26th October 2009 Archive
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Salesforce toughs up with Adobe Flash IDE
Put us in pictures
Part of Salesfoce.com's schtick is that its applications and platform are simple enough for "regular" business folks to use and customize without asking for IT's help on messy coding and customization. I've met individual Salesforce.com users on the business side at customers like Hawaiian Airlines, whose idea of challenging …
Developer 26 Oct 05:02
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Tilera pushes to 100 cores with mesh processor
Super-efficient Linux engine
Upstart massively multicore chip designer Tilera has divulged the details on its upcoming third generation of Tile processors, which will sport from 16 to 100 cores on a single die. That will give Tilera bragging rights for cramming the most general purpose computing cores onto a die, although graphics chip makers are already …
HPC 26 Oct 05:02
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Hoaxed US Chamber thumps pranksters with blunt instrument
Can you DMCA a parody that looks like the real thing?
With this week's lesson in the vagaries of copyright law, we seek to answer the following question: If someone uses your copyrighted material to build a website that fools a Reuters reporter into thinking you've suddenly changed your mind, are you legally empowered to destroy their clever online hoax with a DMCA takedown notice …
Music and Media 26 Oct 05:52
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Freecom Secure
Review Swipe your card, gain access to your external HDD
We've seen a fair few hard drives with built-in fingerprint readers, but here's one that uses RFID cards instead of digits. Freecom's Hard Drive Secure: there's a RFID reader behind the drive's glossy front The notion is simple: if you want to access the data on the drive, you'll need to touch the unit with a smartcard to …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 08:02
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Rogue trader calls for smarter regulation to avert disaster
RSA Europe 2009 Never mind the bonuses - listen to the Leeson lesson
Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who bankrupted a bank before it became fashionable, said that unless the quality of regulation improves, further financial disasters such as the Barings Bank collapse he precipitated are inevitable. Leeson, told journalists at the RSA Europe conference on Thursday that little has changed in the 14 …
Crime 26 Oct 09:02
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Guardian loses half a million CVs
Police probe massive hack
The Guardian newspaper's jobs website has warned 500,000 users that hackers may have got hold of private information held on the site after a "sophisticated and deliberate" attack. The paper said not all users were at risk, and it has emailed those who are. The email, sent on Saturday, said data relating to job applications " …
Crime 26 Oct 09:17
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Adaptec fighting Word War II
A house divided against itself cannot stand each other
There has been a second outpouring of letters to shareholders as the Adaptec board and Steel Partners fight Word War II over the fate of CEO Sundi Sundaresh. Steel Partners talks of his horrendous failures and the fight is turning on whether Sundaresh is seen as a value creator or destroyer. Steel Partners alleges that, …
Storage 26 Oct 09:59
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What are you doing about refreshing the PC estate?
Workshop Carry on regardless or swap for new?
We know from readers of the Register that the age of desktop estates vary greatly, not just between different organisations, but in many cases also inside them. We have also uncovered evidence (in our soon-to-be-published desktop report), that there is a firm link between user satisfaction and perception of good IT service …
PC Management 26 Oct 09:59
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Toyota at Tokyo: micro e-car on display
Leccy Tech Aesthetically challenged
Competing with such leccy micro-cars like Peugeot’s BB1 and Renault's Twizy in the 'would you actually buy anything that looks like that?' stakes is Toyota's latest thinking on future e-cars for the city, the FT-EV II. The EV II is an evolution of the EV I that Toyota showed at the Detroit Motor Show earlier this year rather …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 10:02
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Carl! Icahn! quits! Yahoo!
Loses! millions! of! dollars!
