4th March 2008 Archive

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Ambitious China firms military and commercial R&D ties

When all else fails - copy the US

China will try to copy the US in any way it can in the hopes of improving the country's technology might. The Pentagon on Monday released a fresh assessment on the PRC's military muscle. Throughout the 66-page report, the US outlines various techniques China employs and hopes to employ in order to boost its technology prowess. …

Public Sector 4 Mar 00:38
Microsoft picks Exchange and Sharepoint for the online draft

Inching towards hosted collaboration

Microsoft appears to be stuffing its rapidly growing data centers with hosted versions of core collaboration applications for businesses customers. Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, today announced beta availability of an online version of SharePoint Server and Exchange email. It should be generally available, paid for by …

Applications 4 Mar 00:51
Microsoft codes leap year bug into Exchange 2007

Can't blame Lotus for this one, Steve

If Steve Ballmer turns up dead this week, you can bet he was killed by those 7000 leap year babies. As the international Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies continues to gripe about the 25-year-old leap year bug infesting Microsoft Excel, word has arrived that Microsoft Exchange doesn't understand leap years either. On …

Applications 4 Mar 00:57
Cheap Flash makes Intel lower Q1 forecast

In brief Consumers strike up chorus of tiny violins

Intel is lowering expectations for the first quarter of 2008 because flash memory prices are too cheap for comfort. Chipzilla said today it expects a gross profit margin of about 54 per cent, down from 56 per cent forecast in January. The company blames the 2 per cent difference on a market saturation of NAND flash memory …

Financial News 4 Mar 01:05
The Bluetooth headset for your neck

"Meep meep!"

Bluetooth headsets are well known for slipping from their position while you’re rushing around town jabbering into one. So an alternative design’s been drawn-up that wraps around your neck to connect up with your voicebox. RoadRunner collects sound from a microphone near your larynx The RoadRunner has a microphone unit on …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 09:01
TomTom touts 'more accurate' satnav route-plan tech

Take the A40, it's quicker this time of night

TomTom claims its latest satnav will find you the quickest route from A to B, because the unit calculates routes based on assumed average speeds rather than signposted speed limits. TomTom's Go 930T: signposts? Pah! By basing route calculations on real average speeds, taken from over 10bn kilometres of driven roads by …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 10:06
Mobile phone sales under threat in 2008

Only in established market though

Despite global mobile device sales of 1.15bn units in 2007, market watcher Gartner expects sales in mature markets to drop by around ten per cent this year. Consumers’ thirst for mobile phones saw sales increase by 16 per cent from the 990m devices sold in 2006, according the analyst's latest figures. However, it claims mature …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 10:08
Minox DC 7411 digicam

Slimline snapper

German camera manufacturer Minox has unveiled a slimline camera that packs enough features into its anodised shell to make it a certain rival to mid-range digicams already on the market. Minox's DC 7411: 7.2 megapixels The DC 7411’s 7.2 megapixels don't put it at the top of the CMOS sensor tree - Sony’s W300 boasts 13.6- …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 10:11
Asus 8.9in Eee PC surfaces

CeBIT Larger screen, bigger SSD, same look

Asus is showing the 8.9in Eee PC at the CeBIT show this week, but while it hasn't formally announced the sub-notebook's specs yet, Taiwanese moles have quickly rushed in to fill in the blanks. Asus' Eee PC 900: like the 4G, but scaled up The laptop is expected to debut as the Eee PC 900. The 8.9in display has a native …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 10:37
Wife rings up £11,000 downloading bill

Is Friends worth £3,000 an episode?

A wife inadvertently cost her husband £11,000 after downloading four episodes of US sitcom Friends using his laptop, according to the Telegraph newspaper. The chap flew to Germany where his machine connected to the local provider and continued the interrupted download - only this time on international data roaming rates. The …

Mobile 4 Mar 10:57
NASA captures Martian avalanche

Ice, dust, camera, action

NASA has released a rather nice snap of a Martian "avalanche" - a cascade of ice and dust tumbling down a slope near the Red Planet's north pole captured by its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on 19 February: HiRISE has been repeatedly perusing selected Martian sites to track …

Space 4 Mar 11:01
SanDisk finds new use for ExpressCard SDHC adaptors

CeBIT Auto back-up for key files, anyone?

