4th January 2008 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

NetApp thinks big with SAN management vendor buy

EMC puts the boot in

Network Appliance is buying the privately-owned storage service management vendor Onaro for an undisclosed sum. The Marker, an Israeli tech pub, reports NetApp is putting $120m on the table, but chief marketing officer Jay Kidd declined to confirm the figure. Boston-based Onaro is five years-old and says it has been profitable …

Storage 4 Jan 01:51
Toxic chemicals suit dumped on IBM

Kidney cancer claim

A group from IBM's home turf of Endicott, New York is suing the company over alleged decades of dumping toxic and hazardous contaminants into the environment. The lawsuit was filed today in Broome County, New York by seven law firms representing over 90 former and current residents of Endicott and the neighboring Town of Union …

Market News 4 Jan 02:01
NetFlix sics troops on Apple TV

Trumpets set-top box. Plans 100 more

NetFlix is going toe-to-toe with Apple TV. And then some. This morning, the get-your-movie-rentals-through-the-mail pioneer announced it will soon team with LG Electronics to offer a brand new set-top box that streams movies straight to your television. But that's just a start. In a conversation with Hacking Netflix.com, CEO …

Telecoms 4 Jan 02:05
'Ragtag' Russian army shows the new face of DDoS attacks

Semi-organized people just as dangerous as botnets

In late April, a Russian-speaking blogger upset with recent events in Estonia posted a series of dispatches calling on like-minded people to attack government servers in that country. "They're really fascists," the user, who went by the name of VolchenoK, wrote of Estonian government officials, according to this translation. " …

Security 4 Jan 02:21
Beware of pickpockets and malware-laced banner ads

MySpace, Excite and Blick serving them now

If you haven't patched that media player or web browser in a while, now might be a good time. MySpace, Excite and Blick have been caught serving banner ads that attempt to install malware on machines running unpatched software. People who visit MySpace chat forums using out-of-date web browsers and media player plugins such as …

Channel Register 4 Jan 03:22
Sony confirms Skype coming to PSP

VoIP while you play

There's no doubt now that Skype is coming to the Sony PlayStation Portable - Sony's own website, updated to preview next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, admits as much. "Call friends, talk trash to fellow gamers or catch up with acquaintances via Skype for PSP," the site says, letting the cat well and …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 09:43
Which is the best DVR?

Q&A

I want a high-quality digital video recorder which also records content onto DVDs. Which one do Reg Hardware readers think is best?

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 10:02
Nvidia readies mid-range GeForce 9600 GT

Speeds'n'feeds leak

Nvidia has begun attempting to tempt its graphics card manufacturer partners with the GeForce 9600 GT chip, leaked presentation slides have revealed. Nvidia will pitch the part as "big on performance, easy on the wallet". The GPU, apparently codenamed 'D9M', is a DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0 product designed for PCI Express 2. …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 10:07
Secret Crush widget spreads adware on Facebook

Worming through users' affection

A "malicious widget" on Facebook is leaving love-hungry social networkers feeling crushed. The widget - which poses as a "Secret Crush" request inviting prospective marks to find out which of their friends might have the hots for them - acts as a social worm, prompting users to unwittingly download the infamous Zango adware …

Anti-Virus 4 Jan 10:28
Intel walks out of OLPC project

Short-lived love-in ends

The controversial One Laptop Per Child project, which aims to provide children in the developing world with access to $100 laptops, has fallen out with Intel. Although machines shipping now - to Libya, Brazil, Argentina and Thailand - are based on AMD chips, the OLPC was in talks to base a future version of the laptop on Intel …

Hardware 4 Jan 10:32
Nintendo Wii set to beat MS' 17.7m all-time Xbox 360 sales tally

Halo 3 effect plus Wii famine makes it a close-run race

Microsoft has sold 17.7m Xbox 360 games consoles since the machine was introduced in late 2005, 4.3m of them since the beginning of October 2007, the company claimed yesterday. That almost certainly means the Microsoft console has outsold Sony's PlayStation 3, though that machine only went on sale a year after the Xbox 360 did …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 11:14
Alcoholic rats' boozing slashed by mutant superpower drug

X-Men therapy curbs lager-swilling rodent lifestyle

Scientists based in Chile and Colorado have carried out astonishing research which appears to offer a cure for that scourge of modern society - alcoholism in rats. In a paper to be published in the January edition of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, Yedy Israel of the Universidad de Chile and Richard Deitrich of …

Biology 4 Jan 11:50
Samsung shapes shock-resistant phone

Solid, init?

