10th April 2007 Archive

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Nasdaq grumbles at Dell . . . again

Remember when we were friends?

Pulling Dell off the Nasdaq would be as criminal as prying a billionaire away from his brain glaze. But that's exactly what might happen if the computer maker fails to get its book in order. Dell has received yet another de-listing notice from the Nasdaq exchange. The Wall Street types have chided Dell for not handing in …

Financial News 10 Apr 2007, 00:17
Porn suit is reinvigorated by US appeals court

Silicon Justice Penetrating legal analysis

Perfect 10 makes porn. (We're sorry - "adult entertainment.") The company also sues like a jackrabbit in order to protect its copyrights in said pornography. These litigious purveyors of print and online smut, you may recall, recently won a landmark suit against Google in which they claimed that Google's thumbnail renditions …

Law 10 Apr 2007, 00:36
Sun, Unisys pledge to tailor dropped memory chip suit

DRAM Lawsuit II: The Lawsuitining

Sun and Unisys both plan to file a new lawsuit against Hynix Semiconductor and six other DRAM manufacturers after a federal judge dropped a previous suit due to a lack of information from the server vendors. Judge Phyllis Hamilton dismissed the complaint without prejudice, giving the two companies a deadline of May 4 to re-file …

PCs & Chips 10 Apr 2007, 00:58
Fifth space tourist docks with the ISS

Word nerd in space

The latest space tourist has reached the International Space Station. Billionaire Charles Simonyi docked with the ISS yesterday evening (GMT) after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 17:31 GMT on Saturday. Hungarian-born Simonyi made his fortune at Microsoft, where he was the lead developer on Word and Excel. When he …

Space 10 Apr 2007, 08:28
Do large projects silence osmotic communication?

Comment Or can you still be agile?

Put a bunch of people together in a room and they'll be able to communicate more easily than if they were in different rooms. Walls place barriers between people, after all. This announcement may have come from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious, but the principle of grouping people together and letting them get on with …

Developer 10 Apr 2007, 09:39
Boffins cook up ultimate bacon sarnie

Another triumph for UK university research

The UK's universities are fast forging a reputation for the kind of ground-breaking research which can only leave lesser seats of learning looking on in awe. Indeed, hot on the heels of the Aberdeen better darts project, triumphant scientists at Leeds have cracked that most imponderable of posers: how to create the ultimate …

Science 10 Apr 2007, 09:40
Sunshine

Movie review A little missing?

There's an old adage that science-fiction movies tell us more about today than tomorrow. Sunshine, from Trainspotting and 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle, arguably goes further: it has its eye on the past as much as the future. The movie-making past, that is. Sunshine is the latest film in that small sub-genre the 'space …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 09:45
Wales, O'Reilly censorship charter porked by blogosphere

'Dirty, but the pig likes it'

The Victorian blogging code mooted last week by Jimbo "Wiki" Wales and Tim 2.0'Reilly has been given short shrift by web users. After threatening a set of rules to clamp down on rudeness last week, O'Reilly posted a first draft on Sunday. The code would introduce "badges" to show how a site complies with the webby duo's take …

Law 10 Apr 2007, 10:00
MS cursor patch fix pushes into Patch Tuesday litter

Lock and reload

Microsoft plans to release five patches on Tuesday as part of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle. Redmond is also to release a fix to address application conflict problems with last week's "emergency" cursor security update. Four of the new patches, at least one of which is critical, affect Microsoft Windows. Users will …

Security 10 Apr 2007, 10:02
NASA buys in $719m worth of Russian space support

Extra flights and cargo shifting

NASA has signed for $719m worth of extras on its contract with Russian space authorities for "crew and cargo services" until 2011. The modified contract now buys NASA a two-way "flight opportunity" to the International Space Station (ISS). This, the agency says, will allow it to meet its obligations to its international …

Space 10 Apr 2007, 10:15
Apple iPod sales surpass 100m

Fastest selling music player in history?