Having a problem selling ExpressCard memory card reader accessories? Then take a leaf out of SanDisk's book and re-position your add-on as a automatic back-up gadget for laptops. SanDisk's FlashBack is an SDHC-compatible ExpressCard 34 add-in that the company's bundling with software that "automatically and continuously" backs …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 11:01
Intel goes Atomic at Greenwash CeBIT

CeBIT Mobilises for spring chip launches

Intel tried to erase its lukewarm past performance in the ultra mobile market by pushing its standard architecture right down the food chain in a flurry of launches at Cebit this morning. The firm officially unveiled its Atom platform for low power mobile and internet devices. The 45nm, high-k metal gate built platform will …

Hardware 4 Mar 11:08
Pioneer to stop producing plasma panels

Strategic shift expected to be announced on Friday

Recent claims that Pioneer is planning to get out of sub-46in plasma panel production in favour of sourcing them through a third-party may have only been the start of things. It’s now being said that the company is finalising plans to outsource the whole lot. Last week, Japanese newspaper Asahi reported that Pioneer is looking …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 11:14
CeBIT Sony Ericsson unveils sexy slider

Posers rejoice, because Sony Ericsson has unveiled a handset boasting chrome and mirrored surfaces that let you stare back at your reflection like Narcissus. It’s also small and light enough to slip easily into your designer outfit’s pocket. Sony Ericsson's T303: use the mirrored display to put your lippy on Dubbed the T303 …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 11:54
Onyx Liscio micro mobile phone

Review Small of stature - and of feature list

Leaving your all-singing, all-dancing mobile phone behind when you slip out for the evening is a terrifying thought for some people. So any handset manufacturer advocating the idea of keeping your Nokia N95 or LG Viewty at home in favour of a secondary handset needs to have something special on offer. On first inspection, the …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 12:02
Nokia boards Silverlight express

MS's Web 2.0 vision realised on S60

Nokia is to embed Microsoft's Silverlight client on its S60 handsets, with a demonstration promised for 5 March and support on lower-end Nokia devices to follow. Silverlight is Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash, and enables the kind of integrated-rich-media the Web 2.0 crowd are used to. Getting Silverlight onto S60 is a …

Mobile 4 Mar 12:05
Sony exec confirms arrival of in-game PS3 messaging

Firmware 2.4 coming this summer

The PlayStation 3 will get system-wide in-game messaging and video chat, a Sony executive has confirmed. This icon sparked rumours of a messaging update for the PS3 At a trade event held this week, Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire told dealers that the additional XMB UI feature, which was first rumoured to be …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 12:12
Game shares rally on upbeat trading statement

Push the button

Game Group yesterday released an optimistic trading statement in an attempt to halt its tumbling share price. The gamble appears to have paid off, with shares in the video retailer rallying some four pence this morning, currently trading at 190p on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Last week, the firm's shares fell 17 per cent …

Channel Register 4 Mar 12:22
Lawmakers voice concerns over cybersecurity plan

Too little too late?

Members of the House of Representatives sought details on Thursday of a $30bn plan to secure federal government systems and upgrade network defenses to ward off attacks from foreign nations and online criminals. Known as the Cyber Initiative, the Bush Administration project would dramatically reduce the number of …

Public Sector 4 Mar 12:46
IE8 to follow web standards by default

Walk the line

Microsoft is to develop IE8 so that it follows web standards by default and will retain a controversial mode switching proposal. Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch conceded that the move is a change from what Microsoft had previously said and prompted (at least in part) by a desire to avoid regulatory and …

Applications 4 Mar 13:01
Data pimping: surveillance expert raises illegal wiretap worries

Has Phorm got a warrant for its marketing probe?