Carl Icahn has resigned from Yahoo's board of directors after a stint that saw him fail to flog the company to Microsoft and the web firm's shareprice continue to slide. The troublemaking investor said there was no longer any need for Yahoo! to have an activist director on the board. He said he was focussed on other matters so …
Financial News 26 Oct 10:09
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Think you're tech savvy? You won't be when you're old
Daaad, nobody uses screens or keyboards any more
Trick-cyclists in Florida say that greater efforts by web designers and gadget developers are necessary in order to prevent old people being cut off from the wired society - and add that this problem will get worse, not better, as today's tech-savvy adults will be at least as bewildered in their old age by tomorrow's tech as …
Science 26 Oct 10:11
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Ares I-X 'in great shape' to fly
Launch tomorrow, weather permitting
NASA's Ares I-X rocket will, weather permitting, blaze a trail for the agency's Constellation programme tomorrow, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B. Launch Test Director Jeff Spaulding said yesterday: "I'm very happy to report that we are tracking no problems and the vehicle is in great shape." There's …
Space 26 Oct 10:53
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OECD places UK third for European e-government
No stats available for government e-disasters
Britain has some of the most sophisticated e-government services in Europe but lags behind other countries in take-up, according to the OECD. The relevant section of Government at a Glance 2009, published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, shows the UK comes third behind Austria and Portugal in the …
Government 26 Oct 11:33
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Justice Department glares at Sony
Anti-competitive disk practices? Good lord!
A Sony subsidiary has fallen under the beady eye of the US Department of Justice which is looking at competition in the optical disk drive industry. The DoJ has issued a subpoena to Sony Optiarc America (SOA), which supplies CD, DVD and Blu-ray-based products to North American customers, as it looks into possible anti-trust …
Storage 26 Oct 11:36
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Today marks 'least productive' day of year
Write your own intro, I can't be arsed
Today is apparently the "least productive" day of the year, as glum workers battle that sinking feeling provoked by the clocks going back. That's according to a poll by the the Canary Island tourism board, Promotur, which found that no less than 52 per cent of 2,000 workers polled reckoned they'd struggle to get their act …
Bootnotes 26 Oct 11:41
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Agincourt actually an even scrap, historians claim
We happy
few8,000Revisionist historians from both sides of the Channel have come to the disagreeable conclusion that Henry V's forces at Agincourt were not actually outnumbered four to one by the opposing French. According to the Telegraph, "painstaking research of military and tax records" has revealed Henry actually boasted "at least 8,700 …
Bootnotes 26 Oct 12:04
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New York Times Editor drops Apple tablet in talk
Slate of the nation address
A senior New York Times editor has added to the hoopla surrounding the expected launch of an Apple tablet by identifying the not-seen-yet device as a key platform for the paper. Bill Keller is an executive editor at the NYT and gave a talk on Thursday last week to a meeting of all staff, at which the free-vs-paid-for newspaper …
Mobile 26 Oct 12:05
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Intel facing more anti-trust action
Couldn't happen to a nicer chip giant
Intel, having just paid over a billion euros to European regulators, is now facing imminent action from the US Federal Trade Commission. The FTC began investigating the chip maker in June 2008, but three out of the four commissioners now favour making a complaint against the company. "They're close. They said it could be a …
Channel Register 26 Oct 12:18
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ITU joins microUSB bandwagon
Common charger standard slowly gathers momentum
The ITU has decided to turn its attention to the problem of mobile phone charging, underlining in green the microUSB standard already being adopted by the industry. Just when you thought everyone who was anyone had already endorsed microUSB as the standard connection for all mobile phones - and by extension all mobile gadgets …
Mobile 26 Oct 12:19
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Disgraced Korean cloning scientist given suspended sentence
Not a mammoth punishment under the cirumstances
Disgraced Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-Suk has been found guilty of fraud after a tortuous three-year trial. The man who became a national hero after he claimed to have cloned "tailored" human embryos was given a two-year prison term, suspended for three years, for embezzling research funds and breaching bioethics laws …
Biology 26 Oct 12:21
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Saving money on desktop costs
You the expert Building on common ground
You may recall, we set you a challenge to join our expert panel and answer questions from our readers on how to deal with your desktop, and mobile desktop, environment. This week we've got the second installment from our resident reader experts, Adam Salisbury and Trevor Pott. They're joined again by Jon Collins from Freeform …
PC Management 26 Oct 12:22
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3 to offer iPhone next year
Orange will sell it next month
Orange UK will start selling the iPhone early next month. And 3 has said it will offer the in-demand handset next year. Orange will begin selling the handset in Britain on 10 November – one day after O2’s two-year exclusive ends, according to a report by The Guardian. Orange announced in late September it would “bring the …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 12:29
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Netflix preps DVD-less movie streaming service
Coming to PS3 too
Netflix is to launch a streaming service that is not linked to its Lovefilm-style North American DVD-by-post package - and it could be coming to the UK first. Reed Hastings, Netflix's CEO, announced the upcoming service during last week's third-quarter earnings conference. He said that “for competitive reasons” he couldn’t …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 12:42
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Royal Navy to get two carriers - but only one air group?
