5th February 2007 Archive

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Inclusiveness is new Oracle search word

Treading on IBM and Google toes

Oracle is beefing up its enterprise search, by offering links to non-Oracle applications and data repositories. The idea is to make it a compete more creditably in this fieled against Google and IBM. The database giant today unveils the snappily named Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10g release 10.1.8, which is now capable of …

Applications 5 Feb 2007, 00:02
.Eu a hit with users, but a mystery to others

It's great to be late

A large majority of British businesses with a .eu domain name believe it to be an effective business tool in a recent survey, while a separate survey found that half of UK businesses do not even know what the .eu domain stands for. The surveys were both carried out by domain registration and hosting company 1&1 Internet, and …

Small Biz 5 Feb 2007, 07:02
SMEs to get IP health check

DTI, Patent Office get started on Gowers

A hand-picked group of 40 small businesses in the UK is to be offered "intellectual property health checks" by the Department of Trade and Industry, in line with recommendations laid out in the Gowers review on intellectual property. Recommendation 27 of the review says: "Improve SME business IP support by establishing formal …

Small Biz 5 Feb 2007, 07:02
Inefficient Ethernet wastes over $1bn a year

How non-green is your network?

Energy saving has so far focused on PCs, servers and the like, but now networks have been fingered as major wasters of power. An industry group has claimed that Ethernet's poor use of energy could be wasting as much as $450m a year - or 5.8TW-h - in the US. And perhaps three times that much, worldwide. The figures come from …

Data Networking 5 Feb 2007, 07:02
Security watchers lambast Vista

Malware blocking credentials questioned

Windows Vista has only just left the starting blocks but security watchers have wasted no time in challenging claims that it provides improved security defences. Virus Bulletin, the independent security certification body, has revealed that Microsoft's own anti-virus product, Live OneCare, is among four anti-virus testing …

Operating Systems 5 Feb 2007, 07:37
Superbowl Trojan menaces gridiron fans

Malware punt

Hackers targeted Superbowl-related websites last week in attempt to direct American football fans to sites hosting malware. Sites related to the Miami venue of the NFL Championship game - www.dolphinsstadium.com and www.miamidolphins.com - were among a number of sites hacked into and modified to insert reference to a hostile …

Enterprise Security 5 Feb 2007, 10:12
Woman sets new spacewalking record

And another lined up for Thursday

Sunita Williams has taken the women's world record for the most time spacewalking, after completing a seven hour excursion outside the International Space Station (ISS). The jaunt took Williams' total time spent in vacuum to 22 hours and 27 minutes. The previous record was 21 hours, held by Kathy Thornton. Williams has been …

Security 5 Feb 2007, 10:14
Mac TV ads: Gates loses cool

Comment A tale of egos, fortunes, and potty training

In his public appearances, Bill Gates often appears to be so heavily sedated that the the private, peevish Bill we know and love from his internal emails rarely erupts. So it's with some relief we learn that normal service has been resumed, after Newsweek magazine's Steven Levy, an Apple acolyte, solicited chairman Bill's …

Operating Systems 5 Feb 2007, 10:18
World chip sales break record but miss industry forecast

Growth driven by consumer electronics biz

World chip sales totalled $247.7bn last year, the US-centric Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said late Friday. Alas that's below the SIA's own full-year sales forecast of $248.8bn, a prediction made only last November. Still, the actual figure represents an 8.9 per cent increase on 2005's total, $227.5bn. The issue …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 10:33
Sun updates Solaris 10

Comment As it tries to reclaim former Sun worshippers

Sun has announced a series of updates to its flagship Solaris operating system. Solaris 10 11/06 OS enhances efficiency, safety, and reliability. New security features include Solaris Trusted Extensions, which protects sensitive data and applications using labeled security technology. Secure By Default Networking …

Operating Systems 5 Feb 2007, 10:33
Act of God hampers spam

Sodom and Gomorrah for the information age

Mother Nature may be hitting back at the scourge of spam-filled inboxes, according to IE Internet. The web hosting and monitoring firm believes the recent earthquake that hit Taiwan in late December may be responsible for a reduction in spam and virus rates for January, although a monstrous 53.12 per cent of emails were spam - …

Spam 5 Feb 2007, 10:55
Dell sued for chip kickbacks

Class action case and management cuts

Dell shareholders are suing the computer maker over allegations it took kickbacks from Intel to maintain an exclusive relationship with the chipmaker. The class action suit alleges Dell's profits were inflated by as much as $800m a year by the payments. The money was paid as long as Dell rejected chips from rival supplier AMD. …

Financial News 5 Feb 2007, 10:56
Intel readies x86 system-on-a-chip as XScale successor

Pentium M for phones?

