16th April 2008 Archive

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Google's Great American Wireless Auction 'game' annoys US lawmakers

'Duping the FCC'

Several US lawmakers are annoyed that Google was allowed to "game" the recent 700-MHz wireless auction. Speaking today on Capitol Hill, during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, multiple Congressmen complained that the FCC's auction rules didn't force the world's largest search engine …

Government 16 Apr 01:49
Utah boffins in terahertz spybeam infra-computing quest

T-rays. Is there anything they can't do?

Boffins working at the University of Utah say they have one-upped London-based researchers in the race to perfect "T-ray" powered computers. Terahertz radiation, or T-rays, could drive powerful circuitry in a similar fashion to photonic optical machines seen by some as a likely successor to current (cough) electronic kit. "We …

Servers 16 Apr 06:02
Pub jukebox delivers playlists, blogs and twitters

Can I have pork scratchings with that

Next time you're approaching the pub you might be able to grab your mobile and cue up some appropriate entrance music, if your local has the latest jukebox service from TouchTunes. The premise is simple - using a network-enabled jukebox and allowing mobile-phone access to it. But TouchTunes goes a great deal further by …

Mobile 16 Apr 06:02
Biometric methadone dispensers tested on UK lags

Cuppa tea? Cup-a-soup? Cup-o-smack?

NEC is supplying the Prison Service with biometric methadone dispensers in up to 100 prisons. The machines will check prisoners' fingerprints or iris scans to access their medical record before dispensing the correct dose of methadone. The five year contract is starting with 72 prisons and began in December 2007. The deal is …

Government 16 Apr 06:02
Japan loves low-tech handsets

Camera most used feature

Japanese people usually get their hands on cutting-edge technology before anyone else. But many of them don’t make much use of the latest in mobile phone hardware, a recent study has found. The survey questioned almost 15,000 Japanese folk about which phone features they use most frequently. It found that 84 per cent of …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 07:35
Samsung leaks handset trio at trade fair

Silver all the way

Samsung has given anyone attending a trade show in the Netherlands a sneak peek an three upcoming brushed-silver handsets. According to a report by MobiFrance, the Korean manufacturer unveiled the i900, U800 and L870 at the event, which had been organised by Dutch Telecom. The i900 runs on the recently unveiled Windows Mobile …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 07:38
X-48B mini flying-wing drone prototype resumes testing

NASA/Boeing mantacraft model pulls in slats

A NASA/Boeing project working on the aerodynamics of proposed "blended wing body" (BWB) flying-wing-esque aircraft has entered its second phase of flight tests. The test programme is using one-twelfth-scale model aircraft, manufactured in the UK and remotely controlled from the ground. The NASA model-plane club were the envy …

Science 16 Apr 08:02
Dutch transit card crippled by multihacks

Reverse-engineered

The introduction of the Dutch public RFID transit pass will be delayed because it can be easily hacked. The final blow was given by researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, who confirmed earlier findings by Dutch Institute TNO that the card isn't properly secured. The Dutch Green Party and the Social Party have …

Enterprise Security 16 Apr 08:02
Asus launches second-gen Eee PC

Updated Better availability second time round?

Asus has formally launched the second generation of the diminutive Eee PC sub-notebook, the 900. It confirmed the specs announced when it first unveiled the little laptop, but it was decidedly coy when it came to the machine's CPU. Asus' Eee PC 900: bigger screen, more storage space The 900 is based around an 8.9in, 1024 x …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 09:21
Sony posts PS3 firmware 2.30

Available now

Sony has kept its firmware launch promise and released version 2.30 of the PlayStation 3's system software this week. The firmware enables the PS3 to support DTS-HD Master Audio, the console's second HD audio format. The PS3 already supports Dolby’s TrueHD, a rival HD audio format. But expanding the console’s audio support to …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 09:28
Wi-Fi spoofing sends Jesus phone disciples off the true path

Skyhook, line and sinker

Punters using Wi-Fi based positioning systems on their mobile devices would do well to look before they leap. Security vulnerabilities have discovered location spoofing flaws in the Skyhook positioning system that might be used to lead users astray. Devices using Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), including the iPod …

ID 16 Apr 09:42
MySQL to fortify defenses with Citadel

MySQL User Conference Hop, skip and an upgrade

MySQL is targeting improved security and privacy with a version of its database codenamed Citadel due in 2009 that’ll also see MySQL speed up product release cycles. Citadel will try to close the gap on IBM and Oracle with security and privacy capabilities in the areas of group-level access privileges and transparent data …

Developer 16 Apr 09:44
Fring brings Skype to the iPhone

Only unofficially, of course

Fring, the VoIP client that integrates with various VoIP networks including the ubiquitous Skype, is now available for the iPhone - providing exactly the kind of application that Steve Jobs stated wouldn't be allowed. Fring started out as a mobile client for accessing Skype, though the application now connects to all sorts of …

