6th May 2008 Archive

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Ex-Navy SEAL and nanny 'Otter' does bird over Broadcom

Kindergarten cop, shmindergarten shmop

A federal judge in California sentenced an ex-Navy SEAL to prison today after he refused to testify against his employer, former Broadcom CEO, Henry Nicholas. Stephen "Otter" Otten has refused to utter a word against Nicholas before a federal grand jury investigating illegal backdated stock options at Broadcom. The mulish 30- …

Data Networking 6 May 01:05
Vodafone sews up iPhone distribution

Ten-country deal feeds Apple's world-domination plan

Vodafone has signed a deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone in ten of its operating countries - several of which are still 2G-only, which should help clear stocks once the 3G version is launched. Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will all be able to …

Mobile 6 May 09:10
Franco robbed Sir Cliff of Eurovision win

Spanish dictator's 1968 vote-rigging outrage

Of all the crimes perpetrated by the late and largely unlamented Franco - dictator of Spain during more years than most locals care to remember - perhaps the most heinous is the fascist regime's fixing of the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest which saw the sainted Cliff Richard's Congratulations pipped at the post by Hispanic musical …

Entertainment 6 May 09:11
Grand Theft Auto 4 maker sues Chicago transport chiefs

Game ads pulled, free speech rights violated. Apparently

Take-Two Interactive is suing the Chicago Transit Authority after the metropolitan transportation organisation removed a series of Grand Theft Auto 4 ads from the city's bus shelters. The posters went up across the city on 22 April, the result of a $300,000 deal struck between Take-Two, and the CTA and its ad agency, Titan …

Reg Hardware 6 May 09:48
'Mad Scientist' developing powered suits for US military

Will dominate everywhere within reach of a power socket

Powered exoskeletal suits are big right now, with the movie Iron Man all over the place. US defence tech giant Raytheon has decided to ride the ink surf, issuing some opportunistic statements and and photos of its ongoing military powered suit programme. The rogue exoskeleton, intent on wreaking vengeance upon its fleshy …

Government 6 May 09:59
Apple tops tech support success poll

But HP support 'inferior', says Consumers Union

Apple's consumer-oriented tech support is rather better than other vendors' equivalents, US non-profit organisation the Consumers Union has claimed. CU asked subscribers of its Consumer Reports magazine to detail their computer tech support experiences. Some 10,000 incidents relating to laptops and desktops were logged by the …

Reg Hardware 6 May 10:17
Sony demos 'commercial design' fuel cell for mobiles

Ready for prime time?

Sony has shown off a tiny fuel-cell prototype it claims will pave the way for a practical renewable power system for handheld devices. The palm-sized cell is an active system, pumping water produced by the reaction at the negative electrode round to the positive electrode, where it mixes with the methanol fuel and reacts to …

Reg Hardware 6 May 10:40
NASA invites you to travel to the Moon

Well, your name at least

NASA is inviting citizens of Earth to add their name to an electronic roll-call destined to travel to the Moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) later this year. All you have to do is enter your details here, and they'll be put into a database for later storage on a chip aboard the LRO. Cathy Peddie, deputy …

Space 6 May 10:51
Interpol publishes pic of another suspected child abuser

Operation IDent

Interpol has taken the unusual step of posting an image of a suspected paedophile on its website. The international police agency is asking for help from the public in identifying a man it said was pictured sexually abusing young boys in a series of images found on the internet. Interpol said the images were retrieved from the …

Policing 6 May 11:12
Sony Ericsson Z770i mobile phone

Review Waving the flag for flip-phones

Fans of clamshell phones may feel a touch hard done by when it comes to Sony Ericsson. Despite some desirably stylish Walkman and Cyber-shot designs, the real style icons to date have tended to be candybars. The Z770i is its attempt to redress the balance. It's constructed with a smart, elegant look rather than brash style- …

Reg Hardware 6 May 11:20
Intel and chums target 450mm wafer fabs

'It's only a tiny little thin one'

Three of the world’s biggest chip players will cooperate with one another to develop silicon wafers to improve efficiency in semiconductor manufacturing. Intel said yesterday that a migration from 300mm (12-inch) silicon wafers to 450mm (18-inch) would yield more than double the number of chips per wafer. The trio hopes to …

Channel Register 6 May 11:44
SplashPower splashes down in Fulton Innovation

Consolidating the drips for induction charging

SplashPower, the UK inductive charging company that has been struggling to create a product since 2001, has been bought up by Alticor-subsidiary Fulton Innovation. SplashPower went into administration last month, having failed to secure more funding, and Fulton purchased the assets from the administrators. Fulton is also in …

Mobile 6 May 11:46
Winehouse cans Bond theme project

'Not ready to record any music'

Amy Winehouse's planned theme for Quantum of Solace has been canned because the troubled chanteuse is "not ready to record any music", her producer has announced. Speaking to Sky News, Mark Ronson said he been "forced to stop work" with Winehouse on the project, and explained: "We did work on it but we never finished it so …

Entertainment 6 May 11:47
Top cop brands CCTV a 'fiasco'