Analysis OK lads, just run along the deck going 'Brrrmmm'
The British press is full of reports today that the Royal Navy has agreed to "give up" one of its planned two aircraft carriers - or, more accurately, to give up one of the planned air-groups of F-35 stealth fighters which are intended to fly from them. The revelations stem from a story in the Times, which claims that a firm …
Government 26 Oct 12:54
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Dallas cops fine drivers for 'not speaking English'
Chief apologises for language police
Red-faced Dallas police chief David Kunkle has apologised to the local Hispanic community after it was revealed that his officers had fined 38 drivers for the novel offence of having an inadequate command of the English language. Among those who fell foul of the language police was 48-year-old Ernestina Valdez Mondragón, …
Bootnotes 26 Oct 12:55
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Microsoft backtracks Ballmer's Blu-per
No Xbox 360 Blu-ray drive en-route
Microsoft has once again been forced to clear up after its outspoken CEO, Steve Ballmer, who recently said that Blu-ray is coming to the Xbox 360. In a video interview published last week, Ballmer was asked if Microsoft plans to put Blu-ray into the games console. “You’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories,” was his …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 12:57
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Barclays computers suffer Monday morning meltdown
IT layoff programme disrupted?
Barclays online banking suffered intermittent service for about an hour this morning. The issue also hit some other systems at the bank. We received several emails from readers unable to log in to their accounts and one unable to make a purchase using their Barclays business debit card. The business banking contact number was …
Servers 26 Oct 12:58
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Nokia N900 delayed
Weeks not months, thankfully
Don't worry about the much-reported Nokia N900 delay. The Linux-based smartphone will only hit the shops a week or so later than expected. Nokia's N900: now set to arrive during November Nokia said back in August that the device would be available to buy in October. But Pete Schneider, Nokia’s Head of Maemo Marketing, has …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 13:06
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Digital River makes total hash of Windows 7 upgrade offer
Academic customers left scratching heads
Microsoft has been flooded with complaints from hundreds of disgruntled university bods who have struggled to download or successfully install Windows 7 files supplied by Digital River. As we reported last week, many UK-based university staff and students who stumped up £30 for Microsoft’s Windows 7 academic offer were …
Operating Systems 26 Oct 13:13
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Facebook close to ending snooping case
Class action suit brings home the Beacon
Facebook is a step closer to ending the class action suit brought by users angry at being opted in to the creepy adware service Beacon. The system worked by watching what you bought on affiliated websites and then displaying this on your profile page for your friends and family to see. Not so good if you'd been busy buying …
Law 26 Oct 13:35
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Kindle pounces on Snow Leopard
But denies pictures to foreigners
Amazon has confirmed it will grace Apple users with its desktop version of Kindle. Last week Amazon jumped onto the Windows 7 bandwagon, announcing an e-reader application for the long-awaited operating system. However, the etailing giant has quietly announced that it will also launch the software on OSX. The software …
Mobile 26 Oct 13:48
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Samsung shows off 'world's thinnest' LCD TV
Needle Slim just 3mm thick
An LCD TV thin enough to rival Sony’s XEL-1 OLED screen has finally been unveiled. Samsung's Needle Slim measures 3mm from front to back The Samsung Needle Slim LCD TV is a mere 3mm thick – the same depth as Sony’s 11in XEL-1, yet it boasts a far more respectable 40in screen size. Samsung recently demoed the Needle Slim in …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 13:55
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Globo-renewables all electric future touted again
Analysis Still requires population freeze + universal poverty
Another American environment professor has asserted that the entire world can easily power itself using only pure-green generation methods - "wind, solar and water". As with other recent plans, the idea would seem to be to keep the developing world in misery - and the developed world in penury. The new scheme comes to us …
Environment 26 Oct 14:05
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LG New Chocolate BL40 movie phone
Review Widescreen wunderbar?
