17th January 2008 Archive

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Mandriva and TurboLinux unveil 10-person strong Manbo

Like a kernel tweaking Rambo

Mandriva and TurboLinux have mounted a continent-crossing charge on the Linux market. The software makers have formed a development collective dubbed Manbo-Labs dedicated to peace, harmony and a common base for their respective flavors of the Linux operating system. More than ten people make up Manbo-Labs, which is not to be …

Operating Systems 17 Jan 01:47
Salesforce.com bitten by the ALM bug

Can you feel the force.com

Salesforce.com is to bring application lifecycle management (ALM) practices and safeguards to its on-demand platform. The company today unveils new metadata APIs, an update to its Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE), and storage services capable of integrating with any "standards-based" source-code …

Applications 17 Jan 06:21
Motorola brings VoIP to the shop floor

Barcode readers you can talk to

It's not just mobile phones that are getting more features than you can possibly use, Motorola's latest barcode scanner has a VoIP client built in to allow shelf-stackers to chat while they're working. The CA50 isn't a fully-fledged Windows Mobile device, as it only utilises Windows CE and is designed to use web-hosted …

VoIP 17 Jan 07:02
Tarantino plans Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! remake

Starring Britney Spears?

Quentin Tarantino is reportedly "hot" to remake Russ Meyer's 1965 classic piece of silliness Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, in which "three wild women in three fast cars take time off from stripping in clubs to go on a murder rampage", as the IMDb summary explains. According to Variety, the director's casting choices are Kim …

Music and Media 17 Jan 08:49
iPhone turns blue as IBM creates Lotus client

Who says the iPhone is consumer-only?

The Register has confirmed that IBM is developing a Lotus Notes client for the iPhone, and that they are "working closely" with Apple to create a native application for the iPhone and iPod Touch for business use. Apple and IBM haven't been the best of buddies since Apple switched to Intel chips in their computers back in 2005 …

Mobile 17 Jan 09:41
Minister calls for boffins to engage with public

And for government to listen to advice...

Minister for Innovation John Denham said the scientific community needs to improve its engagement with the public and that government needs to pay more attention to science when making policy. Speaking to the Royal Society for Encouragement of the Arts, Commerce, and Manufacturers yesterday, Denham said scientific advice …

Science 17 Jan 10:04
UK.gov says no plans for FBI DNA database hookup

What do you mean when you say 'plan'?

The agency responsible for UK's police databases has insisted there are no plans to give overseas law-enforcement agencies automated access to British biometrics. Not yet, anyway. The so-called "Server in the Sky" plans which have made news in recent days supposedly would allow US agencies direct access to biometric …

Government 17 Jan 10:11
MWg unveils the Zinc II smartphone

Another element to its range

The Mobile and Wireless Group (MWg) - formerly O2's Asian handset business - is really pushing its name in the smartphone market, creating yet another Windows Mobile-based handset: the Zinc II. MWg's Zinc II: GPS, HSDPA and a two-megapixel camera Based on version 6.1 Pro of the OS, the Zinc II offers quad-band GSM and HSDPA …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 10:21
AMD updates Catalyst

Version 8.1 for Windows posted

AMD has published version 8.1 of its Catalyst driver package for Windows XP and Vista, an update that brings a host of game-related tweaks but, more importantly, supports OpenGL rendering across multiple GPUs and monitors. Games affected by the tweak include Bioshock, Half-life 2, FEAR, Oblivion, Call of Juarez, Quake Wars and …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 10:43
Video game ad banned for 'realistic' violence

Stranglehold promo strangled

An advert for a computer game has been banned from television. The advert for Stranglehold had realistic violence, constant gunfire and condoned violence, according to ad watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA responded to two complaints about the promotional clip for the game, which is endorsed by martial …

Law 17 Jan 11:08
EDS offers 2,500 UK staff voluntary redundancy

But only 1 in 10 will get the golden ticket

EDS has told its staff that it plans to make up to 250 job cuts by the end of this month. A spokesman for the outsourcing firm confirmed to The Register that company bosses met with trade union representatives last Friday to talk about a limited voluntary redundancy plan during January as part of its "ongoing restructuring and …

Channel Register 17 Jan 11:16
Hauppauge pitches Pay TV add-on for PCs

CAM cards at the ready

Want to watch Pay TV on your PC? If so, Hauppauge's new WinTV-CI is here to help. It's an add-on for the company's range of WinTV tuners that allows you to plug in a Common Access Module (CAM) and signal-uncscrambling smartcard. The WinTV-CI links the WinTV tuner to a range of third-party CAM modules, such as AlphaCrypt, Conax …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 11:19
Peeved HTC smartphone owners offer bounty for driver fix

