super-slim “freezeproof” compact camera. Casio's EX-G1: slim and well 'ard The Casio EX-G1 will apparently still snap stills in temperatures as low as -10°C, a …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 12:51

How blogger kept Belle de Jour's ID secret

Using Google for good

British blogger Darren Shrubsole has revealed how he used a GoogleWhack and IP tracking to create an early warning system for the anonymity of sex worker and writer Belle de Jour, who was outed in the press this week. Darren has run a link blog - linkmachinego.com - since well before the mainstream media had even heard of …

The Register 19 Nov 12:39

Modern Warfare 2 sets second sales record

Most sales over a five-day period, claims publisher

Videogame publisher Activison has claimed a second sales record for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, based on the game’s five-day global “sell-through” figure. The title has achieved five-day sell-through sales of $550m (£329m/€369m) across the globe, according to the publisher. This is a record, it claimed. Last week, …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 12:35

MySpace recruits Imeem band member

Web 2.0 music titan mashup

MySpace, the yesterday-man of social networking sites, has reportedly bought Imeem for an undisclosed sum. Neither firm is commenting on the deal but it’s understood that News Corp-owned MySpace has stumped up around $8m for Imeem. The acquisition of the ad-supported site represents MySpace’s latest move into overhauling its …

The Register 19 Nov 12:27

New 'reversible' paralysis-ray turns victims blue, flaccid

'Many test subjects survived', claim inventors

Canadian boffins say they have developed a fearsome paralysis ray technology which caused test animals zapped with it to "turn blue and become paralysed". The effect is claimed to be "reversible", but is often fatal. Chemistry prof Neil Branda and his colleagues achieved their startling effects by drugging their test animals …

The Register 19 Nov 12:25

NetApp doubles profits ahead of Fujitsu love-in

Mighty strong quarter there

NetApp recorded more than doubled profits for its second fiscal 2010 quarter, out-performing its largest competitors and beating its own plans and Wall Street’s expectations alike. Revenues were $910m, essentially flat being down just $1.6m on the year-ago quarter, and up nine per cent sequentially, but net income of $96m was …

The Register 19 Nov 12:05

Hi-tech Silly Putty reformed as gadget protector

Malleable orange goo absorbs impact

What is the best way to protect your laptop or smartphone? By covering them in bubble wrap? Or by restricting their use only to well-padded areas? No. A hi-tech Silly Putty is your best bet, according to manufacturer Tech21. D3O in its raw, stretchy form Tech21 last night launched its range of smartphone and laptop cases …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 11:58

Palin claims webmail hack disrupted GOP campaign

Yes, that was the problem, Sarah

Sarah Palin has described the hack of her webmail account as the "most disruptive" event in her campaign to become US vice president last year. Palin singles out the hack into her Yahoo! web account as "the most disruptive and discouraging" incident in the presidential campaign in her new book Going Rogue: An American Life, …

The Register 19 Nov 11:56

Atlantis specialists set for ISS spacewalk

Robotic arm lube job on list of tasks

Space shuttle Atlantis mission specialists Mike Foreman and Robert Satcher will later today step outside the International Space Station for the first of three STS-129 mission spacewalks. Atlantis docked with the ISS yesterday (see pic*) bearing 27,000lb (12,300kg) of cargo that is "essential for the continued operations of …

The Register 19 Nov 11:31

Apple iPad to get OLED screen

But launch delayed as a consequence, claims mole

Apple's much anticipated iPad won't appear until the second half of 2010 - but at least the delayed model will come with a 9.7in OLED display rather than an LCD. So claims a mole within Taiwan's contract manufacturer community, according to a DigiTimes report. The OLED panel will be coming from LG, apparently. LG signed a $ …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 11:30

iPhone gets NFC hook-up

Plug-in peripheral enables wireless goodness

iPhone owners lamenting the lack of NFC capability can now plug in the iCarte from Wireless Dynamics, providing short-range wireless at the cost of a little extra length. Those who can't wait for the next iPhone, or believe Apple lacks the nerve to fit Near Field Communications internally, now have the option of plugging NFC …

The Register 19 Nov 11:20

'Hybridisation' tech to quintuple battery life

DARPA seeks box-o-lotso energy goodening gear

Most of us these days find battery life an annoying issue, as our increasingly puissant personal gadgetry uses juice faster and faster. Few, however, find batteries as troublesome as modern-day soldiers do - burdened as they are with lasers, optics, radios, monocle displays and other electronic paraphernalia. Adding insult to …

The Register 19 Nov 11:05

North England to replace satanic mills with iPhone app factories

On Ilkley Moor baht app

Offical boosters for the North of England have been looking at iPhone development, and published a guide for entrepreneurial Northerners on how to get their apps noticed. Regional development body Northwest Vision and Media body tries to promote development of the digital economy up North, and reckons that iPhone application …

The Register 19 Nov 11:02

When algorithms attack, does Google hear you scream?

Analysis Inside Google's search penalties gulag

One day in June 2006, search startup Foundem vanished from Google. Foundem is the developer of a "universal vertical search" technology, and currently offers comparison shopping across a range of consumer and travel categories by drilling down into vendor sites and returning details of actual flights and products. But on 26 June …

The Register 19 Nov 11:02

Toshiba plans new enterprise: High capacity 3.5-inch HDDs

Wants to be a bigger player in the big drive market

Toshiba is planning to enter the high-capacity enterprise 3.5-inch hard disk drive market. Toshiba Storage Division Europe hosted a press event in London yesterday, following on the completion of its acquisition of Fujitsu's hard disk drive (HDD) business. Following the acquisition Toshiba has a portfolio of HDDs that are …

The Register 19 Nov 10:32

Infrastructure convergence - The two sides of the coin

Comment What are you gonna do today, Napoleon?

Let’s be fair – IT isn’t the only industry fraught with jargon, but it can certainly hold its head up high among the leaders in the field of gobbledygook. The minefield of acronyms we all have to suffer is worsened by the astonishingly bad practice of overloading individual, sometimes quite innocuous words and combining them …

The Register 19 Nov 10:28

Arkansas cop tasers 10-year-old girl

Mother backs electric justice for unruly child

An Arkansas cop has been suspended after tasering a ten-year-old girl who repeatedly "screamed, kicked and resisted" when her mother attempted to get her to have a shower before bed. Officer Dustin Bradshaw was called to a "domestic disturbance" in Ozark on 11 November, where he found the girl "curled up on the floor, …

The Register 19 Nov 10:26

Arriva cellphone tickets let mobiles keep you mobile

Bus spotters irate*

Passengers travelling on an Arriva bus can now pay with a wave of their mobile phone, without recourse to NFC, RFID, or any equally high-tech solutions. The system deployed by Arriva uses a Java client on the phone to sell tickets to the passengers using a credit card or at a PayPoint outlet, the ticket can then be activated …

The Register 19 Nov 09:58

Queen's Speech slammed by small biz

Seven minutes of slurry

Small business groups were less than impressed with Gordon Brown's fantasy list of what he would do in the unlikely event that he is re-elected as Prime Minister. Although many were shocked at the lack of action on MPs' expenses, small business groups were unimpressed at the lack of promised action on improving internet access …

The Register 19 Nov 09:32

The Register's threat predictions for 2010

Webcast What lurks in the New Year?

