9th February 2005 Archive

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Coming up: Space Week

Spaced in

This Saturday, politicians, astronauts and sundry space experts will mark the beginning of Earth and Space Week in Europe. Organised by the European Commission and the European Space Agency, the week centres around three main events: the third Earth Observation Summit, a free exhibition aimed at raising public awareness of …

Science 9 Feb 2005, 09:37
Lower Power FM bill opens the airwaves

People powered radio

Senator John McCain has introduced a bill that would enable over a thousand new low power FM stations to be created in the US. The stations operate at 10 and 100 watts, typically giving a coverage of two or three miles. Major broadcasters including NPR have lobbied for years against an expansion of micro radio, and in 2000 …

Music and Media 9 Feb 2005, 09:42
Intel maps out 64-bit Xeon dash

Pre-IDF elation

It doesn't take much for the marketing staff at Intel to go through massive philosophical conversions. A few months back, the PR staffers insisted that customers weren't ready for 64-bit Xeon processors. Now, Intel demands that customers are clamoring for 64-bit choice, which has prompted it to prep two new chips in the Xeon …

Servers 9 Feb 2005, 09:48
Microsoft Messenger back to life

Two days of problems but all ok now...

Microsoft says it has fixed the problems which have plagued its instant messenger service for the last two days. It blamed an isolated problem in a data center which was fixed late yesterday. Users have had trouble logging on and communicating since Monday afternoon. Microsoft said the problems were intermittent but had hit a " …

Telecoms 9 Feb 2005, 09:57
Italian MSN search engine caught in Vatican smear

Inappropriate result

Italians attempting, for whatever reason, to do an MSN search on the word "merda" (shit) are being referred to a whiter-than-white Vatican website. Indeed, said search delivers Clerus.org as its first choice. Suffice it to say that Clerus.org is a website belonging to the Congregation for the Clergy, which "suggests and …

Bootnotes 9 Feb 2005, 10:06
ATI buys cable modem chip biz for $14m

Extending digital TV product line

ATI took a further step into the digital TV market yesterday when it announced it will acquire a third-party cable modem chip design operation. The deal will see US-based Terayon Communication Systems sell its cable modem silicon intellectual property to ATI for $14m in cash. ATI also said it will hire two dozen Terayon …

Financial News 9 Feb 2005, 10:25
Cisco ups sales, misses estimates

Cautious optimism the order of the day

Cisco made sales of $6.1bn in the second quarter of its financial year ended 29 January 2005 - 12.3 per cent more than last year. The networking equipment vendor made a net profit of $1.4bn (Q204: $724m). But sales did meet Wall Street estimates and Cisco shares fell slightly in after hours trading yesterday. Cisco continues to …

Financial News 9 Feb 2005, 10:26
Tiscali UK expells 500 broadband hogs

Get your snouts out of my trough

Tiscali UK has expelled "just over 500" broadband users for excessive use of the ISP's high-speed internet service. Those who've received their marching orders are being given the opportunity to leave Tiscali "without penalty. The ISP says the bandwidth "hogs" have gorged on between 30 Gig and 150 Gig a month. At the same time …

Telecoms 9 Feb 2005, 10:37
Sony Ericsson adopts PowerVR MBX for smart phones

Graphics chip tech courtesy of Philips

Philips this week announced the release of its latest PowerVR MBX-based media processor, confirming that the chip will be used by Sony Ericsson in a future incarnation of the P910 smart phone. Philips' chip, the Nexperia PNX4008, is pitched directly at the smart phone market. The company licensed Imagination Technologies' …

Mobile 9 Feb 2005, 10:45
Intel confirms P4 6xx launch 'this month'

New CPUs bring 2MB L2, 64-bit

Intel has confirmed that it will ship its Pentium 4 6xx series this month. Crucially, the new chips bring the company's AMD64-like 64-bit addressing technology, EM64T, to the desktop CPU family. The 6xx chips have been on Intel's roadmap for well over six months now, and were expected mid-Q1. Intel Digital Enterprise Group VP …

