16th February 2007 Archive

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Bionic-boosted eyes go hi-def

AAAS We can rebuild you, see

A new version of an electronic implant which restores visual capabilities in blind people holds untold promise, those gathered at a meeting in San Francisco heard today, as the technology behind the device is taken to the next level. Back in 2005, the news that a man who had been blind for 50 years had regained some sight with …

Biology 16 Feb 2007, 01:03
BEA options re-statement hits $400m mark

EVP loses his E

BEA Systems will restate almost a decade's worth of earnings to the tune of nearly $400m thanks to misallocation of stock to employees. The middleware vendor plans to restate results for the years 1998 until 2007 - up to the first quarter - recording a charge for non-cash expenses of between $340m and $390m. The majority of the …

Financial News 16 Feb 2007, 01:09
Employee fired for probing bad guys awarded $4.7m

Termination was 'malicious, willful, reckless, wanton'

A jury has awarded a former security analyst for Sandia National Laboratories $4.7m after he was fired for conducting his own investigation into computer attacks and taking his findings to authorities of a separate agency. The judgment was more than twice the amount sought by Shawn Carpenter, who was dismissed by Sandia in …

IT Director 16 Feb 2007, 02:18
Start-up throws Liberty, Integrity and HP at IBM's lawyers

Analysis Let our mainframes go

A quick stroll through Platform Solutions Inc.'s (PSI) data center reveals why IBM has sued the start-up. There's a hulking HP Superdome system with a tiny PSI label on it, and this box promises to do much of a mainframe's work for a fraction of the cost. IBM and PSI have spent most of their public facing time pointing to IBM's …

Servers 16 Feb 2007, 02:35
Mono on the Mac: Time to look beyond Linux?

Uncle Mac casts a grumpy eye

As you’ll no doubt be aware, the Mono Project is an ambitious, open-source initiative, largely coordinated by Novell. The aim is to build a complete suite of ECMA- compliant .NET tools (C# compiler, runtime, class frameworks, etc) which work across all supported platforms, including Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. For more …

Developer 16 Feb 2007, 07:02
Wiki can link to controversial documents, judge rules

Online freedom of speech tested

Drugs giant Eli Lilly has failed in its bid to restrict a wiki from linking to documents that could be damaging to its business. The ruling of a New York court said the court could not rule against the internet "in its various manifestations". Though Eli Lilly did obtain an injunction against individuals forcing them to return …

Law 16 Feb 2007, 10:14
Intel 'Bearlake' said to deliver 15% performance boost

Faster memory, FSB

Intel insiders have claimed that the combination of the chip giant's P35 and G35 chipsets - aka 'Bearlake' - and its Core 2 processors will yield a performance boost of 15 per cent at a given clock speed. The boast comes from company sources cited by Isreali site IOPanel. The moles maintain Intel has finished Bearlake's ICH9 …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 10:21
Only some data thieves face two-year prison threat

Paper files exempt

The Government's planned two-year jail sentence for information thieves will not apply to people who steal or trade in personal information from most manual filing systems. Apart from some Government files, the penalties will only apply to electronic databases. The Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) announced last week …

Law 16 Feb 2007, 10:32
PowerColor preps 'golden pig' graphics card

Chinese New Year tie-in

Tul has marked the coming commencement of Chinese New Year with a limited-edition Year of the Pig PowerColor graphics card. The card's based on an AMD ATI Radeon X1650 Pro with a 600MHz core and 256MB of GDDR 3 video memory clocked to an effective 1.4GHz. The big difference, though, is the gold, pig-shaped cooling fan. …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 10:34
Analyst sounds AMD cash-flow warning

Chip maker about to be bought?

