Sprint Nextel more reliable than Cingular, Shock! Cingular has again been forced to defend claims made in a big money advertising campaign about the reliability of its network. 23 Feb 00:57 |
Microsoft told to pay Alcatel $1.5bn in MP3 patent spat Microsoft is reviewing its legal options after a US court ordered it to pay Alcatel $1.5bn for infringing the French telecoms' company's MP3 technology in Windows. 23 Feb 01:19 | 7
Chimpanzees sharpen spikes for bush baby killings Chimpanzees in West Africa have been observed using sharpened branches as "spears" to hunt other primates. 23 Feb 01:29 | 2
Rushing to the defense of the Baghdad Sniper LettersOur story on the Google Video footage celebrating Juba, the Baghdad Sniper may or may not have been the cause of the clip having been removed. What we can say for sure is it ruffled the feather of many a reader. The award for most most outraged blowhard goes to Jürgen, whose 1151-word diatribe is included in its entirety at the end. 23 Feb 01:35 |
BEA sales supremo exits as regions fizzle One of the executives credited with helping stabilize BEA Systems is quitting as the company continues to iron out troubling kinks in its global sales operations. 23 Feb 02:02 |
Mysterious 'Vladuz' again hacks eBay employee servers A hacker has once again managed to pilfer eBay credentials that allow him to masquerade as an official company representative even as he taunts eBay officials on the company's message boards. It's at least the second time the person going by the name Vladuz has pulled off the prank, which is causing many users to question the adequacy of eBay security. 23 Feb 04:40 |
ICANN rides to the rescue in Registerfly meltdown In a sudden about face, ICANN has concluded that it does indeed have authority over renegade domain pusher Registerfly. 23 Feb 04:58 |
Ebuyer caught pinching content from rival site Online retailer Ebuyer has been caught copying content from a rival website. 23 Feb 08:02 |
New Europol powers need new protection, says watchdog Europe's police data protection policies must be more consistent before Europol's powers can be increased, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has said (PDF). The European Parliament last week proposed increasing the police body's powers. 23 Feb 10:08 |
Man due in court on letter bomb charges A man is due in court in Oxfordshire today to face 12 charges relating to the recent string of letter bombs in the UK. 23 Feb 10:20 |
Doctors back controversial NHS IT system NHS doctors have given the controversial new £12bn IT system their backing, but say that no more money should be spent on it. In a survey of 3,000 doctors, 66 per cent said they think the new system would make a positive change to the NHS. 23 Feb 10:21 |
EU endorses flexible frequency use The EU has released a policy document calling for frequencies to be allocated with no restriction put on what they can be used for. 23 Feb 10:34 |
Torture and '24' - because it hurts us less than the real thing? The terrorism action show "24" is now thought to be such heady stuff to the average American, media sources have decided to complain about it. And what is the objection? The contrived plots or the utterly unrealistic grasp and use of technology? No, it's the torture. 23 Feb 10:42 | 7
Trojan phishing attack claims multiple victims Security watchers have discovered a string of malicious websites that install Trojan code, allowing hackers to compromise end-user banking credentials for more than 50 financial institutions and ecommerce websites. 23 Feb 10:56 |
Bruce Willis thwarts cybergeddon Bruce Willis will face down cyberterrorists in upcoming blockbuster Live Free or Die Hard. 23 Feb 10:58 |
DSG 'consults' on future of French operation DSG International has put its French PC City operation on notice, after kicking off a “consultation process” ahead of the reorganization of its Gallic assets. 23 Feb 11:27 |
Murdoch buys online ad firm Fox Interactive Media (FIM), part of News Corp, is buying online advertising firm Strategic Data Corporation (SDC). 23 Feb 11:28 |
In-car entertainment by LG In the true spirit of healthy competition, LG Electronics has launched a rival to Pioneer's in-car SatNav entertainment device. The LG LAN9600R has a seven-inch touchscreen DVD monitor, MP3 player and CD tuner with European street-level navigation and integrated Bluetooth hands-free calling. 23 Feb 12:04 |
MoD extends procurement to fire services The Ministry of Defence is rolling out a shared service procurement initiative that is expected to shave up to 20 per cent a year off Fire and Rescue Authority phone bills. 23 Feb 12:10 |
KGB trumped OS on UK mapping Detailed maps of the UK created by the KGB between 1950 and 1990 have gone on sale in digital format for the first time. 23 Feb 12:24 |
British council prepares action on Dell Californian lawyers have applied to bring a class action law suit against computer giant Dell with Wolverhampton City Council's pension fund as lead plaintiff. 23 Feb 13:31 |