PCs 9 Feb 2005, 11:05
Toshiba, SanDisk prep 1GB Flash chip

'Two bits, one cell' 8Gb chip unveiled

Toshiba yesterday launched an 8Gb Flash chip fabbed designed to be fabbed using a 70nm process when production commences in the summer. The part paves the way for much greater-capacity Flash storage devices, such as USB drives and MP3 players. Jointly developed with SanDisk, the NAND Flash chip uses a technique called Multi- …

Storage 9 Feb 2005, 11:21
Landscape fills with PDA smart phones

Big displays are go

The PDA market - everybody knows this - is dying, and the smartphone is taking over. That's what the figures seems to show and yet, behind the scenes, the designers of smartphones are seeing a strange trend - phones are getting bigger and more like computers. The Symbian platform and its Ericsson-led variant, the UIQ platform, …

Mobile 9 Feb 2005, 11:31
186k snaps up Elite ISP

Nuff said

186k - the Leeds-based internet outfit - has snapped up Northern-based Elite Internet Services. Financial details were not released. Elite is primarily a business-focused ISP and also operates other brands including ISPISP, Freedom Names and VISPWEB which have a claimed combined user base of around 500,000 punters, including …

Telecoms 9 Feb 2005, 11:33
Biometrics: the legal challenge

Plenty of hurdles left to be jumped

One of the key drivers behind the push to take up biometric technologies is that governments are beginning to mandate that biometric identifiers such as facial images and fingerprints be used in official documents, including passports. And biometrics is also seen as essential for the provision of e-government services to …

ID 9 Feb 2005, 11:34
Saturn sings the blues

A sunny day at the North Pole

The latest pictures from the Cassini mission show that Saturn's northern hemisphere is currently a vivid blue, with only a few white clouds in the upper atmosphere. A relatively cloud-free sky on Saturn means that light travels along a longer path than it does in the cloudier southern sky. The shorter, blue, wavelengths are …

Science 9 Feb 2005, 11:37
Intel, Qinetiq build ultra-low power transistor

Indium Inside

Intel's ongoing partnership with UK-based technology R&D company Qinetiq to investigate future transistor designs has yielded some "hugely promising" results, the duo announced yesterday. For the past two years, the two companies have collaborated on an exploration of the use of indium antimonide (InSb) in the construction of …

Science 9 Feb 2005, 11:50
MPs cast beady eye over betting exchanges

Urge fraud crackdown

MPs are urging several changes to the Gambling Bill to deal with increasing use of the internet to bet on sports events. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Betting and Gaming has spent four months investigating the industry. It warns that internet exchanges - where punters bet with each other rather than with a bookmaker - …

Financial News 9 Feb 2005, 11:50
Sam's Unleashed at 30% off

Site offer Big savings on big books

When there's only room on the shelf for one book, Unleashed is the answer. Sams' Unleashed series is designed with the technology professionals in mind, those who already understand the basics of a technology (or who are familiar with other closely related technologies), and who either want to expand their knowledge or want to …

Site News 9 Feb 2005, 11:51
'I'm a technophobe' - Blair's shock confession

Laughing all the way to the megadisaster...

The Register's belief that when it comes to UK Government IT, nobody's driving received further support yesterday when Prime Minister Tony Blair happily confessed his technophobia to MPs. The exposure of Tone the technoklutz is scarcely news, but for most categories of MPs' questions it is ordinarily good form for the Prime …

Public Sector 9 Feb 2005, 12:01
Elite signs four UK disties

Motherboards for all...

Motherboard maker Elitegroup Computing Systems (ECS) has signed up four new distributors in the UK. Bluepoint, Jiles Electronics, Nexis Technology and Quantum Microponents Ltd will sell ECS's Extreme range of motherboards. ECS is introducing a partner programme which will include in-house product training, co-op marketing funds …

Channel Register 9 Feb 2005, 12:12
Nvidia 'nForce for Intel' wins PCI-E certificate

Chipset to debut later this month with Intel's 6xx P4s?