A US analyst has expressed "increasing concerns" that AMD is heading toward a cash-flow crisis even a shareholders' ears prick to whispers that a private equity company is looking to buy a stake in the chip maker - or even the whole kit and kaboodle. AMD's cash flow was questioned yesterday by American Technology Research …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 10:51
EC earmarks €50m for online scientific data storage

Opens access to research

The European Commission has set aside €50m this year to support the establishment of digital repositories for storing scientific data. The announcement was made at the beginning of a two-day conference in Brussels which focuses on scientific publishing in Europe. In addition to the funding set aside for establishing …

Science 16 Feb 2007, 10:53
Net vultures circle Joss Stone TV train crash

Updated 'What the hell is with that American accent?'

The internet is a cruel mistress, and no messing. Pity if you will poor old Joss Stone, whose performance at the Brit awards earlier this week might have been consigned to the dustbin of history were it not for YouTube Joss, we should explain to those of you not familiar with the chanteuse's work, is from Devon. Which is not, …

Entertainment 16 Feb 2007, 11:14
Japan scrubs spy satellite launch

Bad weather, no new date set

Bad weather has forced Japan to postpone the launch of a new spy satellite. Japanese space agency JAXA scrubbed the launch shortly before the rocket carrying the satellite was due to blast off from Tanegashima island. No new date has been set for the launch, which was already postponed once this week. JAXA says it hopes it will …

Space 16 Feb 2007, 11:15
MySpace for sports shoots out of the starter's block

Dot-com start-up launches like it's 1999

Isporty.com is a MySpace for sports fans where you can set up a page for your team or sports club, or a personal page showing your sporting interests - whether it's football, fishing or darts. Speaking at the launch party last night, website founder Chris Ward said: "So much sports stuff is caught on digital camera or mobile …

Financial News 16 Feb 2007, 11:17
Most spiked drink victims actually legless

Less Rohypnol, more Red Bull and vodka

Researchers at Wrexham Maelor Hospital who tested wobbly hospital patients who claimed their drinks had been spiked found most were simply legless, the BBC reports. A year-long study - "aimed to assess the scale of drink-spiking in the area and identify problems at specific clubs and pubs" - revealed that just one fifth tested …

Biology 16 Feb 2007, 11:19
iSoft in talks with Aussie firm

But keeping options open

Troubled health provider iSoft is in talks with Australian company IBA Health about a possible takeover, but says it is still looking at other options. A spokesman for iSoft told The Reg: "We are in dialogue with IBA but it is one of a number options we are considering." IBA Health issued a statement yesterday which said: " …

Financial News 16 Feb 2007, 11:57
BOFH: The Brotherhood

Episode 7 Vendor benders and lost weekends

The boss is late and everyone's noticed. And when I say everyone's noticed I really mean no one's noticed, but it has been two days and when someone's been on a weekend junket then doesn't show within a day or so word gets around... ... It's day three before the boss finally wanders into work with the unpressed clothes and …

BOFH 16 Feb 2007, 12:08
Busty eBayer deploys mammary display stand

NSFW 'Lucy' goes for the soft sell

Thanks very much to reader Nick L for alerting us to a rather strange eBayer who has decided to deploy her not inconsiderable assets as a sort of mammary display stand. Try this "auction" for a Panasonic CD player front panel: Actually, it's not an auction at all, but rather a jub-driven come-one to get you down to lucys big …

Bootnotes 16 Feb 2007, 12:18
Samsung shows Mobile WiMAX kit

Samsung is getting ready for the day when Mobile WiMAX - also known as 802.16e - services become widespread an users want to connect their computers to the network. This week it demo'd a USB key that provides both WiMAX and 3G HSDPA connectivity. Simply called the Mobile WiMAX USB Dongle SPH-H1200, the device measures 9.6 x …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 12:19
IP - it's complex, but it's here to stay

Comment Businesses get real about network convergence

Fifteen years ago a plethora of different network communications protocols were being used for computer communications. Getting computers to talk to each other was a complex business and vendors like Novell made a good living enabling them to do so. Things are different today – there is but one network protocol used for the …

Telecoms 16 Feb 2007, 12:27
TomTom beats to the distant sound of whalesong

LogoWatch Faint whiff of joss-sticks

We here at El Reg like to think that our LogoWatch strand has done much to rid the world of Powerpoint presentation-weilding Strategy Boutiques - redefining brand frontage paradigms and delivery mission-critical synergistic solutions to better represent the brand proposition companies represent to their end user demographic …

Bootnotes 16 Feb 2007, 12:51
Aussie outfit to ship wristphone next month

Can SMS Tech succeed where Samsung, DoCoMo failed?