No deterrent, no good as evidence

A senior Metropolitan police officer has described the UK's CCTV strategy as a "fiasco", saying billions had been spent with very little impact on either stopping crime or providing evidence. But don't count on the UK's flocks of cameras being taken down any time soon - the comments appear to be a thinly veiled plea for more …

Policing 6 May 11:59
Defra steps up probe into honeybee wipeout

UK hives hit hard

The Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced it is giving "higher priority" to the investigation of bee fatalities following "early signs of significant colony losses across the country". Defra has mobilised inspectors from the National Bee Unit (NBU) to probe this year's losses, which it admits …

Biology 6 May 12:00
Google questions Verizon 'open network'

A closed door is not open

Google wants to make darn sure that when Verizon opens up its wireless network, it actually opens up its wireless network. In a new petition (PDF) to the US Federal Communications Commission, the world's largest search engine questions whether Verizon is planning to sidestep the commission's new open access rules, urging Kevin …

Wireless 6 May 12:02
Cops demand more time in marathon OiNK investigation

BitTorrent admin probe continues

Cleveland police have again extended the bail granted to Alan Ellis, the administrator of Oink.cd, an invitation-only BitTorrent tracker shut down in a high profile dawn raid last October. The deadline for charges to be brought has been moved from today, 6 May, to 1 July. It will bring the total length of the probe to more …

Law 6 May 12:06
Motorola board faces down a hostile crowd

Pledges to be flexible and focused - at the same time

Angry Motorola shareholders confronted the ailing firm's board over the company's poor performance yesterday, but left with little more than vague promises and estimated dates. The annual meeting in Chicago saw 350 shareholders turn up to ask why Motorola seemed incapable of producing a decent mobile phone, specifically one to …

Mobile 6 May 12:18
Independent dubs El Reg lesbian

Biting the jub that feeds IT

We at El Reg have been called a fair few things in our time, but never before has it been suggested that we are dedicated practitioners of the Sapphic arts. Well, it was only a matter of time, and readers are invited to have a shufti at this piece from the Independent, which earlier today examined in some depth the Lesbian …

Bootnotes 6 May 12:19
Battery shortage leaves Compal forecast flat

Q2 power down

Contract laptop PC maker Compal Electronics Inc has been forced to scale back its Q2 shipment growth forecast, blaming a shortage of batteries. The Taiwan-based firm, which had expected a climb of 13-15 per cent for the second quarter, said today that it now expects shipments to grow about ten per cent from Q1. Compal …

Channel Register 6 May 12:53
Freesat launches in UK

Many channels, more coming, but not much HD yet

Freesat, the UK's latest package of free-to-air TV channels, this time transmitted from a satellite, has now gone live, allowing comsumers access to standard-definition and HD broadcasting for a single, one-off payment. What the company couldn't say today is precisely what that payment will be. SD-only kit will be priced from …

Reg Hardware 6 May 13:20
Cybercrims dump swag on open botnet server

Health data found on hacker data dump

Everyone knows Trojans steal personal data, but the discovery of a server containing more than 1.4 gigabytes of stolen business and personal info brings home the real extent of the problem. Data on the so-called crimeware server compromised 5,388 unique log files containing both email communications and web-related data. Net …

Crime 6 May 13:37
HTC’s Diamond iPhone rival unwrapped

But does it shine?

A glitzy London hotel was this morning's setting for the launch of HTC’s new handset, Diamond, the latest phone in a long line of would-be iPhone killers. The Diamond is roughly the same size as Apple’s iPhone, although the HTC device has a smaller, 2.8in touchscreen - the display's resolution is a much larger 480 x 640, …

Reg Hardware 6 May 13:38
Microsoft rebuts Blu-ray Xbox 360 rumours - again

Blu-ray? US? Never!

It's a good job gamers aren’t holding their collective breath in hope for an Xbox 360 with a built-in Blu-ray Disc drive. Microsoft has once again stepped in to quash the latest rumours that it’s developing one. On Friday morning, it was alleged that Microsoft is working with Taiwan's Pegatron Technology, a subsidiary of PC …

Reg Hardware 6 May 13:57
Hyundai and Kia's latest pitch to US drivers - Windows

Microsoft's exclusive with Ford finishes soon

Microsoft has signed deals with Hyundai and Kia to supply voice recognition kit for cars sold in the USA, just as soon as its exclusive deal with Ford runs out in November. The system is called Sync, and uses an ARM-based system running Windows Mobile for Automotive with voice recognition provided by Nuance. It allows drivers …

Applications 6 May 14:55
ISP reporting network to pierce bandwidth smokescreens

Your broadband needs you

ISP watchers have launched a bid to get to the bottom of what's going on with UK broadband by recruiting people to install specially-adapted network gear on their line, to collect reams of independent performance data. The initiative to improve the transparency of ISP packages is being led by Samknows.com. The site is aiming …

Telecoms 6 May 15:03
Americans offered smart footwear

Do they have souls?