Fix drivers, win cash prizes

A website is offering HTC smartphone customers a $3000 financial reward if they're able to solve a series of graphics and related issues affecting the company's recent handsets, allegedly caused by missing or poorly performing hardware drivers. The organisers of the HTCClassAction.org claim that the problem, which concerns …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 11:37
Polish scientists quantify perfect legs

Longer than average, and attached to Kylie Minogue

Polish researchers have discovered that the perfect set of legs is five per cent longer than the average, meaning that your run-of-the-mill Polish woman at 5ft 4in tall with an inside leg measurement of 29in would require 30.5in legs to compete with the celebrated pins of Oz popstress Kylie Minogue. Minogue has, of course, …

Biology 17 Jan 11:45
Bush overrules judge in US navy-v-dolphins sonar case

Flipper gets pinged

US President George Bush has handed the environmental movement (and the judiciary) a significant slap in the face, overruling a judge's decision not to allow the US Navy to use sonar during exercises. The US beak had issued preliminary limitations on sonar use following a lawsuit in which environmental activists said that the …

Biology 17 Jan 11:46
Samsung SGH-G800 5Mp cameraphone

Review G600 + 3G = G800

Samsung has put itself in the frame as a serious cameraphone contender with the SGH-G800, a five-megapixel cameraphone sporting a 3x optical zoom plus face-detection and autofocus technology. Samsung's SGH-G800: a serious contender? Samsung has already hit the five-megapixel cameraphone mark in Europe with its stylish G600 …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 12:02
Cops admit CCTV no use in deterring drunken violence

'Did you see me smack that geezer? Class, wasn't it'

Forests of CCTV cameras in the UK's town centres have failed to have any impact on anti-social behaviour, an ACPO official told the House of Lords Constitution Committee yesterday. Graeme Gerrard, head of CCTV at the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said cameras did a good job deterring crimes like theft, for …

Public Sector 17 Jan 12:10
Everex follows Asus Eee to announce 9in sub-notebook

Unreleased CloudBook follow-up named

Not content with mounting a serious challenge to Asus' elfin Eee PC, US manufacturer Everex this week said it will follow up its 7in CloudBook sub-notebook with larger models later in the year. To be fair, these are all enhancements Asus has already pledged to make to the Eee PC line-up. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 12:22
Face of Mankind DoS teen perp reprimanded

Stupid boy

A UK teenager who admitted launching a denial of service attack on online multiplayer game Face Of Mankind has been reprimanded by police. The 16-year-old, who can't be named for legal reasons, launched the relatively unsophisticated SYN Flood attack throughout May 2007. As a result, Face Of Mankind's portal was regularly …

Security 17 Jan 12:43
The Dark Knight - 2008's biggest movie?

The Times sticks its neck out

The Times has compiled a list of what it reckons will be the 50 big movie hits of 2008, boldly sticking Batman's next outing, The Dark Knight, at the top of its blockbuster compilation. Next up is Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince, followed by Bond 22, Iron Man, and Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in that …

Music and Media 17 Jan 12:45
FlipStart halves handheld PC price

Yours for $699 now

FlipStart, the venture backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has slashed the price of its eponymous handheld Windows PC by more than 50 per cent. FlipStart's FlipStart PC: now (more than) half price This week, the FlipStart PC began retailing for $699 - rather less than the $1499 it was priced at when the company …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 12:48
2008 - the year VoIP gets hacked?

The drawbacks of IP everywhere

With VoIP rapidly becoming a commodity feature in everything from TV set-top boxes to barcode scanners, Sipera's VIPER Lab predicts that 2008 will be the year it all goes pear-shaped - a prediction borne out by Cisco's first security fix of the year. VIPER reckons that denial of service attacks and eavesdropping, using hacked …

Security 17 Jan 12:49
Surgeons to turn to Wii to sharpen their scalpel skills?

Forceps... swab... Nunchuk...

Next time you’re about to go under the knife, you might want to ask your surgeons how much Wii training they've had to boost their medical expertise and manual dexterity. According to a report in New Scientist magazine, researchers at the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona have found that its surgical …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 12:55
Outrage over Nokia factory closure

Connecting people?