Mobile 16 Apr 09:51
AMD launches Dell's four-core Opteron boxes

Issues ode to joy

Dell's Opteron experience hasn't been all that fantastic. After resisting the Opteron push for so long, Dell embraced AMD's flashy chip just as Intel started to catch up on performance and performance per watt metrics with Xeon. Then, Dell watched as AMD shot itself in the chest with the four-core Barcelona roll out. Dell was …

Servers 16 Apr 09:53
eBay kills live auctions

Going, going, really gone

eBay is canning its live auction service in its latest effort to overhaul its business model. The service was offered in partnership with real world auction houses and overseen by auctioneers, but will cease on 31 December. Jim Ambach, vice president of Seller Experience, explained in the site's forum that the service fell …

Financial News 16 Apr 10:13
Oracle patches 'sitting duck' database vulns

Apply or be own3d

Oracle posted 41 patches on Tuesday as part of its regular quarterly patching cycle, with core database vulnerabilities being heavily represented. The patch batch covers 17 updates for Oracle Database products, 11 updates for Oracle E-Business Suite, three updates for Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise products, along with six …

Applications 16 Apr 10:47
Cowon Q5W media player

Review The killer PMP/internet tablet combo?

When we recently looked at the Archos 705 we were less than impressed. Still, we do reckon a decent combined personal media player and internet tablet could work, so here we have Cowon's answer to Archos' Wi-Fi range, the Q5W. The headline specifications for the Q5 are impressive enough: a 40GB or 60GB hard disk, a 5in screen …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 11:02
Schoolboy's asteroid-strike sums are wrong

German kid saw 1 in 450 chance of Apophis apocalypse

Widespread media reports claim that a German schoolboy has recalculated the likelihood of a deadly planet-smasher asteroid hitting the Earth, and found the catastrophe is enormously more likely than NASA thought. The boy's sums were said to have been checked by both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), and found to be …

Space 16 Apr 11:06
Hacker blasts Mac clone maker's licence 'violation'

Using my code unlawfully, claims EFI emulator's author

Psystar, the company claiming to offer a $400 computer capable of running off-the-shelf copies of Mac OS X, is not only annoying Apple - it's also managed to piss off the guy who wrote the emulation technology. Psystar's website is back online today following a temporary absence and is once more pitching what it now calls the …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 11:07
Stuff yourself silly with Nintendo's Wii

Face stuffing fun?

The Wii has been linked to numerous claims that it’s helped people lose weight. But now the console could help people get fatter - virtually, at least - thanks to the impending release of Major League Eating: The Game. Major League Eating: The Game - stuff yourself silly Competitive eating is quite an... er… sport over in …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 11:13
US punters don't want mobile music

Can pay, won't play

Punters in the US aren't interested in buying music on their phones, regardless of the price, says a new study from Jupiter Research. In fact, only 14 per cent of those polled were interested in buying proper music via their mobile. Another 28 per cent are happy to purchase ringtones, but the remainder have no interest in …

Mobile 16 Apr 11:31
Virtualization: nothing new on the Sun or the mainframe

The Freeform perspective Novacaine for the corporate brain?

IT industry veterans are often heard complaining that the new fangled stuff youngsters are raving about today is just a rehash or repackaging of old familiar things that have been around for years. As an old timer myself, it's something I can definitely relate to, and one of the areas that evokes this kind of feeling is …

Reg Technology Panel 16 Apr 11:49
Fujitsu Siemens Computers profit up, revs down

US dollar bursts consumer balloon

Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) today blamed the weak US dollar and strong Euro for a five per cent sales tumble in its 2007 fiscal year. The firm’s CEO Bernd Bischoff also admitted a change in business strategy had contributed to FSC’s somewhat gloomy results. Revenues fell 4.9 per cent to €6.6bn for the year ended 31 March …

Channel Register 16 Apr 11:59
Smith plans 300-strong force to tackle UK radicalisation

'We can't arrest our way out of trouble'

UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is to announce 300 new police-service posts specifically targeted at preventing terrorist radicalisation in Britain. The BBC reports today that Ms Smith will announce the new jobs later today in a speech to police officers. The extra staff will be a mixture of plods and civilian support personnel …

Government 16 Apr 12:00
Pirate Bay to sue music industry

Website block provokes damages demand

The Pirate Bay is threatening to seek damages from music industry lobby group The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for blocking access to its website. In February the IFPI went to court to get Danish ISP Tele2 to block access to the website accusing it of aiding and abetting copyright infringement …

Music and Media 16 Apr 12:08
Ofcom taps water network for next generation broadband

Ducting the 100Mbit/s issue

Ofcom will today announce an investigation into whether the roll-out of next generation broadband can be accelerated by using existing utilities infrastructure, such as the trenches that play host to the water network. The idea of reusing existing holes in the ground, to reduce the £15bn projected cost of building a national …

Telecoms 16 Apr 12:17
The talking timepiece

Time, pictures, satnav, storage

In days gone by, a cutting-edge watch was one that could change TV channels or that had a built-in calculator. But now the world’s first quad-band Windows Mobile watch-phone has been unveiled. The watch operates over 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 bands. Although the watch is barely bigger than a SIM card itself, one slides into the …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 12:34
UK Wii Fit pre-orders cause shortage