LG's first Chocolate was promoted as a style phone but now, several incarnations in, its become more than just a sweet talker. The LG New Chocolate BL40 looks like nothing else (except perhaps a bar of Cadbury's Bourneville), with its 21:9 cinematic widescreen and elongated proportions. Yet, besides its unusual look, it also has …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 14:20
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Sonic 'hyperlens' offers hi-res ultrasound scans, naval sonar
No it's not a submarine, it's a whale - do not torpedo
Boffins in California say they have developed a cunning "acoustic hyperlens" which will allow naval sonars and medical ultrasound scanners to increase the resolution of their images eightfold - accurately picturing details much smaller than the wavelength of the sound used to scan them. Absolutely no chance they're wrong …
Science 26 Oct 14:37
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ICANN goes to Korea so web addresses can go global
Plan for Arabic, Chinese domain names
ICANN meets in Seoul, South Korea this week, and top of the agenda are proposals to allow web addresses in non-Latin script, opening the way for Japanese, Arabic and other web addresses. The week-long meeting is expected to approve an initial limited use of "International Domain Names" before the end of the year. Rod …
Telecoms 26 Oct 15:18
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Exoplanets dubbed 'Vulcan', 'Romulus' and 'Female Pigeon'
Wings slightly fall off cunning mythological plan
A planet formation expert has decided he's not happy with the International Astronomical Union's insistence that exoplanets will be known solely by their "assigned scientific designation", and has come up with names for the 403 such bodies discovered to date. Wladimir Lyra chillingly made "extensive use of Wikipedia" to find …
Space 26 Oct 15:31
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Dell unveils exclusive Microsoft-branded Ubuntu OS
Mix up a penguin
Dell is currently flogging a cheap-as-chips netbook that apparently comes loaded with that well-known Microsoft operating system, Ubuntu 8.04. Anyone dropping in on the computer maker's UK product website will be able to buy an Intel-based Inspiron Mini 10 laptop for £199 a pop. And, according to the blurb on the site, one …
PCs & Chips 26 Oct 15:33
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Reg readers take mobile makers to task
Survey reveals what mobile phone users really want
When Freeform Dynamics asked you for your opinion of your mobile phone, you didn’t hesitate to give it to us. Both barrels, in some cases. We asked you a bunch of multiple-choice questions which delivered some interesting statistical information. But we also asked you to comment here and there. Your replies gave us some real …
Mobile 26 Oct 15:40
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Guardian in hot water over activist face flash
Scores own goal by using police arguments to defend self
An exposé of dodgy police tactics came under fire today from the very people it was intended to benefit – as activists accused The Guardian of disregarding personal privacy, and then using the same arguments as the police to justify what they had done. The front page of today’s Guardian carries a reproduction of a real police …
Policing 26 Oct 15:45
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Palm Pixi out next month
Pared down Pre
The Palm Pixi will be launched next month, it has been confirmed. A low-end alternative to the Pre – reviewed here - Pixi was unveiled on 9 September. But it has taken US carrier Sprint until today to confirm that the phone will be available in North America from 15 November. Customers willing to sign a two-year service …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 15:54
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Nokia already planning second-gen Booklet 3G?