German politicians will investigate whether Nokia took unfair advantage of state and EU subsidies after it announced the closure of its handset assembly plant in Bochum in North Rhine-Westphalia. Nokia employed more than 2,300 people there in exchange for EU subsidies. Nokia said production of mobile devices in Germany was no …

Mobile 17 Jan 13:59
Global PC shipments up in Q4

Dell 'turns corner' as HP marches on

Computer makers saw worldwide shipments increase by more than 15 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007, but analysts have warned that growth is likely to slow over the next few years as the credit crunch bites. Analyst firm IDC, which yesterday released its latest quarterly tracker report on global PC shipments, said that …

Channel Register 17 Jan 14:02
US Marine Corps wants an awful lot of computers

Government pork barrel ahoy!

The US Marine Corps has got $150m to spend on an awful lot of new computers. The procurement is for an estimated 57,000 laptops, 18,000 PCs, 5,860 servers and 3,000 tablet PCs. The deal is for the 20 to 30 per cent of Marine units not connected up to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet - the $8bn contract that ended up costing …

Channel Register 17 Jan 14:04
Hackers go after Excel

Poisoned spreadsheet peril

Microsoft has warned that an unpatched vulnerability in older versions of Excel is being actively exploited by hackers. The bug, which has become the subject of targeted attacks, affects older versions of Excel. Newer versions Excel 2003 SP3 and Excel 2007 are said to be immune. Details of the vulnerability beyond what …

Enterprise Security 17 Jan 14:06
Online gamer murders rival clan member

Net violence spills into real world

A 33-year-old Russian gamer from the city of Ufa was killed by a member of a rival online clan after virtual violence provoked a fatal real-life scrap, Russia Today reports. The victim, named only as Albert, was a member of the "Platanium" clan in the unreported game (possibly Lineage II). His group was mostly made up of …

Crime 17 Jan 14:12
Nominet to hand out £5m to online charity cases

New trust to divvy up domain sales surplus

Nominet, the not-for-profit in charge of the .uk domain registry, has approved a plan to distribute its multimillion-pound surplus among "education, research and development initiatives" to benefit the UK internet community. The question of what to do with the spare cash has been bouncing around the domaining community for …

IT Director 17 Jan 14:24
Former DEA agents sue over American Gangster

'Most of the movie is not true'

A group of former Drug Enforcement Agency members has filed a class action lawsuit against the makers of American Gangster claiming it's defamatory in its depiction of DEA operatives as "villains". The film describes the case of real-life heroin dealer Frank Lucas who, following his arrest in 1975, turned government informant …

Music and Media 17 Jan 14:26
Home Sec in anti-terror plan to control entire web

'I will remove illegal material from internet'

UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has decided to mount a push against cyber terror, in which the internet itself will somehow be modified to prevent people using it for terrorist purposes. Today, Ms Smith addressed an international conference on radicalisation and political violence. Much of the speech was about engagement with …

Government 17 Jan 14:37
Fertility watchdogs approve first human-animal hybrids

Chimeric embryonics is go

Two research groups at Newcastle University and King's College London have today been granted the first licences to work on human-animal embryo hybrids. After a consultation, the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority said that research can go ahead because the proposals satisfy all legal requirements and public are "at ease …

Biology 17 Jan 15:14
Get a celebrity autograph on your mobile phone

Sign your £££s away

The search for more stuff to sell to mobile phone owners, who have had their fill of Crazy Frogs and versions of Tetris, continues with celebrity autographs from Mobile Fun. The initial selection of autographs are of the long dead, who are unlikely to sue, but Mobile Fun reckons there's potential to hook up with living …

Mobile 17 Jan 15:17
Boro council in child data theft flap

Nine nicked laptops hanging on the wall

A break-in at Middlesbrough Council has resulted in the loss of nine laptops containing sensitive case files on up to 63 vulnerable children. The laptops, used by social workers to keep case records about vulnerable kids and their families, were password protected and protected by "some encryption", the BBC reports. …

ID 17 Jan 16:04
DVLA's 5m driver details giveaway

Deja-Datapocalypse Sale of driver details is out of control

The DVLA's sale of driver details to anyone with £2.50 to spare must stop, says the Scottish National Party, having uncovered just how many peoples' records have been sold by the department. Christine Grahame, an SNP Member of the Scottish Parliament, accused the agency of recklessly handing out driver and vehicle requests to …

Public Sector 17 Jan 16:24
TVs to play DivX thanks to AMD

Chip deal

DivX-encoded content looks set to be available across a wider range of multimedia devices, following its handshake with chip manufacturer AMD. The two companies have signed a licensing agreement that’ll allow AMD to include DivX’s video technology with its Xilleon processor range. AMD and DivX are yet to decide which specific …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 16:34
IT industry plugs into UK.gov green scheme

Power off

Intellect, the UK’s trade body for the technology industry, has signed up to a government plan to phase out energy-guzzling consumer electronics products. The organisation's consumer electronics council will join the government-led scheme alongside the British Retail Consortium and retailers to look at ways that manufacturers …

Hardware 17 Jan 16:48
The OLPC XO laptop

Review Is the mean, green thing hacker-friendly?