Intel's plan to develop an x86-based system-on-a-chip line is well known - we reported on it way back in August 2005, for instance - but only now are details of the XScale replacement starting to emerge as the chip giant briefs potential customers. The part's codenamed 'Tolapai' and is based on the 32-bit Pentium M processing …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 10:58
No end in sight for Libra

Rollin' on, but not rollin' out

Nine years after the project began, the government is still failing to put a completion date on the roll out of the IT system for magistrates' courts. A spokesperson for HM Courts Service told GC News that, while the infrastructure has been in place since 2003, the case management system has been implemented at a relatively …

Public Sector 5 Feb 2007, 11:08
Mobile drives graphics chip market in Q4

Nvidia and AMD both win share

AMD grew its graphics market share in Q4 2006, despite a market that was largely static as a boom in mobile GPUs was effectively balanced by a slide in desktop products, figures from market watcher Jon Peddie Research (JPR) reveal. AMD ended up with 23 per cent of the market, up from 20.9 per cent in Q3. Intel's share went up …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 11:20
Palm announces unlocked 'super 3G' Treo 750

Palm will tomorrow begin selling an unlocked version of its Windows Mobile-based 3G smart phone, the Treo 750. Not only unlocked, but also HSDPA-capable, the company said today. The move brings carrier Vodafone's exclusive rights to sell the device, which it has marketed as the 750v since September 2006, to an end. The 750v …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 11:36
Hunt for bird flu source goes on

The Hungarian connection

Government investigators are racing to uncover the source of the Suffolk bird flu outbreak which has seen 160,000 turkeys slaughtered in a mass cull expected to end this morning. Identifying the source of the virus is key to containing its further spread. Suspicion has naturally fallen on the most recent European appearance of …

Biology 5 Feb 2007, 12:01
Russian officials: No threat from yellow snow

We still wouldn't recommend eating it, Steve-o

A mysterious fall of yellow snow in the Omsk region of Siberia has had locals worried, but officials says it is not toxic. The snow has been described as having a "distinctive smell", and being yellow "with oily marks". The Russian media has speculated that the snow fall could have been caused by a chemical accident in Siberia …

Science 5 Feb 2007, 12:03
Sword-wielding robot smites by Wii Remote

Fly-by-Wii

Someone has adapted an industrial robot to allow it to be controlled using the remote controller that ships with Nintendo's Wii games console. A neat example of Wii Remote hackery, to be sure, but what'll happen when the robot gets to hold its own controller? The guys at the USB Mechatronics website used the robot, a Kuka …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 12:16
Paris Hilton kyboshes ParisExposed.com

Demure heiress in dignity triumph

Prodigiously talented heiress Paris Hilton has won her battle to take down a website which was hawking a selection of videos, pictures and personal data she left in a forgotten storage facility. A federal judge granted an injunction against the owner of ParisExposed.com Hilton's spokesman Elliott Mintz told Associated Press: " …

Entertainment 5 Feb 2007, 12:43
Shocking news on lunar surface

Boffins find lots of static build up

Scientists have discovered that the surface of the moon can accumulate a huge charge of static electricity - up to 4,500 V has been detected so far. The scientists, writing in Geophysics Research Letters number 34, say that their findings could have significant implications for those planning to colonise the rocky globe. While …

Space 5 Feb 2007, 12:47
Don't get hit by a 'bad comms day'

What happens when it all goes wrong?

When people get issued with their first mobile email device, they invariably get obsessed for a period of time with the novelty of the thing. A few, sadly, remain addicted and never move on from this phase, giving rise to the "CrackBerry" label among BlackBerry users, the occasional divorce, and perhaps the odd nervous breakdown …

IT Director 5 Feb 2007, 12:54
Solwise PL-200AV 200Mbps powerline Ethernet adaptor

Review The cure for wobbly Wi-Fi?

Devolo's first HomePlug AV powerline Ethernet adaptor, the dLAN 200 AVdesk, wasn't a unit that plugs straight into a mains power socket, unlike Netgear's HDX101, which I reviewed last week and, for that matter, UK vendor Solwise's 200Mbps PL-200AV product. But while the HDX101 and the Solwise use much the same form-factor, they' …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 13:02
Capita hit by letter bomb

Woman injured

London-based outsourcing specialist Capita confirmed there was an explosion at its Victoria Street office this morning, injuring one female staff member. Capita is responsible for running London's congestion charge system, the BBC's human resources system, and several other big civil service projects. A spokeswoman for …

Financial News 5 Feb 2007, 13:48
WD ships eSATA external hard drive

Western Digital has extended its My Book line of hardback-like external hard drive units with model incorporating an eSATA port alongside the customary USB 2.0 connector. It's all in the name of speed, of course. SATA is the new standard for connecting hard drives internally within a computer, but a fair few motherboards - …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 13:52
Writing the Rules