First one should be over here by Christmas
Nokia’s first netbook hasn’t even hit the UK yet, but rumours are already circulating that the Finnish phone firm has designed a second model. Nokia's Booklet 3G: already available in Germany According to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report cited by DigiTimes, Nokia hopes to take advantage of its current netbook …
Reg Hardware 26 Oct 16:38
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Accused NASA spy billed US gov for swimming pool upkeep
Court documents unsealed...a bit late
The former NASA scientist who was arrested last week for attempted espionage had earlier pleaded guilty to over-billing the US space agency and Department of Defense to pay his personal credit card debt and maintain a pool, according to court documents unsealed Friday. Stewart Nozette was arrested in a sting where he allegedly …
Government 26 Oct 17:09
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Yahoo! nukes GeoCities
Build-you-own debuilt
Yahoo! is demolishing GeoCities today, a decade after acquiring the ticky-tacky build-your-own-website service for $3.57bn in stock. In April, the company announced plans to raze the service and stopped accepting new users. "We have decided to discontinue the process of allowing new customers to sign up for GeoCities accounts …
Music and Media 26 Oct 17:10
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Obama's White House web gets all open sourcy
It's a, er, magic, um, programming language
Barack Obama's White House website has switched to an open-source content management system, ditching the proprietary CMS used by the Dubya administration. The move was announced with a phone call to an Associated Press reporter on Saturday, hours before the White House flipped the switch on its new CMS, which includes "social …
Government 26 Oct 19:19
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Shuttleworth stretches Ubuntu from netbooks to heavens
Koala as a platform
Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and the marketing machine that is Microsoft are tough acts to follow. But Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu Linux project, is relieved that Windows 7 is out. Now, Ubuntu 9.10 - which is arguably the best desktop Linux released by the project and supported by Canonical, the commercial …
Operating Systems 26 Oct 19:37
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IBM bites hard into business analytics
Information-led transformation
IBM is betting business analytics software will be the next big wave hitting IT in the next decade, as more companies seek to cut costs by plumbing and optimizing all the data they're sitting on. With high hopes for the market, Big Blue trundled out a major expansion of its analytics portfolio on Monday during its annual …
Applications 26 Oct 21:32
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Microsoft uncorks Outlook, world goes .pst
One day, your data will roam free
Microsoft is opening up the data format that underpins Outlook. With a Monday morning blog post, the company announced it's now very interested in Outlook data moving among third-party applications. "Data portability has become an increasing need for our customers and partners as more information is stored and shared in …
Developer 26 Oct 21:35
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Los Alamos super reports for nuke duty
Going classified
Well, recess is over for the "Roadrunner" massively parallel supercomputer running at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It is time to get on with nuclear simulations that circumvent the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Today, Los Alamos announced that the Roadrunner super - which is a clustered blade server that mixes Opteron-based …
HPC 26 Oct 21:45
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IBM boffins unfurl mobile browser reading map
Simple pleasures for small screens
Mobile web browsing is indisputably a tech on the rise, but cruising the internet while clutching a tiny handheld remains a far more frustrating endeavor than on a traditional PC. A team of IBM researchers in Japan are tinkering with a technology that could possibly help ease the endless scrolling, pinching, and tapping …
Mobile 26 Oct 22:39
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Greenpeace wags finger at eco-laggards
But lays off Apple
Greenpeace has released its latest "Cool IT" report ranking which tech firms are doing most to combat global warming and reduce emissions, and which are failing to rise to the challenge. The group urged companies to use the upcoming Copenhagen Climate summit to take action to improve things. Melanie Francis, Greenpeace …
Environment 26 Oct 23:02