eBay fingered in cash for honours scandal We're delighted to report that New Labour has decided to extend its cash for honours scheme to the great unwashed masses. 23 Feb 13:34 | 4
UK forces tested, rejected psychic techniques Britain’s military spent taxpayers' money to test out “remote viewing” as recently as 2002, only to conclude the technique had little value. 23 Feb 13:57 | 8
The Screwpole Emails- Fytte the Third Uncle Screwpole, the devious master manipulator of IT projects, has promised his nephew Mugwort that he will reveal the secrets of time estimation… 23 Feb 14:02 | 2
Sagem shows off Uhura-style earpiece If you have small ears and require your telephony to be of equally diddy proportions, Sagem has released a Bluetooth headset that could fit the bill. The Sagem H4 is a tiny glossy black earpiece that is 35x18x12.5mm in size and weighs just eight grams. The company goes as far to say that it could be the smallest of its kind to date... 23 Feb 14:22 |
DiVitas turns mobiles into enterprise clients Californian start-up DiVitas has claimed that its mobile convergence system can link smartphones to enterprise applications, including voice over IP (VoIP), email, instant messaging, and others such as CRM. It also provides cellular to Wi-Fi roaming, the company said. 23 Feb 14:35 |
NASA and Virgin Galactic ink space deal NASA and Virgin Galactic announced this week they'd agreed to work together on future projects such as "development of space suits, heat shields for spaceships, hybrid rocket motors, and hypersonic vehicles". 23 Feb 14:41 |
Comic Relief cans Jade Goody sketch Comic Relief organisers have canned a Question of Sport spoof featuring Celebrity Big Brother "contestant" Jade Goody. 23 Feb 14:59 | 2
Airline revamps 'unlucky' logo LogoWatchBrussels Airlines recently found itself in some unexpected turbluence when superstitious passengers complained about its spiffing logo. 23 Feb 15:02 | 6
Reduced backwards compatibility for European PS3 Sony Corp has said today that the European version of PlayStation 3 will play fewer PlayStation 2 games when it launches on March 23 compared with models launched earlier in Japan and America. "The backwards compatibility is not going to be as good as the U.S. and Japan models," a Sony spokesman said. 23 Feb 15:42 |
Reg reader trapped in Vista network folder hell A Reg reader got in touch to tell us that since installing Vista on his machine he can no longer rename folders he creates on the network. 23 Feb 15:52 |
US trawls Second Life funny money LettersNow and again, we at Vulture Towers feel it is our honour bound duty to purge the English language of offending little dittys that get up your noses. 23 Feb 16:17 |
Microsoft seeking SaaS, Web 2.0 partners Microsoft may be going gangbusters on Web 2.0-related technology, but the arrival of tools such as Expression and WPF means little unless they are out there being used. 23 Feb 16:42 |
UPS threatens to cancel A380 order United Parcel Service (UPS) will cancel its order for 10 freight versions of the A380 superjumbo if there are any further delays to a revised delivery schedule, the BBC reports. 23 Feb 16:43 | 1
FAST acts against corporate file sharers The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) has taken action against "a high profile training company" for allowing its network to be used for file sharing. 23 Feb 16:53 |
India's wave of e-waste India's production of high-tech waste is far higher than previously thought, according to a report by Delhi-headquartered environmental organisation Toxics Link. 23 Feb 16:54 |
Samsung showcases super speedy memory card Samsung has increased the data transfer speed of its fast graphics memory by two thirds. Using 80nm technology, the 4Gbps GDDR 4, which runs at 2.0GHz, is 66 per cent faster than other "commercially available memory" and Samsung's own. 23 Feb 17:03 |
Intel and Microsoft plug into the Green Grid ExclusiveCome Monday, the elusive Green Grid consortium that focuses on the energy consumption of data centers will announce the acquisition of two industry heavyweights - Intel and Microsoft, The Register has learned. 23 Feb 18:24 |
Canadian hockey geeks now courting Sun's McNealy Shame on us for assuming that Canadian hockey geeks cared more for homegrown hero RIM CEO Jim Balsillie than Sun Mircrosystems' chief puck chaser Scott McNealy. It turns out that the Geeks on Ice have invited McNealy to their April hockey tournament meant to celebrate the might of Canadian IT. 23 Feb 19:01 |
New Yorkers get an eyeful of beaver A wild beaver has been spotted New York City for the first time since the British were in charge. 23 Feb 19:53 | 6
Pro golfer sues over Wikipedia postings Pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is suing to track down the Wikipedia user responsible for posting claims he abused alcohol and drugs and treated his family harshly, and an education consulting firm in South Florida has found itself caught in the cross fire. 23 Feb 21:44 | 2
Overstock director picks Wall Street over crusade Overstock.com appears to have a lost a board member due to its $3.4bn lawsuit against Wall Street. 23 Feb 22:01 |