24th June 2008 Archive

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Salesforce.com marches on IBM's Notes business

Follows Microsoft into battle

After more than a decade of seeing its massive Lotus Notes business threatened by Microsoft, IBM faces a new threat: Salesforce.com. Salesforce.com is planning tools that will convert applications and data in Notes to run on its hosted platform. The on-demand provider is also working actively with Google and reaping the …

Applications 24 Jun 00:01
Overstock CEO offers $75,000 for Wall Street's soul

Taunt the Russian mafia or die trying

Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne is now paying people to promote his epic Wall Street conspiracy theory. At a site called Deep Capture - yes, Deep Capture - Byrne and his fellow theorists recently published a nearly 40,000-word treatise detailing his claims that Wall Street, the Wall Street press, Wikipedia, and the Russian mafia …

Financial News 24 Jun 00:43
Scareware package greets marks by name

Fakeale redux

Malware authors have created a strain of scareware packages that lifts the name of an infected user from the registry of an infected PC in order to create more convincing scams. The wife of reader Chris came across the ruse when she used his PC to check on her Hotmail account. Before she could get onto the website she was …

ID 24 Jun 06:02
UK clamps down on bus-spotting terror menace

Omniboligist driven off the streets

The UK's streets are today a safer place for kiddies and decorated war veterans after public and police hostility forced a Gloucestershire bus-spotter to give up his lifelong hobby of snapping interesting examples of road-based public transport, the Evening Standard reports. Rob McCaffrey, 50, had apparently over 40 years …

Bootnotes 24 Jun 09:11
Nokia grabs control of Symbian - then gives it away

OS makeover starts with foundation

Nokia has bought up the bits of Symbian it didn't already own and is chucking the OS into an open-source foundation along with the S60 UI layer, accompanied by Sony Ericsson and DoCoMo, who are throwing in UIQ and MOAP(S) respectively. Symbian has always been the underlying OS allowing companies to develop different graphical …

Mobile 24 Jun 09:42
CERN declares Large Hadron Collider perfectly safe

Strangelets and black holes? Pah

Here's some good news for those of you who like the universe just the way it is: CERN has declared its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) perfectly safe. The LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) has issued a report (summary here), which addresses the key concerns surrounding the doomsday particle accelerator, due to fire up later this …

Physics 24 Jun 10:05
PS3 sale price spurs costs Sony dear

But the console's still being given away for free

Sony's PlayStation 3 pricing strategy has caused the company to lose around $3bn (£1.5bn/€1.9bn) over the past two fiscal years. But the electronics giant's still willing to give the console away - provided you buy a Bravia telly. The firm’s 2008 annual report shows that Sony lost $2.1bn in fiscal year (FY) 2007 - the 12 …

Reg Hardware 24 Jun 10:37
BT and Siemens slammed over prisoner call rates

Criminal cell phone charges

BT and Siemens are facing a "super-complaint" over how much they charge prisoners to make phone calls. BT provides the service in England and Wales while Siemens does the same for people in Scottish prisons. The National Consumer Council and sister organisations for Scotland and Wales, as well as the Prison Reform Trust (PRT …

Telecoms 24 Jun 10:39
Intel Atom 230 ultra low-power desktop CPU

Review Build your own Eee

We recently reviewed Asus' Eee PC 901, which uses the new 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor. Atom uses the same 45nm technology that you’ll find in the latest 'Penryn' Core 2 CPUs and it packs in some nifty power-saving features that result in a TDP of a mere 2.5W which makes it a natural choice for Small, Cheap Computers. But …

Reg Hardware 24 Jun 10:54
Lenovo throws arms and legs around SMBs

Plans to dish up SL series to pump up sales

Lenovo yesterday revealed plans to launch a new Thinkpad laptop line that will come loaded with features and support services pitched towards the small and medium-sized biz market. The SL series will be priced from $699 to $1,199 in the US. The laptops will carry online backup services – the first of the kind for the Thinkpad …

Small Biz 24 Jun 11:02
Adobe update foils Reader and Acrobat exploits

Bugs provoke PDF botnet risk warning

Adobe pushed out an update to its Reader and Acrobat packages on Monday to close a pair of critical flaws in the popular packages. Patches to version 8.1.2 of each application resolves vulnerabilities which create a means for miscreants to drop malware onto vulnerable systems. Users of earlier versions of the software (Adobe …

Channel Register 24 Jun 11:10
Heart Internet spreads the ~~love~~ passwords

Hosting firm suffers security aneurysm

Web hosting outfit Heart Internet has caused security-conscious customers to skip a beat by sending them a handy text file email attachment containing other people's new passwords. Last week Heart Internet decided to reset a bunch of FTP and eXtend passwords that had not been changed by their account owners for "an extended …