Hands on The rules engine that's best for your business

Rules engines are now a common business tool, helping automate what are often complex decision-making processes. Now with web front-ends and business language IDEs, there's a lot to look at when choosing your software. While some tools help transfer business logic change responsibilities from developers to business users, …

Developer 5 Feb 2007, 14:12
Hackers target unpatched Office flaw

Zero-day spectre haunts spreadsheets

Microsoft has warned of an unpatched vulnerability in its Office productivity suite. The bug, which arises from an unspecified flaw in handling strings, might be exploited to corrupt memory on a vulnerable system. The flaw allows malware to be loaded onto exposed systems providing users are tricked into opening maliciously- …

Enterprise Security 5 Feb 2007, 14:32
UK makes complete FIST of hi-tech soldiering

Analysis Shop online for tomorrow's fighting technology - today

Anyone who likes gadgets should give some thought to joining the infantry. Okay, the pay is peanuts, the work is grim, you'll have to live in a baking fortified camp in Southwest Asia, where you might easily get blown up, shot, or have to strip naked and fight your buddies with rollmats. But you will get some neat toys. Already …

Public Sector 5 Feb 2007, 15:08
150 ways to let hackers in

Shut that (code) door

To paraphrase Paul Simon, there are 150 ways to leave your software open to attack, according to Fortify Software, the Palo Alto-based security software specialist. In the latest update to its Fortify Security Coding Rulepack, the company says it has added a further 34 "vulnerability categories", bringing the grand total to …

Developer 5 Feb 2007, 15:13
Apple settles with Apple

Beatles label vs iPod maker

Apple Inc, formerly known as Apple Computer, has settled its long running court action with the Beatles' record label Apple Corps. Apple, the computer maker, will now get all relevant logos and trademarks, but will license some back to Apple Corp - the music label. The ongoing court battle over trademarks will end and each …

Law 5 Feb 2007, 15:15
US immigration cavity search ends in agony

Official pulled 'very hard'

US immigration officials insisted the sufferer of an anal infection remove a small piece of medical thread which was being used by doctors to treat the condition. The man required treatment under general anaesthetic as a result. The man had an anal fistula, which is a painful channel that can develop deep into the anus, caused …

Biology 5 Feb 2007, 15:21
FTC sets Rambus DDR SDRAM royalty rate

After three years, fee falls to zero

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has told Rambus how much the memory technology developer may levy in royalties on SDRAM and DDR SDRAM devices for the next three years, after which the company may not charge any royalties at all. Rambus said it was "disappointed" with the ruling and stated its plan to appeal against the …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 2007, 15:21
Ericsson puts Turner channels on cellphones

Like a hotel room in your hand

Ericsson and Turner Broadcasting will launch a series of “off the deck” portals to carry the media giant’s content worldwide, the firms announced today. The first service will be CNN Mobile, due to be unveiled at 3GSM next week. As well as breaking news, it will include a 14 day archive of stories. The concept will then be …

Mobile 5 Feb 2007, 16:21
Smile says sorry as frowning bank customers left cashless

Co-op mainframe down

The Co-operative Bank has apologised to customers unable to get their hands on their cash this morning because of computer problems. The Reg was contacted by several unsmiling customers unable to get onto the website or withdraw money from cashpoints this morning. Phone banking was also suffering. We received the following …

IT Director 5 Feb 2007, 16:24
Paedophile trio locked up on chat room evidence

Unprecedented convictions

Three paedophiles who used internet chat rooms to plot to kidnap and rape two sisters were jailed for a total of 27 years at Southern Crown Court on Monday. Police said it was the first time chat room logs alone had been used to prove conspiracy to rape charges. David Beavan, 42, of Bransgore, Hampshire, Alan Hedgcock, 41, of …

Law 5 Feb 2007, 16:31
US ID theft losses decline

Gimme shelter

US identity theft losses dropped 11.5 per cent last year to $49.3bn, according to a new study. The third annual study on the crime by Javelin Strategy & Research attributes the decline in identity theft from a high of $55.7bn in 2005 to greater awareness among both consumers and businesses. The study bucks the trend in …

Crime 5 Feb 2007, 19:12
VMware barges into SMBs with new bundle

Consolidate like the big boys

Well entrenched in the data centers of the Fortune 100, VMware has decided to go after the little guy. The software maker this week plans to roll out a new server virtualization management bundle aimed at small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The name says it all with the "VirtualCenter for VMware Server" pairing. VMware …

Servers 5 Feb 2007, 21:16
Oracle sued by blind workers in Texas

Inaccessible software

Oracle is being taken to task in a lawsuit that complains software it sold to the state of Texas is unusable by blind employees. The suit, filed in Texas state court, alleges Oracle's human resources software and other products do "not provide equal access to blind persons using screen access technology". One plaintiff says …

Law 5 Feb 2007, 22:54