Nvidia's upcoming Pentium 4-oriented chipset has won the approval of the minds behind the PCI Express standard. According to the PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG), Nvidia's C19 (aka 'Crush 19') product - essentially nForce for Intel - has been added to the group's list of PCI Express-compliant products. The compliance list …

System Builder 9 Feb 2005, 12:12
Microsoft posts record 13 patches

Nine critical

Microsoft yesterday released 13 security bulletins - nine "critical" - in its biggest monthly patch yet. Twelve patches fix multiple components in Windows and Windows-based applications and one updates an October 2004 alert to protect Exchange 2000 users against possible attack. The most serious vulnerabilities involve security …

Enterprise Security 9 Feb 2005, 12:29
Ebbers 'drove Worldcom fraud' - Sullivan

I told Bernie, 'This isn't right'

Former WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan continued yesterday to finger Bernie Ebbers as being the driving force behind the £11bn (£5.8bn) accounting scandal that floored the telecoms giant. Testifying for the second day, Sullivan - who has already pleaded guilty for his part in the fraud - said that ex-chief exec Ebbers failed to …

IT Director 9 Feb 2005, 12:37
Hot survey action: Windows v Linux

Reg Reader Studies Your input required on desktop deployment debate

Survey closed One again we're asking our beloved, tech-savvy readers to lend us a hand in taking a pressure reading on the IT barometer. This time the issue is a bit of a hot potato - Windows versus Linux on the desktop battlefield. Yup, it's that OS polemic again, and we'd like you to take a few minutes to give us your input …

Reg Technology Panel 9 Feb 2005, 12:56
Mobile gaming gets its skates on

Analysis A $1bn industry and growing

After many years of anticipation, it is fair to conclude that the mobile games market finally arrived in 2003. Japan and Korea aside, the main territories of the world had merely flirted with wireless gaming since 1999, when the first WAP and SMS projects went live. Throughout this period, developers and aggregators bemoaned the …

Mobile 9 Feb 2005, 13:09
Irate chickens assault 419 scam banks

Happy Chinese New Year

Those readers interested in taking down scam 419 banks might like to proceed directly to Artists Against 419, which yesterday launched a 48-hour, chicken-themed Flashmob against the Lads from Lagos' online presence. Chicken-themed? Well, the whole thing is to celeberate the Chinese New Year. As the blurb puts it: "The Artists …

Spam 9 Feb 2005, 13:33
Carly Fiorina quits

Not the only head to roll

Carly Fiorina has resigned as chairman and chief executive of HP, after losing the support of her board. Robert Wayman, HP's CFO, takes over as interim chief executive and will lead the search for Fiorina's replacement. He retains responsibility for finance. Patricia Dunn, an HP director since 1998, becomes non-executive …

Financial News 9 Feb 2005, 13:39
We are Zogg: The Cuddly Menace

Chilling Lizard Army manifesto

We at the neoLuddite Resistance Army (NRA) today pay homage to comrade Jason Yungbluth (aka "Deep Fried") for uncovering concrete evidence that the Lizard Army has gone into the publishing business - another step in its inexorable march towards the enslavement of humanity. Chillingly, the literature in question - which clearly …

Rise of the Machines 9 Feb 2005, 14:02
Apple Mac Mini

Review Will Windows users switch?