Many, many wristphones have been announced, but few if any have come to market. According to Aussie company SMS Technology, that will change next month when it ships the M300, a tri-band GSM/GPRS wristwatch phone, in its native land. The phone sports a 1in colour display, contains 64MB of memory and incorporates Bluetooth 2 …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 13:07
UK Treasury knew of US hunt through British bank data

EU investigation closes in

The Bank of England told HM Treasury about the secret US surveillance of international banking transactions as long as five years ago. The US's eager pursuit of terrorist financiers, begun within weeks of the 11 September attacks, involved a trawl through the world's financial transactions through subpoenas on the firm that …

Law 16 Feb 2007, 13:12
Intertrust offers cut price DRM patents for OMA and Marlin

Designed to undermine the MPEG LA patent pool

DRM intellectual property business Intertrust has issued a license price for its patent portfolio that is designed to totally undermine the existing MPEG LA patent pool for the Open Mobile Alliance DRM 2.0 system, although it’s being very careful not to say that out loud. An MPEG LA patent pool had initially issued a $1.00 per …

Mobile 16 Feb 2007, 13:57
Two defendants in German warez case admit charges

Third says he played a minor role

Two of the three main defendants in the FTPWelt trial, which opened this week at the District Court of Mühlhausen in Germany, have admitted that they offered bootleg software, games and movies through a high speed download service Ftpwelt.com. The third suspect, lawyer Bernhard Syndikus, denied any wrongdoing. In 2004 the …

Channel Register 16 Feb 2007, 14:07
Logic3 i-Station Traveller portable speakers

Review Cut-price out-loud audio for your iPod

Years ago, long before the iPod Revolution of 2001, somebody somewhere came up with the ingenious idea of packing portable speakers and then plugging their Discman in so they could listen to music in a hotel room, as very few hotel rooms had stereos of any sort. And now, post 'Pod Revolution, it's virtually impossible to …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 14:15
Twenty Logic3 i-Station Traveller iPod speakers up for grabs

Competition Your chance to win with Register Hardware

Logic3's i-Station Traveller is the iPod-accessory maker's latest on-the-move out-loud audio offering. You can read Register Hardware's review of the gadget here, but why not try and win one too? We've got 20 of 'em Logic3 tells us we have to give away... Sturdily made, the i-Station speakers have a folding design where you …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 14:19
3GSM rules the roost, alongside cockfighting Amazons

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3GSM madness Once again, the Reg team has been hard at work serving up a banquet of tasty news from all corners of the world. Much of the focus this week was on the mobile convention 3GSM in Barcelona. While fighting for a place in the news there, T-Mobile announced to the world that VoIP would not affect its revenues, but …

Business 16 Feb 2007, 14:24
Vista OEM 'Express' upgrades stuck at the gate

People actually redeeming vouchers

Europeans who bought a new PC in time for Christmas and were persuaded that they would get a Vista upgrade soon after the rollout by redeeming a voucher, are learning that demand for the upgrades far outstrips "supply". We don't think anyone should be in a hurry to embrace Vista, but people do tend to want what they've paid for …

Channel Register 16 Feb 2007, 14:31
iPod spares nude model's blushes

Strategically-placed device denies surfers an iFull

Here's a Friday afternoon poser for you: what do you do if you're on a beach doing a swimwear shoot for Sports Illustrated and your bikini inexplicably falls off and you're left sprawling butt-naked on the golden sands with your ample charms exposed to the snapper's sweaty lens? Well, leaving your athletic form as nature …