Find out what threats lie in wait for your business throughout 2010 and how to avoid them, with this free to view audio slideshow from The Register, in association with MessageLabs. Last week we invited Freeform Dynamics' Jon Collins and Paul Wood of MessageLabs to bring their crystal balls to the Reg studio and give us their …

The Register 19 Nov 09:20

No Freeview HD kit in time for launch, warns telly exec

Full rollout timetable revealed

It's now clear that you'll need a new TV or set-top box (STB) to pick up Freeview HD. However, Register Hardware has learned that compatible kit won’t arrive in Blighty in time for the service’s debut early next month. Richard Lindsay-Davis, Director General of the Digital TV Group (DTG), has admitted to us that “at this stage …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 09:02

IoSafe Solo disaster-proof drive

Review Fireproof and waterproof - we know, we tried it

The IoSafe Solo USB drive is a robust storage device that promises to protect precious data in the event of a fire or flood. It uses patented technology to surround the 3.5in Sata hard disk with both waterproof and fireproof barriers, as well as an innovative cooling mechanism. IoSafe's Solo: disc burning and soak tests take …

Reg Hardware 19 Nov 08:37

Nuke labs show the future of hybrid computing

SC09 Share and share alike

The Hybrid Multicore Consortium is on a mission that perhaps all of computing - on the desktop and in the data center - will one day embark on: making hybrid computing architectures as easy to program and use as monolithic platforms have been. There is a growing consensus - but by no means a complete one - that the future of …

The Register 19 Nov 08:02

Google remaps Earth for iPhone

Review Turn-by-turn (mis-)directions

Google has released a major update to its Google Earth iPhone app, boosting it a full point to 2.0. Let's hope, however, that a version 2.0.1 will soon squash the bugs we dug up when we loaded the new Google Earth onto our iPhone 3GS and took it for a spin. On the plus side, version 2.0 contains all of the fun and …

The Register 19 Nov 08:02

Crypto pioneer and security chief exits Sun

One in the PKI?

Crypto pioneer and Sun Microsystems' veteran chief security officer Whitfield Diffie has left the company, with database-giant Oracle's acquisition still in the air. According to Technology Review, Diffie is slated to be a visiting professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, after 18 years at Sun, latterly in the high- …

The Register 19 Nov 07:02

US, China play footsie with joint space mission

We will 'enhance security in outer space'

The United States and China have agreed to step up discussions on cooperative space exploration, as both countries separately pursue ambitious plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by around 2020. US president Barack Obama and Chinese president Hu Jintaro have agreed during a summit in Beijing this week to formalize joint …

The Register 19 Nov 07:02

Fedora 12 - it's a horse, not a camel

Review Design by committee makes good

The Fedora Project has announced the latest version of its popular open source Linux distribution. Nicknamed Constantine, Fedora 12 has quite a few impressive new features and demonstrates that the project has gained a renewed sense of direction. In the build-up to the release of Fedora 12, the Fedora community has focused its …

The Register 19 Nov 06:02

DWP IT contractors in strike ballot

Union: 'Tell management that enough is enough'

HP contractors working for the Department for Work and Pensions will vote on whether to strike over job losses and pay. More than 1,000 government IT contractors, working mainly for the DWP in locations around the UK including Newcastle, Washington, Preston and near Blackpool, are voting in a ballot which will run until 30 …

The Register 19 Nov 06:02

IBM greases mainframe app pipe

System zware boost

IBM is sweeping cobwebs off big iron with a host of new software products and updates aimed at streamlining maintenance and squeezing more workloads out of the System z mainframe. The company said System z has renewed life as a platform for its cost-cutting and consolidation values, but alas, software today requires better …

The Register 19 Nov 05:02

National Security Agency beefed Win 7 defenses

Now for Apple, Sun, and Red Hat

The National Security Agency helped Microsoft harden Windows 7 against attacks and is providing similar assistance to Apple, Sun Microsystems and Red Hat too, an agency official said. The admission came in prepared remarks delivered Tuesday by Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, at a hearing before the …

The Register 19 Nov 04:35

Stalker video peepholed ESPN bombshell

'Erin Andrews Naked Butt'

A Chicago man who stalked ESPN reporter Erin Andrews across the United States managed to secretly videotape America's sexiest sportscaster in the nude twice, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The eight-month odyssey by Michael David Barrett began in Columbus, Ohio in early 2008 and concluded in Nashville, according to court …

The Register 19 Nov 01:12
Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Salesforce insists on 'Facebook for enterprise'

Dreamforce 09 More Chatter

Tired of the Facebook hype and metaphors stretched to breaking point? Well, now you've got "Facebook for the enterprise" from Salesforce.com, trying to stake out its place in enterprise collaboration. On Wednesday, the software-as-a-service provider announced Salesforce.com Chatter, which it described as providing "realtime …

The Register 18 Nov 23:27

Google and the myth of the open cloud

The world's most closed open company

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if Google offers the world a web service, large numbers of people will convince themselves that it's superior to anything else they can get their hands on - and less likely to condemn them to some sort of Redmondian future in which a single corporation has them in a metaphorical vice …

The Register 18 Nov 22:52

Egyptian telecom counts cost of football riot

Police brace for trouble after World Cup grudge match

Police in North Africa were braced for further trouble on Wednesday night after Algeria secured a 1-0 win to advance to the World-cup finals next year at the expense of arch-rivals Egypt. The play-off in neutral Karthoom follows sparked by an earlier match between the two. Egypt won the final group qualifying game 2-0 against …

The Register 18 Nov 22:38

Microsoft unleashes Silverlight 4 beta

PDC Delivers IE 9 standards vagueness

Microsoft has unveiled major and long-awaited basic features in the next version of Silverlight, hoping to take on AJAX and Adobe Systems' Flash. Om Wednesday, the company announced Silverlight 4, which has been designed to simplify both the development and consumption of rich-media applications and content by programmers and …

The Register 18 Nov 22:11

Intel cash pays down AMD debt

Good news. For Intel

Less than a week after accepting $1.25bn from Intel in exchange for dropping its legal actions against Chipzilla, AMD has announced how it plans to use that windfall. In a trio of Wednesday announcements, the world's second-largest microprocessor designer revealed a plan to slash its debt by as much as $1.4 billion, thus …

The Register 18 Nov 21:34

Office 2010 fights Google with SharePoint bloat

Review Decent upgrade gets out of shape

Office is in a curious competitive position. On the desktop, Office is untouchable - even the free OpenOffice.org has done little to shift its hold, especially in business. Microsoft should worry though about competing online document authoring and collaboration tools, especially those from Google. They lack features now, but …

The Register 18 Nov 20:12

IBM lab builds computerized cat brain

ROTM Feline consciousness sim

Mad scientists at IBM say they've made "significant progress" towards creating a computer chip that can emulate the human brain's ability to sense, perceive, comprehend, and interact with the real world*. Big Blue says its ultimate goal is to develop computer systems that can handle with real-world ambiguity and interact with …

The Register 18 Nov 19:37

Second-hand ATM trade opens up fraud risk

Craigslist cash machine contains 1,000 card numbers

Second-hand ATM machines containing sensitive transaction data are easily available for purchase on eBay or even Craiglist, according to an investigation by a US-based security consultant. Robert Siciliano, a security consultant to Intelius.com and personal ID theft expert, was able to buy an ATM machine through Craigslist for …

The Register 18 Nov 18:23

Sony Ericsson slashes US presence

Layoffs trail shrinking sales

Sony Ericsson, bowing to the pressures of a Meltdown-induced decline in worldwide handset sales, has announced more layoffs in conjunction with a wide-ranging restructuring. On the same day that President Obama warned that the US economy runs the risk of a "double-dip recession," Sony Ericsson doubled-down on its employee …

The Register 18 Nov 18:08

Microsoft squirts out Office 2010 public beta

Testing times ahead

Microsoft plans to punt five different flavours of its Office 2010 suite when it lands in the first half of next year. Customers will be able to get their hands on Ribbon-wrapped Standard, Home and Business, Professional Plus, Professional and Home and Student editions of the software, with three of those versions hitting …