Is it a sandwich box? Is it a modern light fitting? No, it's Apple's attempt to ship a consumer-oriented computer without the usual array of stylishly designed mouse, keyboard and display. No wonder it comes in at a very affordable £339. The Mini certainly hits a sweet spot of price against capability. There's a 1.25GHz or 1. …

Reviews 9 Feb 2005, 14:24
Resolved: the Battle for the .fklands

Falklands domain sorted after six-month delay

A battle fought on the Falkland Islands may have long-term implications for world peace on the internet. The islands - boasting a population of just 3,000 - were the setting for a big ownership battle in 1982 between Britain and Argentina which had huge political implications. Their significance appears not to have diminished …

Financial News 9 Feb 2005, 14:38
Sony PSP to ship in UK on 29 April - Amazon

Online retailer adjusts ship date

Amazon.co.uk has put back the Sony PlayStation Portable's release date to 29 April, adding weight to fears that the handheld console's European debut has slipped a month. Originally due to ship late March, a couple of dates surfaced for the European launch. One, published on Amazon.co.uk's site, was 18 March. Another, said to …

Consoles 9 Feb 2005, 14:45
Vendors exit anti-spyware group

Bunfight after reformed adware firm joins Coast

An anti-spyware consortium is on the verge of collapse after admitting 180solutions, the controversial adware firm. to its ranks. CA, Alluria and Webroot, all founding members of the Consortium of Anti-Spyware Technology vendors (Coast) have resigned, citing a lack of faith in its ability to develop effective anti-spyware …

Enterprise Security 9 Feb 2005, 14:52
PlayStation 3 launch 'ahead of E3', says Sony

But how far ahead?

Sony will unveil its PlayStation 3 console before the start of the E3 games show, company spokespeople revealed this week. E3 opens its doors in Los Angeles on 17 May. The implication of the Sony staffers' comments, made to US news site GameSpot, is that PS3's outing will come much sooner. However, as European news site …

Consoles 9 Feb 2005, 15:10
UK LLU roll-out 'continues to lag'

But BT insists it's 'committed' to unbundling

The failure of BT to hit key performance targets for local loop unbundling (LLU) is still frustrating operators keen to invest in advanced telecoms services. The problem is so bad that some operators are putting their marketing plans on hold while BT gets its house in order. And this, from an incumbent telco that brags about …

Telecoms 9 Feb 2005, 15:33
Czech outfit punts big mobe for old people

YOU'RE BREAKING UP, DEAR

Czech outfit Jablotron has just announced the imminent release of its GSM Desktop Phone GDP-02 - a big, big mobe aimed at those for whom a thumbnail-sized 3G designer statement is just going to get lost among the remnants of the Rich Tea biscuits and fairy cakes. Yup, its "deploy demeaning old person cliché" time again, as one …

Mobile 9 Feb 2005, 15:33
Astronomers spot fun-sized solar system

Seriously dinky

Astronomers working on data from NASA's Spitzer telescope have spotted a disk of planet-forming material in orbit around a brown dwarf - a failed star just 15 times the size of Jupiter. This is the smallest potential solar system ever seen, and could help scientists understand more about how planetary systems form. It also …

Science 9 Feb 2005, 15:37
Banking Trojan disables MS Anti-Spyware

Warning message suppression

The first piece of malware to attack Microsoft's new prototype anti-spyware product has emerged. The BankAsh-A Trojan disables Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta in an attempt to suppress any warning messages the package might display. It also deletes files within the program's folder. Unlike other items of malware, BankAsh-A makes no …

Anti-Virus 9 Feb 2005, 15:48
MP3tunes cleared of DRM infection

Desktop Summit Alive and healthy

MP3tunes came to life on Wednesday as a rarity in the online music business. It's not trapping songs with DRM (digital rights management) software, and it's not limiting consumers to a small subset of music playing devices. It's also not selling songs from major artists. MP3tunes is the latest online music venture of Michael …

Music and Media 9 Feb 2005, 19:38
My car has a virus (and other security threats)

IBM maps the risks

IBM has identified viruses on mobile devices and IP telephony security threats as looming network security risks for 2005. Last year viruses spam and phishing attacks posed the greatest problems. According to IBM's Global Business Security Index Report 2004, email-based worms and viruses such as Bagle, Netsky and MyDoom led the …

Anti-Virus 9 Feb 2005, 21:01