A leading expert on computer surveillance has raised serious doubts over the legality of deals by BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse to sell their customers' web browsing data to Phorm, a new online advertising company. Professor Peter Sommer, the author of the groundbreaking 1980s book The Hacker's Handbook and a …

Law 4 Mar 13:07
El Reg decimates English language

Comment Our beloved mother tongue reduced ~~by one tenth~~ to rubble

It's official: the English language is going to hell in a handcart and if drastic measures are not taken to halt the destruction of our beloved mother tongue then all of the efforts of Nelsonian Jack tars and Spitfire-borne officer pilots to defend this Scepter'd Isle against the forces of barbarism will have been in vain. …

Bootnotes 4 Mar 13:09
Yahoo! unveils third leg for managing mobile content

CeBIT Launches onePlace in German place

Yahoo! sprouted the third leg of its mobile content strategy today, with the surprise launch of onePlace, an application that aggregates and filters users' content desires. onePlace lines up with oneSearch and the recently launched oneConnect to form the vendor's three legged stool for milking the mobile market. Marco …

Mobile 4 Mar 13:15
Steve Jobs talks open source with El Reg

Radio Reg *Not really. But FSJ does

The Register, as many of you know, enjoys enormous pull with Apple. From developer conferences to product launches, we're at the top of Apple's "we'll allow you to pay attention to us" list. Such a privileged position is a privilege - one that we take very seriously and brush every night. I only bring all of this up to …

Open Season 4 Mar 14:30
Sony Ericsson: Xperia X1 delay a 'mistake'

2009 release just a mistake

Sony Ericsson has claimed that its Xperia X1 Windows Mobile communicator will still be released this year, as originally planned, despite its own website stating a 2009 release date. Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1: coming in 2008. Honest The 'arc slider' was announced at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain earlier …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 14:36
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 delayed

No support for 31 languages, customers told to play waiting game

Microsoft has admitted that service pack one (SP1) for its Ultimate edition of Windows Vista will not be made available to everyone in mid-March as originally planned, because of a delay with 31 of its language packs. Vista product manager Nick White said in a blog post yesterday that Microsoft will now ship Vista Ultimate SP1 …

Software 4 Mar 14:56
Seagate drives up Q3 profit forecast

ATA boy

Hard disk drive maker Seagate Technology today plumped up its profit expectations for the last quarter. The California-based firm attributed the profitability forecast to a favourable mix of its enterprise and consumer drives and to marginally higher than expected pricing. Seagate said in a regulatory filing that it had …

Channel Register 4 Mar 15:51
Hauppauge preps portable Freeview player

Walk and watch

Hauppauge is well known for its PC add-ons that let us all watch telly on our desktops, but the manufacturer’s branching out and has created a Freeview-enabled portable media player (PMP) to turn us all into portable telly addicts. Hauppauge's PMP: perfect for portable TV and music? The unit has a 3.5in display with a 320 x …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 16:01
Bronze PSP en-route to Japan

And what do we get, Sony?

Sony has again favoured its Japanese gamers first and launched a special edition PlayStation Portable (PSP) in a bronze-coloured shell. Sony bronze PSP bundle pack is only for Japan, so far Despite Japan already having taken delivery of the ceramic white PS3 and readying itself for the satin silver model in two days' time, …

Reg Hardware 4 Mar 16:15
Vista volume activation cracked

Updated DIY kit dumbs down piracy

Pirates have succeeded in making cracking, rather than simply circumventing, Windows Vista product activation easier than ever before. A crack from pirate group Pantheon allows pirated Vista installations to be activated and made fully operational. The approach avoids reliance on beta activation or time stamp hacks, instead …

Software 4 Mar 16:23
Analysts hang up on C&W's growth plans

Shares down nearly 13 per cent

Cable & Wireless (C&W) shares dropped nearly 13 per cent this afternoon following analyst doubts over the British telecoms group’s new growth objectives. The Bracknell-based firm laid out its new business targets for Europe, Asia and US at an investors meeting today and said it was aiming to set annual revenue growth at between …

Telecoms 4 Mar 17:04
Cisco takes routers to the edge

Green-wrapped box saves planet and destroy rivals

Cisco is set to save the planet while enabling the unfettered proliferation of YouTube videos as it unveiled its Aggregation Services Router 1000 at CeBIT, Hanover today. This is a big launch for the company, which spent $250m to bring this edge router to market. First day endorsements from NTT, BT, Lufthansa and Wachovia, the …

Data Networking 4 Mar 17:25
When the music costs nothing, why do freetards prefer to leech?