The Register 18 Nov 18:02

Windows 7's dirty secrets revealed

PDC Hidden work arounds and complex dependencies

While chief technology officer Ray Ozzie was away in the clouds at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference, technical fellow Mark Russinovich got down and dirty with the true heart of Windows - the kernel. He presented a two-hour session on changes made to the kernel used by both Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, shedding …

The Register 18 Nov 17:02

Renegade weatherman forecast today's storm weeks ago

Mystic Met baffled

Piers Corbyn's renegade weather outfit has comprehensively trumped the taxpayer funded Met Office. Back in August, Corbyn's WeatherAction forecast storms for 17-19 November. Or more accurately, WA made this prediction, upgrading it to 85 per cent accuracy: N Sea Storm Surge Stormy with heavy rain - snow & blizzards in Scot & N …

The Register 18 Nov 16:15

US data firm blows s**t out of server

Hail of lead does for innocent box

This will cheer up those backroom boys among you who've ever had a strong desire to let a server have it with an arsenal of weapons, but didn't have a Springfield Armory M14, Heckler & Koch MP5 or IMI Uzi to hand: Marvellous, and we offer a round of applause to keepgoing.biz, which promises to protect your data in …

The Register 18 Nov 16:02

Acer, Asus dominate Euro netbook biz

Canalys Mobility Forum Demand rises despite recession

Who rules the European netbook market? Acer, by a long chalk, despite the positive write-up given to rival machines from Samsung and Dell. Speaking this week at the Canalys Mobility Forum in London, Canalys analyst Natalie Spitz said Acer commanded 32.4 per cent of the netbook market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA …

The Register 18 Nov 16:02

Sony wireless e-book Reader priced, dated

North America only, alas

The UK’s e-book lovers are panting with anticipation that Sony’s 3G-connected Reader Daily Edition will arrive here by Christmas, following the firm’s creation of a pre-order page for the gagdet in North America. But Sony isn’t making any promises that the Reader Daily Edition – which provides free access to the firm’s eBook …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 16:01

Ombudsman slams EC Intel probe

Where's your working out?

Intel, hit by the largest ever fine by the European Commission, can find a little solace today as its complaint about how the investigation was carried out has been upheld. European complaints monitor - the European Ombudsman P Nikiforos Diamandouros - agreed with the chip giant that the Commission failed to take proper notes …

Channel Register 18 Nov 15:33

Mozilla kicks rebel coders to kerb with Firefox 3.6 'lockdown'

Components directory to become Firefox-only playpen

Mozilla plans to debut a "lockdown" feature in Firefox 3.6 to force third party application developers to toe the line by preventing them from adding their own code into the browser's components directory. "Firefox is built around the idea of extensibility - it’s part of our soul," proclaimed Mozilla's Jonathan Nightingale in …

The Register 18 Nov 15:31

UK cybercops cuff ZeuS Trojan suspect pair

Alleged Bonnie and Clyde of malware

A Manchester couple have been arrested on suspicion of using the notorious ZeuS Trojan horse to commit banking fraud. The unnamed man and woman, both 20, were arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police's newly established Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) on 3 November. The pair were arrested for offences under 1990 Computer …

The Register 18 Nov 15:17

Yahoo! Go! Going! Nowhere!

Gah

Yahoo is shutting down its Go! service early next year, saying that it's easier to do things in mobile browsers these days. Go! is a Java client, which was supposed to consolidate Yahoo's various services as well as providing a platform on which third-parties could deploy widgets. The problem is that they didn't, and Yahoo has …

The Register 18 Nov 15:15

E-car driven from Dover to Calais

Leccy Tech John Surtees goes for subterranean spin

Veteran racing driver John Surtees has become the first man to drive from Britain to France in an electric car. John Surtees at the Channel Tunnel's halfway point Credit: David Barzilay Surtees – the only man to ever win world championships on both four and two wheels – yesterday drove a prototype Ginetta G50EV through the …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 15:01

LHC starts beaming Saturday: Collisions Dec 3

Exclusive Reg reader unlocks secret CERN web

As all the world knows, the Large Hadron Collider - the mightiest particle-punisher in the world and possible portal to other dimensions - is shortly to fire up again, following last year's catastrophic liquid helium superfluid explosion. You can learn that much by following other media outlets like any ignorant drone. But you …

The Register 18 Nov 14:41

Wall-punching Brit gamer foams (milk) at the mouth

NSFW Didn't much like Modern Warfare 2, YouTube vid suggests

We don't know what the gamers among you make of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, but here's one young Brit's analysis of it after an evidently intense 17 hour session at the console (NSFW): Well, suffice it to say that since posting his thoughtful critique last week, this petulant young man has become a bit of a YouTube …

The Register 18 Nov 14:14

Facebook revises privacy policy

Plain English update

Facebook has published a simpler, easier to understand privacy policy which removes complicated technical and legal terms in the previous document without changing much of substance. Less than 7,000 people commented on the social networking site's proposals to change its privacy policy. This allows the company to adopt the …

The Register 18 Nov 14:11

Touch controls floated by Infragistics for Microsoft's Surface

Computational fiddling

A trial set of controls to build touch-based applications with input from different users on Microsoft's Surface have been released by interface specialist Infragistics. The company is expected to today announce three types of controls have been customized for Surface and are available under a Community Technology Preview (CTP …

The Register 18 Nov 14:01

Gene testing firm goes titsup

DNA disease spotting ain't worth spit

The company that all but started the industry of selling gene tests to individuals to predict their likelihood of getting certain diseases has gone bust. deCODE genetics Inc, said it was entering Chapter 11 - bankruptcy protection - in order to sell all its assets. The company said it had explored "multiple restructuring …

The Register 18 Nov 13:44

Cosmic Vampire sheds light on dark energy

European Astro-boffs eagerly wait for supernova

Astronomers have taken time-lapse images of a "Vampire Star" that is causing them to excitedly quiver about possible insights into the Universe's expansion. Using the imaginatively-named Very Large Telescope and "adaptive-optics techniques", scientists at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) were able to take images and …

The Register 18 Nov 13:32

Anti-filesharing laws are go

Digital Queen

The government will press ahead with plans to restrict internet access for illegal filesharers, it was confirmed in the Queen's Speech today. As expected, a Digital Economy Bill will aim to compel ISPs to penalise those persistently observed infringing copyright via peer-to-peer networks. If the overall level of illegal …

The Register 18 Nov 13:30

Intel offers non-Jewish Saturday workforce in Israel plant row

Compromise plan after ultra-Orthodox protest

Intel has offered to field an entirely non-Jewish Saturday workforce at its Jerusalem chip plant, after unruly demonstrations by ultra-Orthodox Jews there at the weekend. The protest by ultra-Orthodox Jews, enraged by the company running the plant on the Jewish sabbath, prompted Intel to surround the factory with barbed wire. …

The Register 18 Nov 13:21

Queen promises to make poverty and budget deficits illegal

Tower looms for recalcitrant Chancellor

The Queen today delivered her annual speech to the combined Houses of Parliament, setting out her government’s plans for legislation over the next six months. As expected, this was the shortest speech of the current parliament, running to just 13 minutes and contained promises to: - Enhance the governance of the financial …

The Register 18 Nov 13:19

US Navy electromagnetic mass-driver commences tests

Electric machine will toss off Topguns from 2010

A prototype electromagnetic mass-driver, intended to hurl jet aircraft into the sky from the decks of aircraft carriers, has gone into operation at a former airship base in New Jersey. The new kit could be even more important to the Royal Navy than it will be to the US fleet. Mass-driver kit for shooting robot jets into the …

The Register 18 Nov 13:14

Fujifilm Finepix F200EXR

Review Extra sensory perception?