Telecoms 24 Jun 11:10
Orange launches dance-powered phone charger

Kinetic charger to launch at Glastonbury

If you love music festivals, but can’t bear the thought of your mobile phone running out of juice, Orange has the answer. The network operator’s designed a phone charger powered by your ability to do The Monkey, The Robot and The Worm. Orange's Dance Charge is powered by kinetic energy The Orange Dance Charge is a portable …

Reg Hardware 24 Jun 11:22
ChannelFlip Video Review Dalek Security Camera

This might look like your average remote controlled Dalek toy, but nothing could be further from the truth: it's been retro-fitted with a miniscule pinhole spy cam by a London security firm, which has lent it to us to have a play with. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com The Dalek sits on your desk and …

Reg Hardware 24 Jun 11:22
Police detain Tariq Aziz's cigar case

Boris Johnson relieved of the spoils of war

London mayor Boris Johnson has been forcibly relieved of a cigar case formerly belonging to Tariq Aziz under the Iraq (UN Sanctions) Order 2003 which demands that "anyone possessing Iraqi cultural property must give it to the police", as the BBC puts it. Johnson apparently found the case in the rubble of Aziz's bombed-out …

Bootnotes 24 Jun 11:33
It's time for a close-up look at mobile porn

Column What's that on your iPhone?

Apparently, someone has discovered that you can watch videos on the iPhone, and that "videos" includes "porn." Mobile porn... wow. So I asked a purveyor of photo-porn on the web what made the iPhone special for his customers. "No idea, but we think it's the zoom," he said. "You can get to see the detail, you know?" What we …

Mobile 24 Jun 12:06
Google preps conflict of interest-tastic web analytics tool

Have you thought about giving your money to Google, sir?

Mark this as an escalation of Google's recent skirmish with the web analytics industry: the search omnicorp is launching a free tool to target surfers that will compete with subscription services offered by comScore and Nielsen. From today Google will offer shiny-suited types the tool, dubbed AdPlanner, to help them find the …

Applications 24 Jun 12:32
Security cameras to listen out for crime

The long ear of the law?

If your evenings at home are constantly interrupted by roaming gangs of yobs breaking bottles, setting off car alarms or generally misbehaving, then security camera software designed to listen out for crimes will be music to your ears. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth have launched a three-year project to develop …

Reg Hardware 24 Jun 12:43
eBay calls for end to grey import laws

One bid to rule them all

eBay is calling on the European Union to change trading laws which it describes as being "digital protectionism". Although it might be facing criticism from some quarters for protecting compulsory use of PayPal , eBay is asking European regulators to update online trading laws to give customers more choice of where they buy …

Small Biz 24 Jun 12:45
UK game-development degrees not up to snuff, claims industry

Position: videogame designer. Required: the right skills for the job

The UK videogames industry is suffering because UK university courses aren’t equipping students with the right skills needed for the job, a gaming industry campaign group has warned. But it’s also partly the Wii’s fault, apparently. A campaign group called Games Up? – which is backed by several UK gaming firms - claims that …

Consoles 24 Jun 13:07
Web'n'Walk falls over

But only Scousers affected

Punters in the north of England using T-Mobile lost all data connectivity yesterday for around 12 hours, but the company says that's OK because it was mainly during the night and northerners are all tucked up in bed by six. All connections, including Web'n'Walk, went down at around 17.30 because of a power failure and didn't …

Mobile 24 Jun 13:26
Bloke crams 13 into Volvo S70

Magistrates take dim view of 'gross overloading'

A north London teacher has been banned from driving for 12 months, fined almost £1,000 and ordered to take an extended driving test after breaking the "most people in a Volvo S70" world record by cramming 12 passengers into the red saloon before squeezing behind the wheel. Abraham Gniwosch, of Tottenham, was pulled on 8 August …

Bootnotes 24 Jun 13:29
Microsoft says ‘hasta la vista XP’ - well, kinda

Regretfully they tell us, but firmly they compel us

Microsoft yesterday sent customers a letter reaffirming its plans to kill off Windows XP sales at the end of June and that system builders can continue to ship machines loaded with the OS until early 2009. That widely-known caveat has been viewed by many as a considerable insurance policy for the software giant, which has …

Channel Register 24 Jun 13:30
Automated profiling tech is crap, says Home Office

Um, does that include Project Semaphore, then?