Originally known as the '$100 laptop' from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, the XO laptop is now available through retail. I bought one under the Give One, Get One program where for a $400 donation, OLPC would send one XO to the donator, and another to a child. This is my story of working with it for a couple of weeks …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 17:15
'EcoDisc' allegedly trashes man's optical disc drive

Maybe he should have read the warning label

UK magazine PC Pro today told the world how one of its readers didn't read the warning label on a free cover-mount disc and as a result got it stuck in his computer, allegedly damaging the machine's optical drive. Last weekend, the UK's Mail on Sunday newspaper gave away a free DVD of Neil Diamond's movie, The Jazz Singer. …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 18:06
Anti-spammer fined $60K for DNS lookup 'hack'

Whois also ruled dodgy by North Dakota court

David Ritz, the veteran American spam-fighter, has been hit by $60,000 in fines plus lawyers fees after losing a civil suit that accused him of illegal hacking. Sierra Corporate Design, a North Dakota business run by alleged former spammer Jerry Reynolds, sued Ritz for hacking and trespass offences. Ritz was accused of …

Spam 17 Jan 19:05
Online crime gangs embrace open source ethos

Malware gets globalized

Add the malware bazaar to the list of marketplaces being radically reshaped by the forces of globalization. That's the conclusion of Thomas Holt, a professor of criminal justice at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who says the marketplace for rootkits, Trojans and other software nasties increasingly transcends …

Crime 17 Jan 20:19
Nick Carr's Big Switch

Review A computer revolution - or the next Fail?

Nick Carr's weblog is one of the rarest things on the web: intelligent technology criticism that you'd actually want to read for pleasure. He's an elegant writer with a waspish wit, and I've a special reason for seeing him prosper. Back in 2002 I was living in San Francisco, a city that was in the depths of recession, when I …

Servers 17 Jan 20:23
Wireless industry slams NAB's white space 'misinformation'

TVGoHome

The row over US ‘white space’ spectrum continues, with the newly formed Wireless Innovation Alliance stepping up its campaign to convince the FCC and the industry that wireless devices can be used in these areas without interfering with digital TV signals. The WIA last week accused the broadcast industry, as represented by the …

Telecoms 17 Jan 21:36
Ovum puts the 'O' into Oops

Correction of the day Which letter did Sun buy again?

Anytime a major acquisition such as Sun's $1bn buy of MySQL hits, analysts around the globe rush out their takes on the deal, hoping to prove their fierce insight. Journalists sit back as the analysts' notes flood their inboxes. One particular missive on the Sun/MySQL caught our attention. Ovum cracked us with "Sun bags the L …

Bootnotes 17 Jan 21:39
RIAA told to pay legal fees for harrassed defendant

Pigopolist pursuit penalized

Tanya Andersen, a single mother and unlikely file-sharers' champion for hoisting the RIAA with its own petard, has scored another victory. A US District Court judge in Oregon affirmed an earlier decision to award Andersen attorneys' fees for the two-and-a-half year legal pursuit by the Recording Industry Ass. of America, that …

Music and Media 17 Jan 22:13
IBM touts low-end Power6 and fresh mainframe onslaught

On, Boxen!

IBM's CFO Mark Loughridge put on his product marketing cap during an earnings conference call today, revealing the imminent arrival of new Unix boxes and mainframes. According to Captain Finance, IBM will push Power6 chips into low-end Unix servers by the end of this quarter. Customers should welcome this charge, since IBM has …

Servers 17 Jan 22:14
Time Warner moots billing based on bandwidth usage

Worth watching

Time Warner Cable is experimenting with a high-speed internet service that would bill customers based on the amount of bandwidth they consume rather than by flat fee. The trial is somewhat modest, at least at first. It will begin later this year and is limited to subscribers in Beaumont, Texas, according to Reuters. It is part …

Telecoms 17 Jan 22:48