If a woman wants to blow £1000 on a pair of shoes then Manolo Blahnik is the obvious answer, but rich males had never been afforded the same option until the launch of the Verb For Shoe hi-tech sneakers. VectraSense Technologies' Verb For Shoe is the ultimate in high-tech walking At $700 (£350) a pair, these cutting-edge …

Reg Hardware 6 May 15:55
Microsoft slings multiple sue balls at resellers

Claims customers were 'deceived'

Microsoft has filed piracy lawsuits in a US federal court against eight firms it accuses of selling illegal versions of its software. The tech multinational alleges that the resellers gained from illegal sales involving the unlawful importation of unlicensed software into North America from multiple dealers overseas. …

Channel Register 6 May 16:13
Sun juggles love of code with need for cash

CommunityOne Don't attack us... attack them!

The relationship between business, vendors and coders has been tested at a Sun Microsystems conference in San Francisco intended to express oneness with open source. Ian Murdock, Sun vice president of developer and community marketing, and Marten Mickos, head of Sun's database group, used CommunityOne to outline Sun's ideals …

Applications 6 May 16:41
Rackspace flies storage on CloudFS

Tap into our data ether

Rackspace is developing a storage-in-the-cloud service called CloudFS for web 2.0, SaaS (software-as-a-service) and social networking media customers needing highly scalable storage. Software developers will be able to store, backup and access their files and content in the cloud as will their applications built using Java, . …

Storage 6 May 17:33
Yahoo! greenlights search security warnings

Beta tests McAfee SiteAdvisor

So Yahoo! is getting off its butt at last to warn users when its search engine results include potentially malicious sites. Yahoo! SearchScan, which launches today in beta, is a rebadged version of McAfee SiteAdvisor. This website and browser plug-in pumps out text warnings in red or orange, or gives the all-clear in green, …

Security 6 May 19:28
HP strokes web 2.0 with immense NAS

'Extreme' appliance for multi-petabytes

Hewlett-Packard has issued a massive NAS system for the most seriously storage starved — web 2.0 shops, huge ass data centers, national labs, and other businesses with more petabytes of data than can be considered healthy. Web-based services firms are being eyeballed by big name storage vendors. Managing user content, video, …

Storage 6 May 19:29
Canadian toddler dies after VOIP 911 call

Ambulance dispatched to wrong city

A Canadian toddler has died after a VOIP-based 911 call sent an ambulance to the wrong address. Last week, as reported by the CBC, a Calgary family dialed 911 via their internet phone service when 18-month-old Elijah Luck went into medical distress. Their VOIP provider, Comwave, then dispatched an ambulance to the family's …

VoIP 6 May 19:39
Google launches security group for open source

oCERT to make the world safe for GPL

Google is spearheading a volunteer workforce it hopes will become the centralized authority for responding to security issues in open source software. oCERT, short for the open source computer emergency response team, will aim to remediate security vulnerabilities and exploits in a wide range of open source programs by …

Enterprise Security 6 May 19:50
Sun's JavaFX to hoover-up user data

JavaOne Spirit of McNealy lives

Sun today announced the yet-to-launch JavaFX programming language will gather data on end-users activities to help developers monetize software, by selling ads for instance. The company's Project Insight will see "instrumentation" added to PCs, mobiles and Blu-ray devices that run JavaFX, which feed data back through a special …

Applications 6 May 20:43
Intel wants to own the weather prediction business

Interview EVP Maloney in charge of 'Operation Kill Groundhog'

The conventional wisdom - whatever that is worth - pegs Intel EVP Sean Maloney as the company's successor to CEO Paul Otellini. That's great news for technology hacks because, man, this Maloney guy is quite a bit more open about his personal life and feelings than Otellini. One need only look at this piece in the Times to see …

Servers 6 May 21:24
DHS grilled over uber secret cybersecurity plans

Too much confusion, senators say

The US Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity initiative may be unnecessarily shrouded in secrecy and too reliant on contractors, according to a Senate panel. The concerns are so basic that the panel also included questions asking what, exactly, is the role of program and why a determination was even made to start it. …

Government 6 May 21:56
Windows XP SP3 leaps into the tubes

Second verse, same as the first

Microsoft is giving the automatic web release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 another go today, after an eleventh hour muck-up ruined its scheduled availability last week. The truant XP service pack is ready for download via Microsoft's Download Center or alternatively, Windows Update if using Internet Explorer. Here's the ISO CD …

Operating Systems 6 May 22:32
Yahoo! shareholders thump Yang in the fiduciaries

Detroit gets nasty

In late February, after Yahoo! famously rejected Microsoft's initial $44.6bn bid for the company, two share-holding Detroit pension funds filed a class action lawsuit against Jerry Yang and the Yahoo! board, claiming a "breach of fiduciary duties". And now they're really peeved. Late last week, Microsoft upped its offer to $ …

Financial News 6 May 22:42
NASA ditches Itanic for new Xeon-based SGI giant

20,480 cores on the Moon

NASA has once again turned to SGI for a massive supercomputer. The two organizations announced today that SGI will build a whopping 20,480-core system for NASA Ames in Mountain View, California. The giant will run on four-core versions of Intel's Xeon chip and should reach peak performance of 245 Teraflops, which would make it …

Servers 6 May 23:04