Samsung has rolled out its first "ultra-durable" mobile phone, and with its water-, dust- and shock-resistant shell, the Samsung M110 Solid mounts a chunky challenge to Sonim's "indestructible" XP1. Samsung's Solid: rubber clad According to Samsung, the 92g Solid's clad in "thick rubber". Within lies a dual-band (900/ …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 11:58
Spam King Ralsky indicted over stock spam scam

Pump and dump gang raked in millions

Notorious spammer Alan Ralsky and ten others have been indicted in the US over the alleged use of junk mail to promote stock fraud scams. Ralsky (a long term fixture in Spamhaus's list of known spammers) his son-in-law Scott K Bradley and others, including a dual national of Canada and Hong Kong and individuals from Russia, …

Spam 4 Jan 12:17
MS 'disappointed' with Xbox Live connectivity woes

Offers free game in compensation

Microsoft is to offer gamers a free game download to compensate them for all the connectivity problems many of them experience accessing its Xbox Live service during the past few weeks. The software giant blamed the problems on the sheer number of Xbox gamers trying to get online at the same time, including what the company …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 12:17
Cameron blames Labour naivety for NHS IT woes

We don't need NPfIT, we need Google

Tory leader David Cameron used a speech in Trafford yesterday to make another attempt to gain credibility for his party's management of the NHS. He blamed the government for falling for the sales pitches of big IT providers and called for more local solutions to NHS IT problems. Cameron said: "It's one of the most shameful …

Public Sector 4 Jan 12:21
Apple gets fans juices flowing with iMac-like laptop dock

Designed for the rumoured Mac sub-notebook?

The latest Apple patent filing to excite the Mac masses shows the manufacturer's iMac recast as a docking station for a MacBook laptop. Apple's been here before, of course, with its Duo range of PowerBooks, launched in 1992. Unlike standard PowerBooks, the Duos were designed to dock into a Mac-like desktop unit that improved …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 12:43
Nato secrets USB stick lost in Swedish library

'Intolerable carelessness'

The discovery of a USB memory stick containing classified NATO information in a library in Stockholm has prompted a meeting between the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service and foreign defence officials. The Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service is a division of the Swedish Armed Forces Central …

Enterprise Security 4 Jan 12:50
MS preps critical Vista patch for Tuesday

As Redmond unwraps 'comments disabled' vuln research blog

Microsoft plans to issue two security patches next Tuesday, one of which earns the dreaded rating of critical, in this year's first edition of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle. The critical update covers a flaw that allows the remote execution of malicious software on vulnerable clients, including Windows Vista systems. …

Security 4 Jan 12:53
Dell shrinks 15.4in Inspiron laptops by 25%

Dell has revamped its 15.4in Inspiron laptop line by launching a new model clad in an array of four patterned colour lids. It's also three-quarters of the size of the previous version and 190g lighter. Enter the Inspiron 1525, offered with a choice of Intel processors from the 1.86GHz Celeron 540 up to the 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 13:15
Network down? Must be New Year's Eve gunfire

Or another fried raccoon...

Gun-touting buffoons and a pesky raccoon were among some of the more bizarre reasons why a number of Americans suffered power and comms outages during the New Year period. American revellers who were presumably not content with simply opening a bottle of bubbly moonshine to toast the New Year, decided to fire random gunshots …

Bootnotes 4 Jan 13:20
Apple targeted in DRM monopoly suit (again)

'I want WMA on my iPod', squeals Hogmanay bellyacher

Steve Jobs has received a New Year nastygram from a woman who is upset that iPods won't play Microsoft DRM-crippled songs as well as Apple DRM-crippled songs. Lawyers representing Stacie Somers filed a federal anti-trust complaint in Northern California District Court in San Jose on New Year's eve. The suit alleges that: " …

Music and Media 4 Jan 13:23
Pope tells astronomers to pack up their telescopes

Nobody expects a Vatican eviction

The Pope has given the Vatican's Jesuit astronomers their marching orders, banishing them and their infernal instruments from his summer palace and billeting them in a disused convent instead. The astronomers' eviction from the Castel Gandolfo has been put down to Benedict XVI's need for more space to receive visiting …

Space 4 Jan 13:24
EU's online Red Tape pledge

You must all behave yourselves - or we'll legislate

While many scare stories about EU regulation turn out to be myths - here's one that unlike "bendy bananas" may well come true. Europe's most powerful quango, the European Commission, says it wants to accelerate a "single market" for online music, film, and games - and is threatening legislation to bring it about. Although the …

Music and Media 4 Jan 13:38
Nvidia nForce 780i SLI chipset

Review PCIe 2.0 and Penryn - bring 'em on

Nvidia’s new nForce 780i SLI chipset is heavily – that’s HEAVILY – based on the nForce 680i SLI, adding just two key new features. The first is support for 45nm Intel 'Penryn' processors and the second is the addition of PCI Express 2.0 for top graphics performance. It’s safe to say that the 780i SLI is Nvidia’s answer to Intel’ …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 14:08
My iPod Classic won't charge up

Q&A

I have a iPod Classic which I brought just under a year ago. I have tried to get it fixed as it just stopped working. It won't charge up - it just dies. I haven't got a receipt, and I can find nowhere which will fix it. Can you help me, please.

