21st April 2008 Archive

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Microsoft: Finding flaws on our website is OK

ToorCon 'Hate the vuln, love the finder'

In a first for a major company, Microsoft has publicly pledged not to sue or press charges against ethical hackers who responsibly find security flaws in its online services. The promise, extended Saturday at the ToorCon security conference in Seattle, is a bold and significant move. While researchers are generally free to …

Enterprise Security 21 Apr 06:02
Chinese hackers call off CNN attack

Keeping the flame alive

Chinese hackers have postponed a planned attack on CNN.com. The assault was planned as a response to criticism of China in the Western media that has accompanied the Olympic Torch procession. Chinese policy in Tibet, as well as the nation's poor human rights record, has come under the spotlight as Western activists have …

Security 21 Apr 08:17
P2P searches touted as tool against child abuse

Senator places blind faith in Fairplay

A Democrat Senator has proposed monitoring peer-to-peer networks for illegal files. Senator Joe Biden proposed the plan at a Senate Judiciary sub-committee hearing about child exploitation on the net. Sen Biden tabled a bill to increase resources for regional computer forensic labs and boost tools available to fight online …

Crime 21 Apr 08:54
ISS Expedition 16 crew back on terra firma

Soyuz capsule touches down in Kazakhstan

The crew of ISS Expedition 16 and Korea's first astronaut Yi So-Yeon are safely back on terra firma following a safe touch-down of their Soyuz capsule in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Saturday - albeit around 295 miles from their intended landing site. Yi, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko …

Space 21 Apr 08:57
Prime yourself for security on the web

Food for thought on how to approach web security

Web security is an interesting topic. It's the kind of thing we think we know all about yet, when you sit down and consider all the dimensions, it's pretty hard to nail them all in one go. The trouble is, each time you start, some new threat has emerged and moves the goal posts. It doesn't have to be this way though, as our …

Enterprise Security 21 Apr 09:11
Anti-paedophile police treble arrest figures

Dedicated online unit gets results

The number of suspected paedophiles being arrested has risen in the last year, according to figures today from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop). The anti-child abuse police organisation said 297 arrests have been made in the last year, three times the number in the organisation's first year. Ceop was …

Policing 21 Apr 09:28
Aussie gov to treat laser pointers like knives and guns

Red for show, green for a pro?

An Australian regional government has moved to crack down on laser pointers following widely-reported incidents in which the devices have been used to distract and dazzle pilots on commercial flights. New South Wales (NSW) will class the most powerful types of pointer as if they were firearms, with sentences of up to 14 years …

Law 21 Apr 09:30
MSI to waft Wind Westward in June

Another Eee PC rival announced

MSI has formally unwrapped its attempt to storm into the Small, Cheap Computer™ market: the perhaps unfortunately named Wind. MSI's Wind: nudging toward notebook size Due to ship in June, the Wind will blow in with a choice of Windows XP or Linux to run on its selection of 8.9in and 10in LED-backlit display options. MSI …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 09:46
Don't like your phone's look? Then build your own

Dial It Yourself

If you don’t like your phone any longer, don’t just buy another one – build yourself a handset of your own. No, we’re not crazy - we’re talking about DIY phone assembly. Designer Tzu-Fu Wang's Easy Tiles phone: don't give it to kids Designer Tzu-Fu Wang has created a concept handset that’s based on the idea of faceplates …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 09:51
Friends Reunited killer gets life

Midsummer murder

An Italian who travelled to the UK to kill his wife's lover, after she reconnected with her teenage sweetheart through the Friends Reunited website, was jailed for life last week. Francesco Matta, 56, was sent to prison for a minimum of 11 years after a jury found him guilty of murder at Exeter Crown Court, Sky News reports. …

Crime 21 Apr 09:57
Microsoft beta tests Office subscription software

Albany arrives

Microsoft has launched a private beta test of a subscription version of its Office and security software. Dubbed Albany the package includes Office Live and OneCare - Microsoft's bundle of security and anti-virus products. It is aimed at consumers rather than businesses - Microsoft is already trialling similar offerings for …

Channel Register 21 Apr 09:58
Europe moves against Internet's 'virtual training camps'

Incitement, training and recruitment offences added

Europe's interior ministers have announced a further crack-down on Internet terrorism, adding three new offences - terrorist propaganda, recruitment and training - to EU law. The move takes the form of an amendment to the 2002 Framework Decision on combating terrorism, and is intended to further harmonise the way terrorist …

Policing 21 Apr 10:09
Samsung fêtes 'first' HSUPA phone

High-speed upload slider

Samsung has shown off one of the first phones to support 2Mb/s HSUPA 3G upload acceleration technology. Samsung's SCH-M470: first HSUPA phone? The SCH-M470 is destined - initially at least - for South Korea Telecom's HSUPA network. In addition to the ability to upload data at a rate of up to 2Mb/s, the M470 should support …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 10:27
Biofuel backlash prompts Brussels back-pedal