The Finepix F200EXR is the replacement for the Finepix F100fd, which we looked at last January. Although there are a number of similarities between the two cameras – they have the same sized image sensor, optical zoom and camera body – there are some differences too, not least the Finepix F200EXR’s new EXR image sensor. …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 13:03

Netbooks 'not just a consumer fad'

Canalys Mobility Forum Business keen on 'em too

Netbooks are just a fad. Punters are only buying them because they're cheap. According to market watcher Canalys, neither of these statements are true. The company basis its claim - made in London this week at its Mobility Forum by VP Mike Welch - on around 20,000 interviews with buyers located across Europe. Out of all those …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 12:48

Google to pop Chrome OS cherry tomorrow?

Tangos with Microsoft rival in code showdown

Google plans to steal some attention away from Microsoft’s annual developer shindig by unveiling more details about its Chrome OS tomorrow. Mountain View will be revealing how far down the line the company’s wonks have gotten with development of its operating system, which is currently expected to debut at some point in the …

The Register 18 Nov 12:39

Android 2.0 debuts on touchscreen tablet

Vega set for CES unveiling

Manufacturer Innovative Converged Devices (ICD) has released the specifications for a sleek and sexy touchscreen tablet onto which it plans to install the Eclair edition of Google’s Android OS. ICD's Vega will run Android 2.0 and come in 7in, 11in and 15in screen sizes Vega measures 373 x 254 x 16mm and sports a gorgeous 15 …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 12:28

Nokia to cull Symbian in 2012

It's the end of an Epoc

Nokia says it will replace Symbian with its Maemo Linux by 2012. All high-end N series multimedia devices will be running the Linux OS by then. Rubbing salt in the wounds of longtime Epoc developers, it disclosed the news to a meetup of Maemo enthusiasts – Ben Smith reports at The Really Mobile Project blog. X series and E …

The Register 18 Nov 12:25

Massive net surveillance programme on schedule

Home Office makes 2016 year of the snoop

A £2bn scheme to monitor all electronic communications remains within the Home Office's financial plans, despite the government postponing the relevant legislation. The Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) is planned for completion in 2016, having started in April 2006, according to a written parliamentary answer from …

The Register 18 Nov 12:17

Universities saving skint students still waiting for loans

Systems still struggling with applications upswing

Three out of four English universities have had to make emergency payments to students who are still waiting for their loans to come through. Ongoing problems with processing student loans - mainly because of the big increase in applications thanks to the recession - have led to long delays for thousands of students. A …

The Register 18 Nov 12:15

Monitoring and managing power consumption

You the Expert Reg Readers tell it like it really is

We set you a challenge to join our expert panel and answer questions from our readers on how to deal with your server challenges. This week we've got the first of a series of instalments on this topic. We welcome the first contribution from our resident reader experts, Adam Salisbury and Trevor Pott. You can read their advice …

The Register 18 Nov 12:12

Windows Phones get to play Opera too

Finally, more than three tabs at a time

The new version of Opera Mobile, available for Symbian since the beginning of the month, is now available for Windows Phones too. Opera Mobile 10 is still officially a beta release, but seems stable enough and the addition of Turbo alone makes the download worthwhile. A better interface and the ability to use more than three …

The Register 18 Nov 12:00

Facebook battles attack by child protection chief

Gamble unfriends social networks

Facebook has defended itself against criticism from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) that it has refused to join a reporting scheme. Jim Gamble, the chief executive of CEOP, today took to the airwaves and newspaper pages to attack Facebook and MySpace for declining to publish his organisation's "CEOP …

The Register 18 Nov 11:58

New Zealand rated least corrupt country

Somalia bent as a nine bob note

New Zealand has been rated the world's least corrupt country for 2009, topping Transparency International's "Corruption Perceptions Index" (CPI) with a squeaky-clean 9.4 out of 10 in the league table of just how corrupt, or otherwise, nations are reckoned to be. Last year's winner Denmark is relegated to second spot, with 9.3 …

The Register 18 Nov 11:55

Nokia N-series smartphones to lose Symbian by 2012

Maemo to replace it

Reports that Nokia smartphones could one day all use the Linux-based Maemo OS instead of Symbian just won’t die - especially now that Maemo representatives have allegedly confirmed that N-series Nokias will soon lose Symbian. At an event in London last night, unnamed members of the “Maemo marketing team” allegedly told blog …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 11:25

High-tech 'blade runner' legs better than real ones - profs

Olympic ban on Dr Who Cybermen seems likely

The argument over the use of artificial legs to gain better results in athletics has taken a new turn. Following lengthy legal debates, it had been accepted that prosthetic legs confer no substantial advantage, but now the very scientists who argued that case have changed their minds. Today's new findings come from human- …

The Register 18 Nov 11:19

Fortinet launches rare net security IPO

Roll-up, roll-up

Fortinet has set a price of $12.50 a share for its initial public offering on Wednesday. If all goes to plan, the security appliance firm and its investors stand to rake in a more than $156m through the offer. Fortinet shares are due to begin trading on Nasdaq on 18 November under the ticker symbol "FTNT", as part of the first …

The Register 18 Nov 11:16

Are your Server Estate Policies Fully Mature?

Workshop And is IT Governance a help or a hindrance?

You know what happens: everyone in marketing focuses on the processor speeds, the cache size, the go faster stripes and the other fancy new features of the server and its component parts. You also know that the real challenges of any system only start with the business case and getting it installed. IT Governance is an area …

The Register 18 Nov 11:13

How the Dunning-Kruger effect will stop techies buying houses

Oh, and murder the economy as well

By Jove, I think we've finally got an explanation for the unremitting horrors of so much of modern life - the way in which anything touched by politics, bureaucracy or officialdom simply turns to shite. No, it's not simply the current shower of authoritarians who are in power, and it's not that they're all paid too much/too …

The Register 18 Nov 11:02

iPhone to become Blighty's favourite smartphone

Canalys Mobility Forum Sales to bloom with end of O2 exclusivity

Apple's iPhone could become Britain's best-selling smartphone, market watcher Canalys has claimed - and it's all due to the end of O2's exclusive on the handset. Speaking at the Canalys Mobility Forum in London yesterday, analyst Pete Cunningham revealed that the iPhone was France's favourite smartphone in Q3 2009. That, he …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 10:54

Xbox bigwig pooh-poohs Natal's November 2010 launch

Gadget 'still in the baking'

Project Natal won’t launch in November 2010, despite recent claims to the contrary, a UK Microsoft executive has stated. Neil Thompson, the UK head of all things Xbox, said: “We’re still very much in the baking on Natal and there’s a lot of things to get decided on it,” a report by website Games Industry said. Last week, …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 10:53

T-Mobile coughs to data theft

But can't understand all the fuss

T-Mobile has admitted it was the operator whose staff sold customer data to competitors, but can't understand why the Information Commissioner decided to share the information. Staff at the network operator had developed a sideline selling customer records to brokers who then called up the customers to offer alternative …

The Register 18 Nov 10:21

NetApp and Fujitsu to integrate products

Living together, not marriage

NetApp and Fujitsu are partnering to integrate some of their products, enable faster data centre server system deployment, and develop a joint go-to-market strategy. Fujitsu is a general IT supplier with products ranging from mainframes, through servers, storage and networking to PCs and notebooks. It includes Fujitsu …

The Register 18 Nov 10:18

MS store staff in spontaneous electric boogie

Video Gobsmacked witness 'absolutely floored' by life-changing dance experience

Those of you who object to a) Microsoft, b) California and c) effusive Yanks gushing complete and utter cobblers are advised to look away now, because what follows is really going to put a downer on your day. Introducing Brad Slavin, who just happened to be in a shopping mall in Mission Viejo, unaware he was about to …