Game out next week

The UK's will to lose pounds and get fit through videogames is so strong that the much hyped Wii Fit has sold out even before going on sale. The title, which will be released in the UK on 25 April, sees gamers use a wireless Balance Board that contains pressure sensors to detect their movements during over 40 different muscle …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 12:40
Security gumshoes locate source of mystery web compromise

Updated How dunnit plot gets scripted

The source of the mystery infection of more than 10,000 websites back in January has been uncovered. Thousands of legitimate websites were compromised at the start of the year to serve up malware. It seemed that the exploitation of SQL Injection vulnerabilities was involved in the automated attacks. The precise mechanism was …

Enterprise Security 16 Apr 13:42
Predator kill-machine pilots suffering 'chronic burnout'

Vegas-based droid jockeys asleep at the stick

A US military report says pilots operating the well-known Predator drone aircraft suffer far higher levels of mental stress than flyboys who are physically present aboard their planes. Too much time staring at a screen, controller in hand, can impair domestic relationships. According to the report's authors, a group of US …

Government 16 Apr 13:47
Boffins develop '500TB iPod' storage tech

But you'll have to wait 20 years for it

In the future, your iPod Touch may be able to hold millions of tracks, thanks to a breakthrough in storage technology made by the University of Glasgow. Researchers at the university have developed a technique for radically increasing the number of gigabytes that can be crammed into one square inch of data-storage chip, …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 14:11
Frattini blows off Brussels to join Berlusconi.gov

Anti-immigration commissioner appointed foreign sec

Silivio Berlusconi's re-election as Italian Prime Minister may be good news for the citizens of that beautiful if occasionally disorganised land, but it will also rob the European Union of one of its most impressive intellects. Berlusconi, fresh from demonstrating that having a hair transplant and calling your female opponents …

Government 16 Apr 14:40
Nintendo denies third-gen DS outing at E3

Something's on the cards though

Nintendo has officially denounced speculation that it’s planning to release a third-generation DS handheld console at the E3 show this year. Hirokazu Hamamura, president of games-magazine publisher Enterbrain, recently forecast that that's just what the games console pioneer is planning. The E3 gaming conference takes place in …

Reg Hardware 16 Apr 16:02
Windows Vista update 'kills' USB devices

Updated As SP1 automatic download goes MIA

Microsoft has admitted it is investigating reports that a recent Windows Vista security update causes havoc with some USB devices, but the software giant has yet to provide a fix for the cock-up. The Windows Vista SP1 pre-requisite KB938371 update was released last week, but some unfortunate Vista customers have claimed that …

Operating Systems 16 Apr 16:12
Concerns build over Debian delays

Project death watch?

Organizers of Debian are taking too long too approve new contributors and are threatening the future of the project according to some working on the open source initiative. Many Debian members are using the Planet Debian forum to express their dismay at delays of more than four months in approving new developers. The last new …

Software 16 Apr 16:55
Women love chocolate more than password security

Sweet temptation

Women are four times more likely than men to give out "passwords" in exchange for chocolate bars. A survey by of 576 office workers in central London found that women are far more likely to give away their computer passwords to total strangers than their male counterparts, with 45 per cent of women versus ten per cent of men …

ID 16 Apr 16:56
Google sneaks under standards radar

Avoids Microsoft pitched battle

In stark contrast to Microsoft's recent battle, here and here, to get Open Office XML sanctioned as an international standard, Google has quietly pulled off a standardization coup for its XML-based KML geographic information language with barely a whisper of dissent. The Open Geospatial Consortium recently approved KML as an …

Software 16 Apr 18:10
Google paid click rate decelerates (again)

Good news or bad?

For the third straight month, the number of people clicking on Google ads didn't grow quite as quickly as it has in the past. At least, that's the word from market research outfit comScore. The question is whether this slowdown in paid click growth will significantly affect Google's first quarter earnings, due for an unveiling …

Financial News 16 Apr 18:32
Fake subpoenas harpoon 2,100 corporate fat cats

From phishing to whaling

A highly targeted email scam that singled out as many as 20,000 senior corporate executives on Monday resurfaced Wednesday as attackers sought to replicate their success installing identity-stealing software on the PCs of some of the world's most powerful individuals. Like the first volley of emails, these latest messages …

Crime 16 Apr 20:02
MySQL chief recommits to Linux under Sun

MySQL User Conference Expands mandate

Under its new owner, Sun Microsystems, MySQL will remain true to its Linux roots and won’t be pulled towards Solaris or become overshadowed by the Solaris-distributed Postgres. Former chief executive Marten Mickos told Uberpulse that MySQL would stay focused on Linux, which accounts for the majority of its business (Windows …

Applications 16 Apr 20:19
Comcast proposes P2P 'bill of rights'

Skips FCC hearing

As the FCC continues to investigate its choke hold on BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic, Comcast has proposed a "bill of rights and responsibilities" for P2P users and internet service providers. The big-name cable ISP is already partnering with one P2P outfit on the project - the New York-based Pando …

Telecoms 16 Apr 22:03