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 14:37
Atos wins Highways Agency £75m contract

Trumps rivals in IT deal

Outsourcing outfit Atos Origin yesterday beat out rivals HP, Fujitsu, and LogicaCMG by winning a five year support contract with the Highways Agency (HA) worth £75m. The HA, which operates control centres throughout the UK's road network and currently has more than 100 contracts on the go, said it hoped the deal would slash …

Channel Register 4 Jan 14:38
Firefox spoofing bug raises phishing fears

Basic authentication sucks

Flaws in the way the latest version of Mozilla Firefox presents authentication dialog boxes leave the door open for cybercrooks to trick users into handing over login credentials, a leading security researcher warns. The spoofing weakness - discovered by Israeli security researcher Aviv Raff - involves a failure by the open …

Security 4 Jan 15:17
Linux squeezes into connected devices

But Android is nowhere to be seen

OpenMoko, the open source Linux platform designed for mobile phones, has found its way into a connected GPS device as well as a consumer-friendly mobile phone, showing what Google's Android could do if OpenMoko wasn't already doing it. Realising that not everyone wants to compile their own kernel before making a call, OpenMoko …

Software 4 Jan 16:03
Hundreds of US fighter aces reassigned as drone pilots

Rise of the machines

The recent surge in use of remotely-controlled robot aircraft by US forces for the Wars on Stuff has meant that substantial numbers of American pilots are now being pulled off normal flight status and assigned to drone-driving duty, according to reports. An AP article revealed the trend on Wednesday. Many current American robo …

Science 4 Jan 16:24
Sling unveils 1080i-streaming Slingbox ahead of CES

Integrated HD TV tuner on board

Slingbox maker Sling Media has announced a new version of its Slingbox Pro set-top box that has its own HD TV tuner and can send out a 1080i HD picture over the network. The Slingbox Pro-HD will be initially aimed at the US market - with no terrestrial HD broadcasts in the UK, there's not much point releasing it over here yet …

Reg Hardware 4 Jan 16:40
Schools minister touts 'one interweb per child' pork barrel

BT 'keenly welcomes' more money shocker

The schools minister, Jim Knight, has decided that every child in the country absolutely must have broadband at home, and has called on technology vendors to help him make it happen. More than one million UK children don't have access to a computer at home, according to government figures. Now it seems that the ministers …

Public Sector 4 Jan 16:45
McAfee spies malware in legit JavaScript apps

More anti-virus false alarm madness

A dodgy anti-virus update from McAfee on Wednesday wrongly identified legitimate JavaScript files as a virus in the second such screw-up by a major security vendor in less than a week. As a result of the snafu McAfee users who applied the update were falsely warned that their systems were infected by the Exploit-BO JavaScript …

Enterprise Security 4 Jan 16:56
Tiscali to go mobile in 2008

Virtually a quad player

Tiscali is set to relaunch the Toucan Mobile brand it acquired as part of last year's Pipex buyout, though it's still talking to the networks about which lucky operator gets to carry Toucan customers. Toucan Mobile was part of Pipex, and currently runs on T-Mobile's network. That contract is up for renewal within the next 12 …

Mobile 4 Jan 17:01
Is this the first Human-Martian hybrid?

It's amanfromWiReD!

Interbreeding between humans and aliens is a recurrent theme of science fiction - and late night talk radio. But could an example we've unearthed from near San Francisco, California, prove to be the first living example? Scientists have been able to identify human DNA for over 40 years. And here at The Register, we have access …

Bootnotes 4 Jan 17:07
Sony BMG to drop Custer stance on DRM

And then there were none

Sony BMG, the last major record label that won't sell you music without DRM kneecapping will reverse its stance in February, according to a report today. Corporate froth mag BusinessWeek cites a source familiar with the matter as saying it'll get involved in a major DRM free music tie-in with Amazon and the Super Bowl, which …

Music and Media 4 Jan 17:29
Evesham Technology goes into liquidation

Lights go out

British computer maker Evesham Technology today told the majority of its remaining staff not to return to work on Monday because the company has gone into liquidation. The firm’s ex-chairman and co-founder Richard Austin sent an email to staff this morning informing them “things are very suddenly moving quicker than expected …

Channel Register 4 Jan 17:56
Microsoft opens Server 2008 licensing a smidge

Apache warrior

Microsoft plans to cut web server licensing restrictions from Windows Server 2008 to better compete against open-source alternatives, according to CRN. The pub cites an unspecified internal Microsoft document revealing that Windows Web Server 2008 will run any type of database software and won't restrict the number of users …

Applications 4 Jan 19:40
Camouflaged code threatens security apps

Evil twin hash bash

Antivirus firms are concerned about the emergence of techniques that could render meaningless the use of checksums to mark applications as safe. The issue concerns hash functions - one way mathematical functions that produce a small fixed length checksum or message digest from a much longer batch of code or email message. When …

Anti-Virus 4 Jan 20:01
Google preps Street View Big Mac search

Privacy be damned

Google already indexes the text buried inside your email messages. So it's no surprise that the search engine cum world power is fiddling with the idea of indexing the text buried inside your photos and videos. Last summer, the Mountain View, California outfit filed a patent application with the World Intellectual Property …

Applications 4 Jan 22:23