Reznor's gift to fans costs $2m a week

As we reported yesterday, Nine Inch Nails has followed the Radiohead example and is giving the music away for free. Not all of it, but nine of the thirty six tracks from Trent Reznor's instrumental LP Ghosts I-IV are available for free, with a PDF thrown in. The other 27, in higher quality bitrate or lossless format, cost just $ …

Music and Media 4 Mar 17:30
Database spin on Sun's Python hires

Multilingual recruitment

Sun Microsystems has furthered its ambitions in open source development by hiring top Python developers Ted Leung and Frank Wierzbicki. Leung comes from the Open Source Applications Foundation (OSAF) where he used Python to help build the Chandler personal information package. Wierzbicki comes from Red Hat where he became lead …

Applications 4 Mar 18:48
Microsoft officially 425 years behind the times

Attack of the Leap Year Babies III Gregorian calendar exclusion goes nuclear

It's official: Microsoft is exactly four hundred and twenty-five years behind the times. It's not just Excel and Exchange that ignore the Gregorian calendar. The Reg has also confirmed that SQL Server 2008, Windows Small Business Server, and Windows Mobile are ignorant as well. In the wake of our story about Exchange 2007 …

Applications 4 Mar 18:52
Ex-anti-virus chief in spyware scareware scam charges

Double bluff

The ex-chief of a South Korea-based anti-virus firm has been charged with using bogus security warnings to shift anti-spyware software of questionable value. Lee Shin-ja, 41, former CEO of Media Port, has been charged with fraud over the alleged distribution of bogus security software to almost four million internet users. …

Crime 4 Mar 19:17
iPhone may sidestep rubbish caller ID suit

'Because the iPhone is rubbish too'

At least one Reg reader believes that Apple will dodge a recent lawsuit tossed at its caller ID function because the iPhone's caller ID function is a piece of trash. Last week, we dutifully reported that a man named Romek Figa has sued Apple for violating his patent on "an automatic incoming telephone call number display …

Mobile 4 Mar 19:36
Canonical fires up box Landscaping business

Taming Ubuntu sprawl

Canonical - the money bags behind Ubuntu - hopes to attract more corporate buyers toward the Linux light with the release of a systems management package dubbed Landscape. The Landscape software has moved out of beta and into the wild becoming available for customers with commercial support agreements as well as those seeking …

Servers 4 Mar 20:08
Bill Gates chuckles at Google Apps

'I barely remember the name'

Bill Gates has no respect for Google Apps. Speaking yesterday at a Sharepoint conference up Redmond way, the lame duck Microsoft chairman told loyal Microsoftees that Eric Schmidt and company "really don't understand the special needs of business." So we learn from Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog. The Googlies, Gates said, …

Applications 4 Mar 20:44
HDS flaunts swollen NAS and search suite

Quis custodiet ipsos datum

Hitachi Data Systems today is slathering affection on its file-level storage gear, with an overhaul of all its NAS boxes, and the introduction of a new data search suite. Usually punting block-level storage, HDS announced two new models of high-performance NAS units for corporate consumption, and three boxes catering to smaller …

Storage 4 Mar 20:53
US and EU haul China into WTO over news noose

'Stock quotes want to be free'

The US and European Union have filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization protesting regulations imposed by China that prevent foreign financial news services from dealing directly with Chinese customers. Instead, services such as Dow Jones, Reuters and Blomberg are required to distribute stock prices, news reports …

Financial News 4 Mar 20:58
Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax dies

We roll black d20s tonight

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax rolled a natural one on his fortitude save today, dying at level 69 at his home in Lake Geneva. Best known for developing D&D with Dave Arneson in 1974, Gygax helped formulate a pen-and-pencil role playing ruleset that would become a touchstone for modern gaming across its genres. As …

Music and Media 4 Mar 23:38
Tool makes mincemeat of Windows passwords

This Firewire is out of control

A security researcher has released an easy-to-use tool that accesses locked Windows computers in seconds without entering a password. The tool, which was released Tuesday by Adam Boileau, works by connecting a Linux machine to the Firewire port of the target PC and modifying the password protection that's stored in local memory …

Enterprise Security 4 Mar 23:57