Entertainment 16 Feb 2007, 14:34
Lexar announces high-speed SDHC

Lexar's 4GB SHDC card isn't the first of its kind to be rated Class 6 for speed - Transcend won that accolade in October 2006 - but it's no slouch for that. Class 6 devices have a guaranteed minimum data transfer rate of 6MBps, and Lexar said its card has a minimum write speed of 20MBps - hence the 133x speed. Lexar said …

Reg Hardware 16 Feb 2007, 14:39
Japanese whaler adrift in stormy seas

Greenpeace offer of help declined

Japanese whaling vessel the Nisshin Maru - partially evacuated yesterday following an engine-room fire - is still wallowing powerless in Antarctica's stormy Ross Sea, the Daily Telegraph reports. The remaining crew have, with assistance from other whaling fleet vessels, been able to control the blaze and stabilise the 8,000-ton …

Biology 16 Feb 2007, 14:39
EU police database on Brussels agenda

Stewed Prüm

The European Council has endorsed a pan-European police database that was established by a small club of countries outside the European framework last year. The German presidency of the EU plans to push the legislation through the European Parliament by the end of its term on 30 June. It expects the proposal, for the …

Law 16 Feb 2007, 16:07
Ingram Micro blames Brazil and Germany for so-so results

Distribution curve

Ingram Micro made sales of $8.85bn in the fourth quarter ended 30 December 2006, an increase of 11 per cent on the $7.96bn the distie made in the same period of 2005. Profit for the period was $141.7m up from $131.7m in the same period last year. But profits in the quarter made up 1.6 per cent of revenues against 1.66 per cent …

Channel Register 16 Feb 2007, 16:23
Lights, camera, action

But does it have to be PowerPoint?

When it comes to preparing a pitch you can always go for the ‘Industry Standard’ PowerPoint, but these days you can also push the boat out and take a more integrated approach. It’s a bit like whether you drive a sensible family car or – like Jeremy Clarkson – yearn to drive something a little sportier. They both get you from A …

Developer 16 Feb 2007, 16:35
Ballmer downplays Vista sales

Don't believe the spreadsheets

Steve Ballmer has played down the hype surounding Vista sales saying some analysts have taken an overly optimistic view. Speaking to financial analysts, Ballmer said he was pleased by the response to Vista, but warned: "People have to understand that some of the revenue forecasts I've seen out there for Windows Vista in fiscal …

Channel Register 16 Feb 2007, 16:37
Designing intelligent petitions too taxing for Brits

Letters Welsh accent optional, look you

Tony Blair has his finger on the button and is preparing to fire. Fortunately, there are no weapons of mass destruction, only emails of mass dissemination, as New Labour preps a reply to the 1.5 million people who don't want road tax priced by the mile: Re: Blair ready to spam Britain ...and what will happen to the No. 10 …

Letters 16 Feb 2007, 16:59
Brocade intros McDATA-capable SAN switch

First the company, now for the customer SANs

Brocade has introduced its first Fibre Channel switch that can be used within both Brocade and McDATA SANs. Available next month, the 4Gbit/s Brocade 5000 switch comes with 16 of its 32 ports enabled; more can be enabled by purchasing software keys. It will replace both the Brocade Silkworm 4100 and the McDATA Sphereon 4700, …

Storage 16 Feb 2007, 17:06
Genes offer excuse for beer fear

AAAS Evolutionary get-out for Barcadi Breezer drinkers

Geneticists are shedding light on why some people can't handle their beer, or rather may eschew a noble chalice of foaming chestnut ale in favour of a less challenging sweeter beverage. The genetic basis of sensitivity to bitter compounds has a special significance in evolution - scientists hypothesise that the ability to …

Biology 16 Feb 2007, 20:24
Dell snakes Motorola's mobile man

Hello, Garrqs

Dell has done some Zandr poaching, grabbing Motorola's handset chief to run its consumer products unit. Ron Garriques worked at Motorola for nearly ten years, most recently as SVP and president of mobile devices. Now he'll report straight to Michael Dell as head of Dell's consumer goods. The latest executive move keeps Dell's …

Financial News 16 Feb 2007, 21:44