The Register 18 Nov 10:13

AMD intros dual-GPU monster graphics card

Overclockers rejoice

AMD has whipped out its latest top-of-the-line dual-GPU graphics card, as expected. Dubbed the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the DirectX 11-supporting card can drive up to three displays simultaneously - there are a pair of DVI connectors and a DisplayPort on the back - and one screen at up to 7680 x 1600. The board's two 40nm GPUs run …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 10:08

Macs not all that for reliability

Pretty though

A survey of 30,000 laptops has found one in three machines die within three years and netbooks do even worse, suffering 20 per cent more hardware failures than larger laptop machines. Apple is fourth placed for reliability behind, in ascending order, Sony, Toshiba and in first place Asus. To be fair to Apple there's not much …

Channel Register 18 Nov 09:59

Mellanox pushes InfiniBand to 120Gb/s

SC09 Offloading IB processing from CPUs to ConnectX-2s

If 40 Gb/sec InfiniBand is not enough for you, then you'll be happy to hear that InfiniBand switch maker Mellanox Technologies is going to crank its switches past 11 to deliver 120 Gb/sec ports in its MTS and IS switch families. As it turns out, the InfiniScale IV chips that Mellanox created for its 40 Gb/sec IS5000 switches, …

The Register 18 Nov 09:58

OCZ unveils 1TB SSD Colossus

Enormous capacity - even bigger price

Memory and storage specialist OCZ has unwrapped its latest SSD and it's a biggie: the Colossus packs in 1TB of solid-state storage. The price is enormous, too: $3572 (£2123/€2392) for that terabyte capacity, though cheaper (sort of) 500GB, 250GB and 120GB versions are available for the less well-heeled. OCZ's Colossus: 3.5in …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 09:45

The great ‘build versus buy’ debate

Mini Poll What's your view on the role of packaged applications?

Following our discussions earlier in the week on the pros and cons of packaged applications, the ‘build versus buy’ debate rolls on. Whether it’s ERP, CRM or other solutions for dealing with core business requirements, we’d be interested in gathering a bit more information on where you are today and how this is changing. So, …

The Register 18 Nov 09:11

Microsoft feeds Excel to supercomputer

SC09 Windows HPC chases Linux

If the quants in financial services get tools for running their models more quickly, will the economy get better or worse? Who knows? But thanks to Microsoft, we're all going to find out. At the SC09 supercomputing trade show in Portland, Oregon, this week, Microsoft is trumpeting the parallel programming smarts its baking …

The Register 18 Nov 09:02

Quantum's small tape libraries get big

At least a little

Quantum has entered the small tape library market with products that provide more than the everyday 2 and 4U boxes offered by everybody else. One manufacturer - BDT - makes the 24- and 48-slot entry-level LTO4 tape libraries made by Dell, HP, IBM, Overland, and Sun. Quantum has decided to forego OEM'ing the BDT boxes and has …

The Register 18 Nov 09:02

IDC Ecco Personal

Review Points the way, literally

Forgotten where you parked your car? Lost your hotel, tent or even family and friends? For the terminally disorientated, the Ecco Personal Pocket GPS Locator is designed to put you back on track. Indeed, this hi-tech key fob proves to be more than just the novelty item that it first appears. IDC Ecco: for keys that have lost …

Reg Hardware 18 Nov 08:54

Man charged in $111k domain name theft

eBayed to basketball pro

A New Jersey man has been charged with stealing the p2p.com domain name and selling it to a professional basketball player for more than $111,000 in the first US indictment for domain name theft. In May 2006, Daniel Goncalves, now 25, of Union City, illegally accessed accounts of domain name registrar GoDaddy "for the purpose …

The Register 18 Nov 07:02

Isilon doubles capacity

2TB drives in the house

Isilon has doubled the capacity of its largest clusterable network-attached storage (NAS) system by using 2TB drives. The new model is called the IQ 72000X and houses 36 2TB Hitachi GST SATA drives in its 4U enclosure. Isilon says it means there is a 10PB single volume capacity in clustered form, with up to 144 nodes. …

The Register 18 Nov 07:02

NASA maps Mars with ~~child labor~~ web games

Hey kid, Be a Martian

NASA is outsourcing laborious Martian cartography to Earth children with a website that entices users to make a game out of sorting through the space agency's hundreds of thousands images of the Red Planet. In collaboration with Microsoft, NASA has created the "Be a Martian" website, where helping to improve Mars map data …

The Register 18 Nov 06:02

GooHooSoft bear-hugs 'Apache for web specs'

Open source meets open standards

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Facebook, and other web-happy types have embraced a new effort to promote the use of free and open specifications across the net. Yes, that's Google and Microsoft working arm-in-arm. The wonders never cease. Today, as part of its ongoing effort apply open-source-software licensing to web …

The Register 18 Nov 06:02

Ofcom preps for World Radiocommunication

2012 looming

Ofcom has laid out its plans for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012, and it's seeking input from anyone who cares enough to comment. The conference is still three years off, but the agenda was laid out in 2003 and then tweaked in 2007, so its high time Ofcom decided what its going to care about when everyone gets …

The Register 18 Nov 06:02

Xiotech in spin transplant

Comment New CEO means new marketeer

Incoming Xiotech CEO Alan Atkinson has replaced Xiotech's head marketeer with an IBM recruit. Xiotech is the vendor that made a huge marketing noise in 2008 about its Emprise modular array consisting of sealed canisters of drives, with Intelligent Storage Elements (ISEs) being used instead of Xyratex, LSI or Dot Hill-sourced …

The Register 18 Nov 06:02
Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Microsoft delivers 'almost ready' Azure cloud

PDC Play now, play later - much later

Microsoft is fiddling around with the launch dates of the highly anticipated Windows Azure while showing off the cloud service's latest advances. The company said on Tuesday that Azure, unveiled in October 2008, would continue as a Community Technology Preview (CTP) through to the end of this year. Azure will be opened to …

The Register 17 Nov 23:08

Hacktivists ransack Hitler defender's email

David Irving's private musings bared

Self-proclaimed anti-fascist hackers have struck a major blow at controversial World War II historian David Irving by taking down two of his websites and publishing scores of his emails and private information. The 16,000-word missive posted to Wikileaks contains the names and contact details of supporters of Irving, who - …

The Register 17 Nov 23:07

Fedora 12 debuts after Halloween slippage

November trick or treat

Fedora 12 made its official debut today, after a two-week slippage in its release schedule. Codenamed "Constantine," the new RedHat community Linux distro includes power management features pulled from RHEL 5, improved support for netbooks, and a much-improved NetworkManager. The latter provides a graphical display of the WiFi …

The Register 17 Nov 21:47

Microsoft ordered to halt Win XP sales in China

IP champion accused of IP theft

Microsoft has been ordered to stop selling Windows XP in China after a court ruled that certain fonts in the operating system infringe on a Chinese firm's intellectual property. On Monday, Beijing's 1st Intermediate People's Court decided that Microsoft had overstepped a deal with Zhongyi Electronics to include the company's …

The Register 17 Nov 21:22

Intel: 3D Web to save HPC

SC09 The super killer app

Intel CTO Justin Rattner has a stark warning for the HPC community: Come up with a killer application or the business will stagnate. As the person who spearheaded the creation of the ASCI Red massively parallel system for the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories - the first machine to break through the 1 …