Apple has sold 100m iPods, more the company tacitly claimed, than Sony's equally iconic Walkman personal cassette player had in the first five-and-a-half years it was on the market. The shiny white music player was launched in a Mac-only, 5GB version in November 2001 - neither the first portable digital music device nor the …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 10:18
Microsoft brings instant messaging to Xbox Live

Updated Online features could prove critical in the Console Wars

Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live users will soon be able to access Windows Live Messenger. It will be added free through an Xbox 360 Dashboard update enabling Xbox owners will be able to chat with PC users. The move means the 6m Xbox Live users worldwide will be able to chat with the 260m users already using Windows …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 10:28
Dell waves goodbye to Axim

Pocket PCs are so 2002, darlin'

Dell has quietly stopped selling its Axim X51 handheld computer, effectively bringing its range of pocket PCs to an end. "The Axim X51 family is no longer being offered, and we have no plans for a follow-on product at this time," a Dell spokesperson told Cnet. The computer giant had been a major player in the Pocket PC arena …

Mobile 10 Apr 2007, 10:34
Intel rolls out faster gaming CPU

Earlier than expected

Intel has rolled out its fastest gamer-centric processor yet, the four-core Core 2 Extreme QX6800, three months earlier than anticipated. The most recent leaks had the 2.93GHz QX6800 down for a Q3 release, already ahead of the end-of-year arrival the 65nm chip been expected to make. Still, bringing the chip forward to Q2 - …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 10:58
AMD preparing Turion challenger for next-gen Centrino?

Dual-core duel

AMD looks set to challenge Intel's upcoming 'Santa Rosa' Centrino launch with a faster dual-core notebook processor of its own, the Turion 64 X2 Tl-66, it has been claimed. The mobile part will be clocked to 2.3GHz - the current range leader, the TL-60, runs at 2GHz - and contain 512KB of L2 cache, Chinese-language site HKEPC …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 11:24
UK's lags bemoan Freeview channel blackout

Hard TV times after digital switch

The UK's lags are none too pleased about losing a raft of TV channels they currently enjoy through their Freeview boxes, the Evening Standard reports. The cull comes as a result of the Prison Service's switch to digital TV and inmates who'd been allowed to buy Freeview boxes now find themselves subjected to starvation rations …

Public Sector 10 Apr 2007, 12:18
BT's new network heralds engineer job carnage

Confirms ISP price cuts

BT says its new network technology, currently on trial in Wales, will allow it to slash its engineering staff by thousands. The 21st Century Network (21CN) fibre optics, which BT is spending £10bn to lay nationwide by 2011, will ensure broadband customer service will improve, said Paul Reynolds, head of the firm's wholesale …

Financial News 10 Apr 2007, 12:20
Cracked HD-DVD and Blu-Ray app keys revoked

Disavowed

A next-generation DVD security group has responded to hack attacks that allow unfettered access to Blu-Ray and HD-DVD content by pulling the encryption keys of PC applications associated with the attack. The move makes it impossible to play newly released high-definition movies via versions of playback software, including …

Crime 10 Apr 2007, 12:50
Hollywood hinders HD DVD, Blu-ray hack

New keys for old

The battle between hackers and the minds behind the security technology built into the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD next-gen optical disc formats has begun in earnest. A trick used to tease out disc encryption keys has been blocked. The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) Licensing Administrator, the company that maintains the …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 12:51
Lost until translation: a book on maths and magic

By da Vinci's mate, you know...

Want to learn how to wash your hands in molten lead? Fancy making an egg dance, or writing appear on rose petals? For such tricky trickery, who would you turn to but the man who taught Leonardo da Vinci his numbers? After gathering dust for half a millennium, a "magic" text book written by the Franciscan monk Luca Pacioli, De …

Science 10 Apr 2007, 13:00
LG rolls out Beetle-branded MP3 player

LG has shown off a Volkwagen-branded digital media player designed to appeal to fans of the car company's iconic second-generation Beetle. To us, the big-screen gadget's metallic look lacks the curvacious quality the makes the Beetle's look unique, but LG said the FM37 player will come in red, blue and yellow versions to …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 13:11
How to get your Wi-Fi working again

Out with the old, in with the new

Plenty of people who link computers and other devices to the internet over a wireless network are finding they can no longer connect quite as easily as they once could. That's certainly my experience and, if the many, many emails I received after grumbling about it in public are anything to go by, it's a problem many Register …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 13:41
Washington goes to WTO over China counterfeiters

Beijing says piracy claims are junk

Beijing lashed out at the Bush administration today after Washington went whining to the WTO about China's record on combating piracy. The Americans have accused the Chinese of, on the one hand, failing to open up their markets to books, music, video and movies, and on the other hand of not doing enough to protect and enforce …

Channel Register 10 Apr 2007, 13:45
NextWave buys IPWireless

But is the next wave TDD or WiMAX?

