24th August 2005 Archive

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Nerves jarred by Apache's Synapse

When is an ESB, not an ESB?

Apache Software Foundation (ASF) supporters are downplaying concern about the impact of commercial interests on ASF's direction, as the group fires up its latest project. David Chappell, vice president and chief technology evangelist for Sonic Software and participant in the proposed Synapse Project, said while it was possible …

Applications 24 Aug 2005, 08:37
Debut ALM suite staggered by Microsoft

Spreading the love

Microsoft is staggering the release of elements in its up-coming application lifecycle management (ALM) family while slipping a third product beta into the Visual Studio 2005 mix. Microsoft's Team Foundation Server, a vital element of Visual Studio 2005 Team System (VSTS), will not ship with Visual Studio 2005 on 7 November, …

Operating Systems 24 Aug 2005, 08:53
XenSource tests door to Windows and profits

IDF Stability up ahead

Open source darling XenSource took a couple of steps toward a more serious future this week by showing the public that it can run Windows without modification and by previewing one of its first for-profit management packages. The developers behind the Xen partitioning/virtual machine project worked long and hard to boot Windows …

Software 24 Aug 2005, 09:11
China's Lenovo wants North Carolina to pay to keep jobs - report

Learn some Mandarin too, yokels

Chinese PC maker Lenovo wants to empty the pocketbooks of North Carolina taxpayers and pump their minds full of Asian culture, if the state hopes to keep the company's business. The Herald-Sun has obtained documents showing that Lenovo expects up to a $14m incentive package to maintain its 1,800 strong workforce in the Research …

Financial News 24 Aug 2005, 09:17
Warner plans download music label

Finally

Warner Music Group is to launch a download-only record label, where artists could periodically release clusters of tracks rather than big budget studio albums. The new label, officially the brainchild of Edgar Bronfman Jr, WMG's chairman and chief executive, will focus on both emerging talent, and bands with a core following of …

Financial News 24 Aug 2005, 09:53
Google talks up IM service

Yabba Jabber Do

Google made a late entry into the instant messaging market on Tuesday with the launch of Google Talk, an IM service that allows users to place free phone calls over a net connection to other people signed into the service. Google Talk, released as a beta, requires a Gmail username and password. It works with Jabber-compatible …

Applications 24 Aug 2005, 10:10
Nokia dominates 3G

Retakes handset high ground

Some 9 million 3G handsets were shipped globally during the second quarter of 2005 with Nokia claiming the top position on the vendor table for the first time. That's according to figures released by research firm Strategy Analytics, which reveal that the Finnish mobile phone giant captured 17 per cent of the 3G handset market …

Mobile 24 Aug 2005, 10:22
Japanese to test supersonic airliner

Prototype aims for Mach 2

Japanese space agency JAXA will next month carry out a second crucial test in its Next Generation Supersonic Transport (SST) programme by strapping an 11.5m-long miniature version of its experimental airliner to a rocket and accelerating it to Mach 2 over Australia's Woomera testing range. JAXA has high hopes for the SST, which …

Science 24 Aug 2005, 10:49
UK scientists back animal testing

As guinea pig farm closes

More than five hundred scientists have come out in support of animal testing, following an announcement from Darley Oaks Farm that it will stop breeding guinea pigs for use in medical research by the end of the year. The farm's owners, the Hall family, have said that they hope the decision will persuade animal rights …

Science 24 Aug 2005, 11:01
US cops swoop on Star Wars stormtrooper

'Step away from the laser rifle'

Forget Jedi Knights and distant, computer-generated worlds - the new frontline in the battle against the Empire is Wisconsin, where fearless law enforcement operatives have been purging the streets of shifty-looking Galactic Stormtroopers bearing laser rifles. Yup, the good burghers of Janesville can tonight sleep sounder in …

Bootnotes 24 Aug 2005, 11:25
Service-Oriented Architecture laid bare

Site offer Definitive guide at 30% off

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is at the heart of a revolutionary computing platform that is being adopted world-wide and has earned the support of every major software provider. In Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design, Thomas Erl presents the first end-to-end tutorial that provides step-by-step …

Site News 24 Aug 2005, 11:30
UK mulls pig clampdown to combat bird flu

All animals are equal...

The UK authorities are mulling new controls for pigs as well as poultry as the government and farmers prepare for a possible outbreak of so-called bird-flu. The move comes as scientists contemplate the role pigs might play in the transformation of avian flu. Humans can be infected and killed by avian diseases, but human-to- …

Science 24 Aug 2005, 11:59
Skype opens up to developers

Extending presence in IM market

Internet telephony firm Skype is opening up its technology to third party developers. The move means coders will be able to integrate Skype's presence and instant messaging services into their website or applications. In opening up to third party developers, Skype boasted that it was creating the "largest open instant messaging …

VoIP 24 Aug 2005, 12:01
Swedes pip Brits in world moaning superleague

Reg protests in strongest possible terms

We at El Reg were shocked to learn this morning that Brits have been pipped to the post in an international poll to determine which nation does the most complaining - by none other then the obstreperous Swedes. The NOP world probe of 30,000 whiners showed that a stunning 41 per cent of Swedes complained about a company or …

Bootnotes 24 Aug 2005, 12:03
UK & US channel warriors - your input required

Reg Reader Studies Answer questions, win goodies

It's that time of the year again when we offer one lucky UK or US channel operative among our beloved readers the chance to secure a Cash'n'Carrion goodie bag in return for answering a few questions in the snappily-entitled "Channel Survey – Summmer 2005". The point of all this pollstering is - as ever - for us to better …

Channel Register 24 Aug 2005, 12:53
ATC computer glitch grounds UK planes

Again?