Corn-based fuel becoming a hot potato

The ongoing backlash against biofuels continues to gather pace, with news out of Brussels that the European Union may postpone or even drop plans for biosource quotas in motor fuel. The Guardian reported this weekend that officials in the European Commission are getting ready to backtrack on plans for ten per cent biofuel to …

Environment 21 Apr 10:53
D-Link touts telly as remote PC screen

Windows over the WLAN

Networking specialist D-Link today launched a gadget that lets you use your TV as your PC's display - remotely. The PC-on-TV Media Player - aka the DPG-1200 - essentially grabs your computer's display output, pulls it over a wireless network and shows it on your telly. The box comes with a trackball-equipped remote control so …

Wireless 21 Apr 10:59
AudioEngine AW1 wireless music system

Review Transmission impossible?

It's not often wireless music streaming comes as easily as AudioEngine's AW1 makes it. Open the box, plug the transmitter and receiver in, select a track and press play. Audio across the room in...oh, under a minute. The AW1 pack comprises two almost identical units: the rocket-iconed transmitter and the planet-themed receiver …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 11:02
Why is Ruby on Rails so darn slow?

'Weird and hard to understand'

Tim Bray, the co-creator of XML turned Ruby on Rails enthusiast, has told developers to face up to lingering performance problems in the scripting stack. In a keynote at the Silicon Valley Ruby Conference last week, Bray called Rails "a big deal, a hot deal". And the Sun Microsystems director of web technologies is walking it …

Software 21 Apr 11:02
Sony pooh-poohs Amazon PS3 PlayTV pre-order posting

E-tailer shows release date, price

Sony has dismissed Amazon’s claimed July release date and price for the PlayStation 3's anticipated PlayTV DVR add-on as “erroneous and speculative”. The online retailer’s UK website was recently updated to allow customers to pre-order PlayTVs for dispatch on 31 July. Amazon was even bold enough to offer £10 off the DVR’s …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 11:16
Shrinking patch windows hit by automated attacks

Quick and dirty exploit peril

The length of time between the development of security patches and the development of exploits targeting the security holes they address has been dropping for some time. Hackers exploit this period of time - the so-called patch window - to launch attacks against unpatched machines. Typically, exploits are developed by skilled …

Anti-Virus 21 Apr 12:33
US crunch hits India

Satyam lowers guidance

The US slowdown rolled into India this week with outsourcer Satyam forecasting that revenue growth in 2009 will be well down on the 40 per cent plus rates it has become accustomed to. The company today forecast full year 2009 revenues of $2.65bn to $2.69bn, a rise of 24 to 26 per cent on the previous year. After seeing annual …

Channel Register 21 Apr 12:54
Scottish Government scuppers Lewis wind farm plan

Island's wetlands spared the turbines

The Scottish Government has turned down an application to build a 181-turbine wind farm on the Isle of Lewis, the BBC reports. The decision confirms a report by the BBC's Gaelic news service Radio nan Gaidheal back in January, which predicted a red light for the £500m project, proposed by Lewis Wind Power (LWP). Although the …

Environment 21 Apr 13:01
US watchdogs threaten vanity gene testers

Crack down on DNA crackers

The new market in personal genetics, Silicon Valley venture capitalists' latest great hope, is facing regulatory scrutiny from authorities concerned about a "wild west" approach to extremely sensitive information. About a dozen young companies, including 23andme, the startup backed by Google (and founded by Sergey Brin's wife …

Biology 21 Apr 13:19
Korean astronaut recounts 'ballistic' Soyuz re-entry

'At first I was scared', admits Yi So-Yeon

Korean astronaut Yi So-Yeon has recounted the "ballistic" re-entry of the ISS Mission 16 Soyuz capsule on Saturday which, due to a technical hitch, "exposed the crew to twice the usual gravitational forces", put on a nice display of external flames for the understandably nervous 29-year-old biotechnology engineer, and eventually …

Space 21 Apr 13:21
Ruckus and Terranet rewire Mesh Wi-Fi dream

No longer just for socialist dreamers

Despite various attempts to change the world using mesh networks, real deployments are thin on the ground and the technology has not proved the panacea that some had hoped. But two companies, at least, still reckon mesh networking can change the wireless world. In a mesh network each wireless point of presence can use …

Telecoms 21 Apr 13:39
In-flight calling given lukewarm reception

'It sounds like I'm talking to a small robot'

Air France has started to allow passengers to make voice calls on its flights, though the first passengers are unimpressed by the quality of the service. OnAir's service works by having a low-power base station on the plane to connect calls via satellite. This means calls suffer the lag associated with satellite communications …