Mobile communications company NextWave Inc is to buy IP Wireless for $100m in cash and shares, paying another $114m over the next few years if revenue milestones are reached. The initial payment will be $25m in cash and $75m in stock. The remaining $114m will also be a combination of stock and cash, with $50m chunks due at …

Data Networking 10 Apr 2007, 13:54
Scouts use lie detectors to undermine DRM

Letters And is humanity doomed?

Easter's been and gone, and to help you recover from the sickly sweetness of it all, we thought we'd jump straight in with something a bit sour - namely, the UK government's sinister plans to deploy lie detectors in the hope of catching benefit fraudsters: Umm, hasn't the UK, like just about everywhere but the USA, dissallow ' …

Letters 10 Apr 2007, 14:22
Contractors suffer payday strife

Parasol left with Easter egg on face

Parasol IT hit a spot of bother late last week when its payment system left 100 contractors out of pocket over the Easter weekend. The firm takes care of pay administration for up to 7,000 freelance workers, including IT and engineering contractors in the UK. Parasol managing director Rob Crossland told The Reg that the firm …

Channel Register 10 Apr 2007, 14:59
Amazon's patent attorneys sup from forbidden Wiki

Analysis 1-Click defense turns farcical

Amazon.com has adopted an unusual and potentially self-destructive legal tactic in its defense of its 1-Click patent family. A defeat for Amazon.com would lift a cloud of uncertainty from over tens of thousands of e-commerce operations, who fear the Wrath of Bezos might be turned against them, as it once was against Amazon …

Law 10 Apr 2007, 14:59
UK.gov tells websites to stop bullies

Unhappy slappers

Videos of schoolyard bullying should be blocked from websites, secretary of state for education and skills Alan Johnson said today. Speaking at the national conference of the NASUWT teaching union, Johnson said the internet had allowed bullies to prolong the ordeal for their victims by following them into their homes. This " …

Public Sector 10 Apr 2007, 15:10
Pipex sale 'on the brink of collapse'

Jilted at the altar

Reports over the Easter break said the sale of ISP Pipex was near collapse, with only Carphone Warehouse still interested. Earlier noises from the bidding process, which was being run by bankers UBS, suggested a four-way tussle between Carphone Warehouse, BT, Virgin Media, and Sky could have fetch a strong price for the …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2007, 15:37
Mozilla seeks security researchers to look at alpha code

A stitch in time

Mozilla Corporation wants to get the security community involved in ironing out possible bugs with the next version of Firefox at an earlier stage. Instead of pointing out security bugs once Firefox 3.0 gets released, Mozilla wants security vendors involved while the software in still a work in progress. Window Snyder, the " …

Security 10 Apr 2007, 15:51
Open sourcerers do battle for GPLv3

Perens weighs in

Open source luminary Bruce Perens has come out fighting in defence of the latest draft of GPLv3. The draft, which seeks to prevent patent protection deals like that struck late last year by Microsoft and Novell, has come under heavy fire from proprietary software advocates such as the ACT (Association for Competitive Technology …

Applications 10 Apr 2007, 16:08
Hack exposes AACS 'hole'

Keys handed over without authentication

Hackers appear to have figured out how to access one of the crucial HD DVD encryption keys without having to authorise the data - potentially rendering the latest attempt to block such activity useless. The crack, posted on the Xboxhacker website, uses a standard, unmodified Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD drive to hand over a …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2007, 16:33
Iona buys LogicBlaze