A computer glitch at air traffic control has seen thousands of passengers delayed as planes across the UK were grounded. The Flight Data Processing (FDP) system at National Air Traffic Services went on the blink at 9:30 this morning. It was only offline for 20 minutes, but that short time generated a huge backlog of information …

Applications 24 Aug 2005, 13:43
Worm snaffles online gamers' passwords

Nasty attack of reality

Players of one fantasy role-playing game Priston Tale1 have suffered a nasty attack of reality after virus writers created a worm programmed to steal their usernames, passwords and data. The worm - dubbed PrsKey-A - waits for users to enter either Priston Tale or the Yahoo! email system before capturing keystrokes and sending …

ID 24 Aug 2005, 13:55
Oz farmers to enjoy internet cattle monitoring

Outback surveillance

Aussie famers desperate to leave their cattle stations and nip the couple of hundred kilometres to the nearest net-enabled boozer to down a few cold ones might soon benefit from an internet remote-monitoring system which allows absent Outbackers to keep an eye on things back at the ranch. The technology - developed by …

Bootnotes 24 Aug 2005, 14:47
Intel, Panasonic prep 12-hour laptop battery

IDF Smaller boost early next year

Intel yesterday claimed its notebook battery co-development alliance with Matsushita's Panasonic was already yielding cells capable of running a portable PC for up to 12 hours. That's in the lab, of course, but the chip giant said the technology brings its goal of eight hours' battery life by 2008 well in sight. In the …

Mobile 24 Aug 2005, 14:58
Placebo effect causes a natural high

Zone out on your own opiates

A brain imaging study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, has revealed that our bodies' natural painkilling system might play a role in the placebo effect. The researchers injected saline solution into the jaws of 14 healthy male volunteers. The procedure is harmless, but slightly painful, so all were told …

Science 24 Aug 2005, 16:08
Brash AMD says server chip future is two years back

Near IDF Loud on paper, quiet on product

AMD showed its knack for bluster by issuing a processor challenge to Intel in newspapers yesterday, but company representatives took a more reserved tone during meetings with reporters. In fact, AMD's staffers wouldn't budge on a single new detail about the Opteron processor line in our interview session. Instead of new details …

Servers 24 Aug 2005, 16:12
Phishers and security firms in malware 'arms race'

Def Con

Conventional phishing attacks launched via spam messages are becoming eclipsed by sophisticated malware designed to steal identities, according to a study by Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG). APWG's July 2005 phishing reports adds that fraudsters are developing approaches specially designed to neutralise counter-phishing …

ID 24 Aug 2005, 16:18
Intel announces 'desktrino' home PC platform

IDF 'East Fork' to go live as VIIV

Intel has announced it is to offer a 'desktrino' home PC platform. The Centrino-esque brand will be VIIV - pronounced 'vive'. Unsurprisingly, it's founded on a dual-core processors, and it's based on Windows Media Center Edition, VP and General Manager of Intel's Digital Home Group, Don MacDonald, revealed at Intel Developer …

PCs 24 Aug 2005, 17:41
Brute force attack planned by Intel to blunt AMD's edge

IDF Xeon Rising

AMD may have a momentary server processor lead, but Intel has stuff and lots of it. Intel's enterprise chief Pat Gelsinger took the stage today at the Intel Developer Forum to convince customers, developers and media jackals that the chipmaker has embarked on one of the grandest turnarounds in IT history. After failing to gauge …

Servers 24 Aug 2005, 19:15
Public unaware of RSS

Can't be rssed

The majority of regular blog readers are completely unaware of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and the amount of passion the technology excites, it seems. A Nielsen/Netratings' survey of 1,000 regular blog readers found 66 per cent do not understand RSS and have never even heard of the technology. Twenty three per cent claimed …

Applications 24 Aug 2005, 19:25
Intel to use next-gen architecture for CE SoCs

IDF Curtains for XScale?

Intel's next-generation microarchitecture (NGMA) will not only form the basis for the processor products the company pitches at its traditional markets, but will underpin future chips for the consumer electronics market. Detailing Intel's CE roadmap today, the company's Digital Home Group chief, Don MacDonald, said NGMA and the …

Mobile 24 Aug 2005, 19:41
I'm Carly, Read Me!

'Tell some' book on tap

Carly Fiorina has landed her first fulltime position since being ousted as Hewlett-Packard's chief executive, agreeing to write her first book. Carly secured a deal of undisclosed value to deliver a stocking filler in time for next year's Holiday season in collaboration with Penguin Publishing's Portfolio operation. The book …

Bootnotes 24 Aug 2005, 22:04
Will Intel's Viiv thrive?

Analysis When PC into CE doesn't compute

Here we go again. Another Intel Developer Forum, another attempt by the chip maker to pitch the PC as the perfect home entertainment system. This time round, its efforts have a brand-name and an unspecified but undoubtedly considerable marketing budget behind it. But will Intel's Viiv platform be any more successful than its …

PCs 24 Aug 2005, 23:31
IBM shows Xeon-based server fatty

X3 storage stud

IBM has started talking up a new, tubby Xeon system designed to be a storage workhorse as well as a traditional server. The xSeries 260 server should start shipping in mid-September and arrive as a four-processor, 7U box. Why such a large case, you ask? Well, IBM has built in room to handle the heat of Intel's "Cranford" …

Servers 24 Aug 2005, 23:34