Mobile 21 Apr 14:48
Xbox 360 burns house down

Fire fighters blame console's power brick

An Xbox 360 has allegedly caused over $100,000 (£50,000/€62,000) worth of damage to an US gamer’s house, after the console’s power brick caught fire. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com Firefighters called to the blaze in Little Rock, Arkansas told local reporters that the console’s power brick was the …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 15:05
Motorola invests in virtual mobiles

Can't pick an OS? Have them all

Motorola has invested in mobile virtualisation provider VirtualLogix, creating the possibility of a handset that can switch between different OSs almost as quickly as Motorola declares support for them. VirtualLogix has software that allows different environments to coexist on a mobile phone. In theory, this means the user …

Mobile 21 Apr 15:07
Satyam ups the ante for World Cup tech

1966 and all that

Satyam hopes to kick its way into Europeans' affections through a services deal it struck with Fifa last year. The India-based services provider signed up as Official IT Services Provider to the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups last November, ensuring its name will be plastered all over the tournaments alongside mega brands such …

Channel Register 21 Apr 15:09
Leaked picture points to upcoming HTC phones

Future models?

It’s aid that a picture says a thousand words. We wish that was literally the case now an image has surfaced of several handsets claimed to be in development in phone maker HTC’s labs. Most of the handsets in the pic aren't new. Along the top row, from right to left, you'll see the Touch, Touch Cruise and TyTN II. The phone …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 15:15
Levi's sews together 3G phone

No twisted cover though

If you didn’t manage to pocket one of Levi’s ultra-limited edition Red Tab mobile phones recently, then don’t worry because the jeans manufacturer’s stitched together a 3G model. The Levi’s 3G/Edge mobile isn’t quite as stylish as earlier incarnations, but users do get a similar metal backing featuring the Levi’s logo, and a “ …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 15:16
Console superhero WiiMan flies in

A gaming god?

Look in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the world’s first superhero that’s able to control a Wii with his body. Wiiman: buttons on his shirt control on-screen action OK, so WiiMan may not be a real superhero, but he can control a Wii through his costume thanks to built-in buttons, an accelerometer and the …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 15:20
Orange signs up testers for mobile newspaper service

Trialling electronic newspapers

Orange has started a trial using eBook readers to deliver newspaper and magazine subscriptions over their 3G network, in much the same way as Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. The trial involves 150 French guinea-pigs who have been equipped with devices described as having Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, and access to subscriptions to …

Mobile 21 Apr 15:53
Delayed Debian developers get thumbs up

Door open to further delays

Incoming Debian developers who'd been waiting months for the official nod to join the project have finally been approved. The delay of up to four months provoked a storm of protest from frustrated Debian participants and even prompted questions over the Linux-based operating system's future. Incoming Debian Project Leader …

Software 21 Apr 18:40
Western Digital uncages ferocious VelociRaptor data hunting drive

Clever girl...

Western Digital is today launching the first model of a new line of ultra-swift hard drives, which the company says is the fastest SATA HDD available. The new VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS hard drive can store 300GB of data. Certainly not huge, but twice the space of the Raptor X model it will eventually replace. Obviously Western …

Storage 21 Apr 19:54
Microsoft kicks out third Windows XP service pack

That Vista/Server 2008 look

Microsoft has released to manufacturing Windows XP Service Pack 3. The fresh software disgorgement will be made available for download through the Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center services on April 29. SP3 wraps up all previous Windows XP fixes and throws in some new features that bring management in-line with …

Channel Register 21 Apr 19:58
Blue Coat pockets Packeteer for $268m

I'll get my...

WAN optimization specialist Blue Coat is to lay down a hefty $268m to purchase its rival, Packeteer. The proposed deal comes after Packeteer rejected an unsolicited bid from hedge fund firm Elliott Associates LP in early March to purchase the company for $200.6m. Elliott owns about 9.8 per cent of Packeteer, and said it made …

Data Networking 21 Apr 21:57
Oz to get satnav cemetery for Down Under dead

X marks the spot

An Australian council has dug-up plans to launch GPS burial sites, allowing bereaved friends and family to find the final outback resting place of a loved one with a satnav. The burial site is in bushland attached to the Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in New South Wales and has been created to cater for a rise in the number of …

Reg Hardware 21 Apr 22:02
Lessig leads Net Neut charge in Stanford inquisition

Left Coast Comcast Hearing Tripping the light Comcastic

"The most outrageous thing about this whole story," Larry Lessig told FCC boss Kevin Martin, "is that we can't get the facts straight." And we agree with him. When the US Federal Communications Commission parachuted into Silicon Valley last week, pulling together another public hearing on the network management practices of …

Telecoms 21 Apr 23:26