Open source SOA thingymajig

Iona, the Irish software house, continued its acquisition spree with the purchase of LogicBlaze on Tuesday. LogicBlaze provides business integration solutions based on open source technologies. In a statement, Iona said its latest acquisition is based on the assumption that its future service oriented architecture (SOA) …

Financial News 10 Apr 2007, 16:40
Utah bans trade mark keyword ads

Search protection law

The US state of Utah has outlawed the use of other people's trade marks to generate business through search engines. The plan has been called unconstitutional and impractical. In creating a new kind of electronic trade mark with specific online protections, the state hopes to clamp down on one company buying the right to …

Law 10 Apr 2007, 17:17
Sun CEO shows off Rock ahead of Fujitsu launch

Could an UltraSPARC chip arrive on time?

So, it's April 2007 and Sun Microsystems has just popped one of its 16-core Rock chips on CEO Jonathan Schwartz's desk. Schwartz posted pictures of the Rock silicon on his blog, bragging that "the chips are running billions of instructions already". Sun's customers must be encouraged by the Rock display, having suffered from …

Servers 10 Apr 2007, 19:00
Microsoft and Cisco eye Iceland for green server farms

Incredibly cheap

Both Cisco and Microsoft will investigate the possibility of establishing server farms in Iceland powered fully by renewable energy. According to the Icelandic daily Morgunbladid, the Reykjavík Energy Company (OR) is presently talking to both companies to see if server farms could be run by geothermal and hydroelectric power …

Servers 10 Apr 2007, 19:12
Trial in 419-related murder under way

Nigerian scam claims another life

Nigerian 419 scams have bilked untold billions of dollars from people who have more hope than sense. A trial underway in the US will detail how one scheme claimed the life of a Tennessee minister whose wife is accused of gunning him down after it came to light she fell victim to Nigerian-style swindlers. Mary Carol Winkler, …

Crime 10 Apr 2007, 19:21
Debian 4.0 secures packages

The distro has landed

The Debian Project has finally released its long-awaited Linux update, featuring changes in security and systems management. Debian 4.0 delivers support for encrypted partitions out-of-the box and a package management system called Secure APT that verifies packages downloaded from mirror sites. There's also support for Linux …

Operating Systems 10 Apr 2007, 19:45
IBM's new server targets the 'i' in SMB

IT layoff solution revealed

IBM has released what it claims is an all-singing, all-dancing box designed for the industry's craze-du-jour, the SMB market. The company's angle is simplicity for the System i Express, the latest addition to the SMB System i server line. With infomercial flair at a press and analyst event in San Francisco today, IBM's System …

Servers 10 Apr 2007, 20:34
Salesforce.com plays content management card

Peeks in your drawers

Salesforce.com is turning to enterprise content management (ECM) with its latest partner purchase and software-as-service (SaaS) announcement. Having upset the world of customer relationship management (CRM) with on demand, Salesforce.com has bought AppExchange partner Koral and promised ECM founded on popular social …

Applications 10 Apr 2007, 21:46
Seagate stock sinks after earnings stink

Profits prophesy pisses stock gods

Seagate shares took a hit today after the HDD manufacturer cut its third quarter revenue expectations. On a release posted on the company website late Friday, Seagate now predicts to report revenue of $2.8bn Q3 — lowered from a previous estimate of $2.9-$3bn. The company's stock dropped as much as 9 per cent in intraday …

Storage 10 Apr 2007, 22:28
WoW players learn value of Windows updates

'Vuln left me naked and penniless'

Subscribers playing World of Warcraft on Windows machines continue to find their accounts stolen more than eleven months after hackers first began targeting them using a Trojan attack, according to posts on the game's official website. The perpetrators are employing sophisticated techniques that involve hundreds of booby- …

Security 10 Apr 2007, 22:55
Sun and Fujitsu to release 256-thread (M)onster

Exclusive 'M' is for mainframe

Longtime mainframe hater Sun Microsystems has borrowed big iron rhetoric to pitch its upcoming line of midrange and high-end servers built with Fujitsu. The Register can reveal in an exclusive that Sun next week plans to announce the M4000/M5000 midrange boxes and the M8000/M9000 high-end systems that will make up its “ …

Servers 10 Apr 2007, 23:01