Automated passenger profiling is rubbish, the Home Office has conceded in an amusing - and we presume inadvertent - blurt. "Attempts at automated profiling have been used in trial operations [at UK ports of entry] and has proved [sic] that the systems and technology available are of limited use," says home secretary Jacqui Smith …

Policing 24 Jun 13:47
Force listeners onto DAB by killing FM

It's the only way they'll see sense, thunders Taskforce

The Digital Radio Working Group, set up in November to work out why no-one wanted DAB, has issued an interim report that suggests FM should be switched off by 2020 if only the punters can be convinced. The DRWG is comprised of representatives from the BBC, Ofcom and commercial radio stations as well as a few other hangers on, …

Music and Media 24 Jun 14:30
Comedy UK social network berates moaning users

'F*ck tha haterz'

Maverick UK social network Faceparty has today told its millions of users it "can't be arsed" with their attitudes, and so has "shut the whole site down and fucked off to the zoo". According to an outstanding rant posted to faceparty.com today and titled "To tha Haterz", the site's users have been complaining over an …

Bootnotes 24 Jun 14:38
Farewell then, Symbian

Analysis Epoc's journey: from world-beater to basket case

Ten years ago to the day, I attended the surprise foundation of Symbian. I was in Norway and sorry to miss the event today that closed the chapter - and probably the book - on the great adventure. I find it exquisitely ironic that the philosophy behind the decision to end Symbian's independent existence as a joint-ownership, …

Mobile 24 Jun 14:59
Cisco ignites the web via WAAS and deformed arms

More Data Center 3.0 contemplation

It's time again for Cisco's annual customer conference, Cisco Live! in Orlando. Better dust off that old Sadville avatar, networking fans, these things curiously get beamed in at Linden Lab's infamous soul dump Second Life. Cisco networkers master the Rasengan! This year's conference certainly doesn't have the same new …

Data Networking 24 Jun 15:02
Komplett closes retail ops across Europe

Some portals still shining a light, mind

Online computer components retailer Komplett ASA has pulled the plug on several of its European websites. The Norway-based firm today shut down a number of its operations across Europe, including its British, French and German websites. The channel outfit, which has 16 internet shops in 10 countries, posted the following …

Channel Register 24 Jun 15:07
Google's Gmail verboten in Germany

'Bummer'

Travelers to Germany will no longer be able to access Google's Gmail the easy way due to the firm's long-running trademark lawsuit with German businessman Daniel Giersch. As from Friday, German Gmail users and travelers in Germany are greeted with the following message: "We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany …

Applications 24 Jun 15:16
Shops caught out in underage videogame sales sting

Three stores sell 18 rated titles to minors

Several High Street stores have been named and shamed for selling 18-rated videogames to a 15-year-old underage girl during an undercover operation by Harrow Trading Standards and consumer advocate Which?. The girl was enough pocket money to try to buy games from nine shops, including HMV, Debenhams, Currys Digital, Tesco and …

Reg Hardware 24 Jun 15:26
Merchants call credit card industry's bluff on compliance

PCI DSS off the agenda

Nine in ten (88 per cent) European firms have failed to achieve compliance with a credit card industry standard for processing ecommerce transactions. European merchants are behind their US counterparts in getting up to speed with the Payment Card Industry's Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), according to a survey by management …

Small Biz 24 Jun 15:37
Rackable's super efficient gear fills the cloud

Proud to be dense

In a weird sort of way, you can think of this as Rackable Systems 2.0. Rackable this week ushered in a set of new servers, including one system that fits into the IceCube data center in container. The boxes reflect Rackable's ever-present focus on delivering as much horsepower as possible while consuming the least amount of …

Servers 24 Jun 17:06
San Franciscans prep monument to US prez

The George W. Bush Sewer Plant

Here in the City by the Bay, twelve history-minded souls are working to establish a fitting monument to the presidency of George W. Bush. They call themselves the Presidental Memorial Commission of San Francisco, and they hope to secure Bush's legacy by putting his name on the local sewer plant. If the group has its way, the …

Bootnotes 24 Jun 17:47
Almost half of malicious sites tied to 10 networks

China mostly to blame, but so is Google

Almost half the websites pushing malware are hosted by just 10 networks, according to a new report that adds new support to the growing argument that a relatively few number of actors are responsible for most of the net-based threats. The report (PDF) from StopBadware.org also showed a dramatic rise in China's role in the …

Spam 24 Jun 18:00
Logitech rolls out 'first' Mac-friendly QuickCam

It's more than a decade since Logitech bought the golfball-like QuickCam family of webcams from Mac specialist Connectix, but the Swiss mouse maker has finally released an Apple-friendly version. Logitech's QuickCam Vision Pro: now Mac friendly The QuickCam Vision Pro won't go on sale until next month, but when it does it' …

Reg Hardware 24 Jun 18:31