The Register 17 Nov 20:23

T-Mobile raises Sidekick from the dead

Microsoft meltdown (not) forgotten

T-Mobile resumed sales of its benighted Sidekick smart(ish)phone on Tuesday morning, six weeks after a cloudburst swamped the once-popular status symbol. In early October, a catastrophic server failure at a Microsoft subsidiary - the all-too-prophetically named Danger - wiped out Sidekick users' personal data that had been …

The Register 17 Nov 20:11

Intel brass sued over antitrust wrangle

Shareholder dubs board patsies

Intel CEO Paul Otellni and a host of other top Intel brass past and present have been fingered by a shareholder lawsuit, accused of ignoring and pandering to antitrust misconduct that resulted in record fines for the company. The lawsuit was filed last Friday in US District Court in Delaware by shareholder Charles Gilman. The …

The Register 17 Nov 19:49

Microsoft 'Dallas' muscles Google data crusade

PDC Crunches Red Planet

Microsoft is hoping to out-Google Google by unlocking the world's information and slapping a GUI on the front end. Today, the company unveiled Dallas, which chief software architect Ray Ozzie said would deliver "data as a service." He described it as a "game changing" subsystem of Microsoft's Windows Azure computing and …

The Register 17 Nov 19:22

Google target slips ads into iPhone apps

AdMob indeed

AdMob - the self-described "world's largest mobile advertising marketplace" that was recently snapped up by Google for tidy $750m - is introducing a new in-app advert and product-purchasing system for the iPhone. Reports scurried across the web yesterday about Apple being in talks with AdMob about a possible acquisition before …

The Register 17 Nov 18:54

ARM opens Android happy place

Developers unite

ARM has unveiled a place where Android developers can help each other be Android developers. The chip designer calls this place The Solution Center for Android, boasting that "more than" 35 ARM-friendly developers have already joined the fun. Android - Google's open source mobile stack - was originally written for an ARM- …

The Register 17 Nov 18:48

Romanian cops to $150k ATM skimming spree

'All your PIN are belong to us'

A Romanian national has admitted he defrauded Bank of America of about $150,000 in a scheme that secretly recorded customer information as it was entered into automatic teller machines. Victor Vasile Constantin, 23, pleaded guilty in US District Court in Connecticut to one count each of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft …

The Register 17 Nov 17:51

€2m iPhone bounty stolen

Thieves slice open roof to pinch 4000 iPhones

The iPhone could be in short supply across Belgium this Christmas, because thieves have stolen some 4000 units of the smartphone worth an estimated €2m (£1.7m/$2.9m). After using a fire ladder to climb onto the roof of a logistics company’s “immense” warehouse in Willebroek, Belgium last weekend, the smart phone thieves then …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 17:19

HELL-beam project now one step from jet-fighter raygun

DARPA fridge laser. Advantage: Shark

US military boffinry chiefs have stated that they will shortly issue a brace of contracts for "refrigerator sized" laser blaster cannons. One of the deals will see a full-power ground prototype built which will be the final stage prior to America's first raygun-equipped jet fighter. The news comes in a pair of notices issued …

The Register 17 Nov 17:15

Northamber warns things still rough in UK channel

Future's not clear to see

UK distie Northamber updated the markets on its first quarter performance to 30 September and sales are down nine per cent on the same period last year. It said the fall in sales was similar to levels of price erosion over the period but "significantly lower than the 22 per cent decline in sales for the year to 30 June 2009". …

Channel Register 17 Nov 16:18

Japan gov poised to cancel 10 petaflops Keisuko super

SC09 Fujitsu has to do some financial jujitsu

Rumours were circulating around late last week ahead of the SC09 supercomputing trade show in Portland, Oregon, that the Japanese government might severely curtail its funding of HPC projects. This comes after a panel of axe-wielding government bureaucrats charged with removing waste from the Japanese government budget …

The Register 17 Nov 16:11

Most security products not up to scratch

But most of all, you've let yourself down

Only four per cent (one in 25) information security products pass muster when first tested under a widely-used industry kitemark scheme. Most products require two or more cycles of testing before achieving certification, according to security testing outfit ICSA Labs. ICSA Labs, which has tested anti-virus and firewall …

The Register 17 Nov 15:56

Activision denies Modern Warfare 2 Russian ban

Controversial airport level ditched

The publisher behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has dismissed claims that the videogame has been banned in Russia because of a violent level set within a Russian airport. “Reports that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been banned in Russia are erroneous,” Activision said. The source of Russian contention is MW2’s “No …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 15:50

IT workers top UK inertia league

Too much coffee, too little exercise

Personal training outfit Fat Free Fitness has shockingly revealed that the UK's IT workers top the nation's inertia league - drinking too much coffee and doing way too little exercise. A probe of 1,734 employees found idle IT so-and-sos are Blighty's least energetic, with just 19 per cent meeting the gov's activity guidelines …

The Register 17 Nov 15:49

Staff at UK mobile co sold customer records

Updated Info Commissioner recommends jail for miscreants

Staff at an unnamed mobile operator have been selling customer details to the competition, and the Information Commissioner reckons that it will take a spell in chokey to stop the leaks. According to the BBC, a T-Mobile spokesman has confirmed that T-Mobile is the company in question. The spokesman tells the BBC that the …

The Register 17 Nov 15:47

V-22 Osprey, stealth jumpjet 'need refrigerated landing pads'

Hover-ships' hot exhaust melting decks of US warships

It's now official. The new generation of high-tech hovering aircraft - namely the famous V-22 "Osprey" tiltrotor and the upcoming F-35B supersonic stealth jump-jet - have an unforeseen flaw. Their exhaust downwash is so hot as to melt the flight decks of US warships, leading Pentagon boffins to look into refrigerated landing …

The Register 17 Nov 15:27

UK2 email migration still not finished

Seventeen days and counting

Hosting company UK2 has still not finished migrating customer emails across to a new system. Just to recap: on 6 November, one week after the original problems, UK2's managing director Martin Baker promised us all mails would be restored by Sunday night. On Monday, the mails still hadn't moved. On Tuesday 10 November, network …

The Register 17 Nov 15:08

Clove confirms Acer Liquid Android phone launch

Weeks, or possibly days, to go

Acer’s Liquid A1 smartphone will hit Blighty this month, it has emerged. Acer's Liquid A1 smartphone: out later this month through Clove Said to be the world’s first smartphone to combine an 800 x 480 touchscreen with Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor and version 1.6 of Android, the Acer handset will be available from …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 15:06

Swindon council promises townsfolk free Wi-Fi XTC

Leaves citizens feeling ten feet tall

Swindon council has bought into the municipal Wi-Fi dream, taking a 35 per cent stake in a firm that will build a mesh network to give the Wiltshire town's citizens free net access. Swindon Borough Council has partnered with aQovia to put up 1,400 access points in the city, and target the technology at other towns in the UK. …

The Register 17 Nov 14:56

Latest Navy carrier madness: 'Sell 'em to India'

Analysis Grauniad has lunch with BAE

Yet another scheme by the MoD for cutting costs on the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers has surfaced in the media, with claims now being aired that one of the two ships might be sold to India. The Guardian reports that India "has recently lodged a firm expression of interest to buy one of the two state-of-the-art 65,000 …

The Register 17 Nov 14:52

Guide names mass e-car adoption potholes

Leccy Tech Electrification Coalition speaks mind

A US-based pro leccy vehicle organisation has recommended that 25 per cent of the country’s new car sales be for battery-electric or plug-in hybrid cars by the year 2020. The Electrification Coalition – described as a not-for-profit body “committed to promoting policies and actions that will facilitate the deployment of …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 14:42

Pirate Bay says tracker tech is so yesterday, man

Takes seat at distributed hash table

The Pirate Bay has kyboshed its tracker technology and replaced it with a decentralised peer-to-peer network that all modern clients can hook up to. The so-called distributed hash table (DHT) allows freeloaders to circumnavigate use of a tracker in order to download torrents. Instead, they connect to a DHT network to find …

The Register 17 Nov 14:36

Cardiff Airport gets more security theatre

Got a face, sir? Step this way

Cardiff Airport is joining Manchester in using facial recognition technology to automate passport checks for inbound passengers. Anyone over 18 with a biometric passport issued since 2006 can choose to have their face scanned, matched to the picture held on a chip on their passport and, assuming there's a match, be allowed in …

The Register 17 Nov 14:20

Mobile phones - fighting cancer, causing car crashes

Boffin Watch Everybody's free to wear sunscreen while being run over

New research has shown that people who receive text messages reminding them to use sunscreen are more likely to use sunscreen. However, worrying results from a separate study implies that this positive effect could be negated by an increased likelihood of you being hit by a car. Research from the University of California has …

The Register 17 Nov 14:17

If I wanted to get there, I wouldn’t start from here!

Webcast An alternative perspective on business productivity

The Register’s panel of experts are discussing alternative perspectives to business productivity in a live webcast from 10am on 3 December. Share your opinions and put questions to the panel, all from the comfort of your desk - register your interest today. To some, the word 'productivity' just provides a means to squeezing …

The Register 17 Nov 14:14

Trojans likely to follow Win 7 activation hack

Beware Greeks bearing security bypasses

Trojan attacks are likely in the wake of the Windows 7 product activation system cracks developed last week, less than a month after the release of Microsoft's latest operating system. The RemoveWAT (and the similar ChewWGA) utility allow a prospective Windows 7 user to bypass the Windows Genuine Advantage registration …

The Register 17 Nov 13:12

Microsoft co-founder battles cancer

Paul Allen diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. A memo which went round his firm, Vulcan Inc, yesterday, revealed that 56-year-old Allen had begun chemotherapy for "diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a relatively common form of lymphoma", according to the Seattle Times. The memo added that Allen was …

The Register 17 Nov 13:12

Riverbed looking to expand by buying Expand

In the end, there can only be WAN

Riverbed is looking to develop its WAN optimisation product line by buying its competitor, Expand Networks. The Israeli Globes media outlet reports that advanced negotiations are under way, although neither company would comment. Both companies have technology to speed the transmission of data across wide area networks (WAN …

The Register 17 Nov 13:05

Murdoch: Google is mortal and together we can kill it

Or at least tame it

"Everybody loves the BBC and it doesn't cost anything, Murdoch should learn a thing or two." - Comment by reader 'peter 3' at The Register Everyone's missed the clever part of Rupert Murdoch's broadside against Google last week. Murdoch said he'd block Google from spidering his websites' content, and may use litigation against …

The Register 17 Nov 13:02

Sony Reader PRS-300 Pocket Edition

Review The e-book reader for everyone?

With the price of the Reader PRS-600 Touch Edition having been hiked up by 25 per cent over the original PRS-505, Sony clearly thinks there's room for a cheaper alternative. Hence the launch of the Reader PRS-300 Pocket Edition which does without a touchscreen and has a 5in rather than 6in screen. Sony's Reader Pocket Edition …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 13:02

Appeal Court: Mod chips infringe game copyright after all

Even if it is only a little bit at a time

A man who sold computer chips that enabled pirated video games to be played on consoles was rightly convicted of copyright offences, the Court of Appeal has ruled. Christopher Paul Gilham sold the devices - called mod chips because they modify a console - to people who were able to use them to play unlicensed copies of video …

The Register 17 Nov 12:21

Orange touts free tweets

Well, kinda

UK operator Orange has signed a deal to push out tweets for free, though sending them will cost as usual. The deal means that Twitter users can receive alerts from their followed-themes by SMS message, and even upload pictures to their own feed via MMS (at 30p a pop) which Orange will host, automatically sending out a link to …

The Register 17 Nov 12:21

Parascale ups its cloud storage game

'Chutes and scores

Parascale has integrated its private cloud NAS with virtual servers meaning you can boot backed-up VMs straight from the cloud. The company provides a loosely-coupled network-attached storage (NAS) cluster as a cloud resource with network file storage (NFS) access - of course - as well as WebDav, HTTP and FTP. The cluster is …

The Register 17 Nov 12:13

Sky talks up subscription 3D merits

"Other broadcasters” only offering 3D taster, apparently

Channel 4’s week-long 3D TV spectacular only started last night, but rival broadcaster Sky has already chipped in with its opinion on how viewers should experience 3D in their living rooms. While Sky told Register Hardware that it isn’t “blasting” C4’s 3D TV week, a spokesperson for the subscription-only broadcaster said... …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 12:09

Can the UK have its identity strategy back, Mr President?

US gov dusts off abandoned nine-year-old UK ID plan

There was a lot of razzmatazz and back-slapping in the US in early September as President Obama's team announced a partnership with ten leading companies to provide federated digital identities acceptable for use with online government services. All part of the big push towards better, more open government, as set out in Obama …

The Register 17 Nov 12:02

Making Muvizu: DIY animation is here

Prepare for an inbox avalanche of animations

Even though it's in the alpha stage, Digimania's Muvizu is one of the most impressive new technologies I've seen in the past few years. But don't take my word for it. You're going to be annoyed by Muvizu output pretty soon. What the software - pronounced "Movie Zoo" - does is simplify 3D animation to the point that a child can …

The Register 17 Nov 12:02

MoD redefines 'public' with online poll

We forgot to announce it. Whoops!

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is holding an online poll to get the views of the public on the massive reorganisation of the nation's armed forces - for which read cuts - expected next year. In the spirit of openness with which the entire defence review will probably be conducted, the MoD has let the "public" poll proceed …

The Register 17 Nov 12:01

BeautifulPeople shun hairy Reg hack

Just not beautiful enough for Aryan online club

It's with a heavy heart that I today report I've been given the elbow by BeautifulPeople.com - the exclusive lovely-people-only website which invites potential members to prove themselves worthy of entry to the elite club by posting a fetching snap and short profile. Once you've made your pitch, existing members rate you as " …

The Register 17 Nov 11:45

EU sweeps up dodgy ringtone companies

70 per cent of sites breaking rules

An EU investigation found that 70 per cent of the 554 ringtone sites examined were breaking the rules, resulting in 54 of them disappearing. The figures aren't quite as bad as they appear - the sweep was directed by national regulators who earmarked sites they suspected of breaking the EU rules on visible pricing and …

The Register 17 Nov 11:41

Web manhunt child abuser gets 20 years

Interpol internet appeal pays dividends

A US child abuser who became the target of an internet manhunt last year has been jailed for nearly 20 years after abusing boys as young as six. Wayne Nelson Corliss, 60, was sent to prison for 19 and a half years and ordered to pay $5,000 by a court in Newark, New Jersey on Monday, AFP reports. Corliss was arrested in May …

The Register 17 Nov 11:28

Sony unveils Mills & Boon Reader

E-book romance?

Sony has come over all amorous in the run-up to Christmas, launching a version of its Reader e-book viewer inspired by romance publisher Mills & Boon (M&B). Sony's Mills & Boon version of the Reader Pocket Edition Steve Haber, President of Sony’s Digital Reading Division, said back in September that UK e-book buffs “should …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 11:15

UK.gov hoovers up data on five-year-olds

What I did on my holidays, and all the other days

The government obsession with collecting data has now extended to five-year-olds, as local Community Health Services get ready to arm-twist parents into revealing the most intimate details of their own and their child’s personal, behavioural and eating habits. The questionnaire – or "School Entry Wellbeing Review" – is a four- …

The Register 17 Nov 11:02

What upcoming plans do you have for your server estate?

Mini Poll And what do you do with your old stuff?

It's coming up to budget setting time again. As many of you are likely to be making changes to your server estates, we would like to know what plans you have for the coming year. Do you intend splashing out on new kit or will you be carrying on with what you have? Of course, if you are buying new stuff, the question arises of …

The Register 17 Nov 10:46

Cable and Wireless borrows big to finance split

Bye then

Cable and Wireless has today settled on the details of its long-planned split, which has been delayed by the recession. The demerger, establishing CWI and Worldwide as separate firms, is now due to be completed by the end of March. To ensure both new firms have enough cash to meet their debts and operate, Cable and Wireless …

The Register 17 Nov 10:43

Nintendo exec reignites Wii HD speculation

Fils-Aime talks up “additional capability”

Despite only recently stating that “there is no Wii HD” in development, the President of Nintendo America has since hinted that HD support isn’t the only new feature that may be added to a next-generation Wii. Reggie Fils-Aime said during a recent interview with website Kotaku that when Nintendo “move to the new generation” it …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 10:41

Is there any such thing as ‘The Business’?

Reader Workshop IT as matchmaker, referee and policeman

A seasoned CIO of a large multinational once remarked: “All of these vendors keep telling me that IT must be aligned with the needs of ‘the business’, as if I just had one customer. "The reality is that I am constantly refereeing in squabbles over budgets, resources and priorities between the heads of the eight divisions I …

The Register 17 Nov 10:35

Firefox syncing tool Weaves its way into beta status

Anytime, anyplace, anywhere - more or less

Mozilla’s experimental app that syncs up the "Firefox experience" across multiple browsers has been promoted to beta status. The open source outfit said the first beta release of Mozilla Weave 1.0 marked “a significant step towards making Weave Sync a production quality add-on.” It said the beta version has effectively ramped …

The Register 17 Nov 10:29

'Ave a desktop says Avamar

EMC's Quantum and CommVault bludgeoning dedupe upgrades

EMC's fifth version of Avamar has extended its capability from servers to desktop and notebooks, increased Data Store capacity by over 60 per cent and can write deduplicated data directly to tape. Avamar is deduplicating technology that runs in the system holding the data and removes block-level duplication, before sending the …

Channel Register 17 Nov 10:26

Microsoft opens Marketplace to the masses

Well those running 6.0 and 6.1, anyway

Microsoft's on-device marketplace is now available for Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1, allowing older phones to download the very latest in farting applications. Microsoft reckons there are more than 800 applications in the Marketplace: we assume that's worldwide, as the UK offering seems somewhat Spartan. But everything you might …

The Register 17 Nov 10:04

Official Bruce Schneier action figure steps onto market

Coiffure options: 'Ponytail', 'Bald' or 'Cyborg'

Good news for devotees of ponytailed crypto guru of all our hearts Bruce Schneier: it's now possible to buy an officially endorsed "Bruce Schneier action figure". The action figure, which can be purchased here, comes with a range of costumes ("casual Bruce", "smart Bruce" and "head only"), and also features "scalp" options (" …

The Register 17 Nov 09:58

Office 2010 beta lands in laps of MSDN, TechNet coders

Final countdown to public testing begins

Microsoft has begun pumping the Office 2010 beta out to members of its MSDN and TechNet developer groups, ahead of the code’s imminent arrival later this week. The vendor also pushed out the 64-bit beta version of Office Web Apps to subscribers yeterday. The company will almost certainly spin out the code for wider public …

The Register 17 Nov 09:25

Time Warner names day for AOL spin-off

The end's in sight

Time Warner has detailed the departure date for its troubled internet business AOL. On 9 December all Time Warner shareholders will get one AOL share for every 11 TW shares they own. Time Warner shares will continue to trade as normal with the ticker TWZ and AOL shares will trade under the AOL ticker. When the two first merged …

The Register 17 Nov 09:22

ARM pitches for Android developers

Talking shop

ARM has launched an online forum it hopes will encourage device manufacturers, component suppliers and software developers to co-operate on the development of devices based on its chippery and the Android OS. The prosaically titled Solution Centre for Android provides a way of contacting and picking the brains of more than 35 …

The Register 17 Nov 09:02

EC forms industry body to probe behavioural ad issues

Consumer commissioner fed up with web snooping chicanery

The European Commission has formed a new group in an attempt to regulate companies' growing gathering and use of customers' personal data. The group has been formed to address problems the Commission says are eroding consumer trust. Online retail is increasingly dependent on information on users' browsing habits and …

The Register 17 Nov 08:02

Samsung N510 Nvidia Ion-based netbook

Review Decent HD performance in a mini-laptop at last?

You don't have to dig too deep to see that the diversity of Samsung's netbook range is a case of flattering to deceive. Sure, there are plenty of them, but the differences are essentially peripheral and cosmetic with all bar the NC20 having 10.1in screens and the usual netbook-norm Intel Atom chippery. Samsung's N510: a full …

Reg Hardware 17 Nov 08:02

Oxford American Dictionary dubs 'unfriend' Word of the Year

Facebook craze sacks 'teabaggers'

Blame social networking for the latest cutesy-pie neologism tapped as the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2009 Word of the Year: unfriend. Up against a range of tech-related buzzwords that included "netbook," "sexting," and "paywall," the North American verbal tome maker decided to celebrate the asocial side of online …

The Register 17 Nov 07:02

Becta strikes Home Access deal

Keytools to provide assistive tech

The government's education technology agency has struck a deal for the supply of adapted hardware devices for recipients of the Home Access programme. Becta has signed up Keytools to provide assistive technology to learners who need devices such as adapted mice, keyboards and keyboard stickers. It is part of the government's …

Channel Register 17 Nov 07:02

Mark Cuban counsels Google-busting bribery

Bargain-basement Bing boost

A famous loose-cannon/American billionaire has a plan for unseating Google from its search-engine throne - and at a mere $1bn, his idea is significantly less expensive than the billions Microsoft is sinking into that Bing thing. Broadcast.com co-founder and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's idea is simplicity itself: Just …

The Register 17 Nov 06:45

Adobe debuts full mobile Flash (minus the mobile)

Beta now, Player later

The full version of Adobe Systems' Flash Player especially turned for mobiles is now in beta, just don't expect it running on any handsets yet. Today, Adobe made Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2.0 available for beta, but only for use on familiar old PCs, laptops and notebooks running Windows, Linux, or Mac. Betas for mobile …

The Register 17 Nov 06:39

Sputnik, spaghetti and the IBM SPACE machine

The 50th anniversary of the 1401

The fall of 1957 was a low point not only for the United States, but for another high-minded world power: IBM. As the US looked up at Sputnik, without a satellite of its own, IBM was haunted by a rival machine known as the Gamma 3. Built by an upstart French outfit, the Gamma had trumped Blue Blue's fledgling computer tech - …

The Register 17 Nov 06:19

US regulators eye HPCom trade surge

Pre-deal jump

A spike in 3Com options trading just hours before HP's $2.7bn cash takeover bid has caught the eye of US regulators, according to reports. 3Com's call trading surged to an astounding 26-month high on November 11 - four hours before the acquisition was disclosed after the market closed that day, Bloomberg said. Now the US …

The Register 17 Nov 06:02

Intel tunes Nehalem for HPC

SC09 Super NEC pact

Chip maker Intel is tweaking its future eight-core Beckton Nehalem EX processors, making a special version aimed just at HPC customers. On Monday at the SC09 supercomputing trade show in Portland, Oregon, Intel also announced a partnership with NEC to build Xeon based suppers. NEC already uses Intel's Xeon and Itanium …

The Register 17 Nov 06:02