· Dell promises replacement keyboards for wonky laptops
Sorry for shaifting your PC
Dell has apologised to customers after shipping a batch of its Vostro laptops with the wrong keyboard layout.…
· Live Mesh: Hailstorm take 2?
Give it a fair crack
Keep an open mind, says Spolsky, in a rant about both unwanted mega-architectures, and the way big companies snaffle up all the best coders.…
· Regulator gets power to fine for data breaches
Who will be first to pony up?
The Information Commissioner's Office now has the power to fine organisations which deliberately or recklessly commit serious breaches of the Data Protection Act.… 
· FBI probe discover counterfeit kit in US military networks
Operation Cisco Raider gets arrests
An FBI probe has uncovered the use of counterfeit networking kit by the US military, but subsequent investigations suggest a counterfeit ring more interested in money making - rather than espionage - was behind the scam.…
· WiMAX gets EU harmonisation at 2.6GHz
Intel buys up Swedish airwaves
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has started the approvals process for WiMAX to be officially recognised as a 2.6GHz technology, though Intel's bid for Swedish airwaves provides more substantial evidence of deployment plans.…
· DWP still sending out passwords and discs together
Government data not secure? Shurely some mistake?
The Department for Work and Pensions is still sending out discs containing confidential data together with passwords.…
· Retailers risk libel nightmare over 'no-work' database
A nation of suspicious shopkeepers
Shop staff who have been sacked or resigned while under suspicion of dodgy behaviour could soon struggle to find work, as some of the UK's top retailers are set to share information online about their employment history.…
· NGO attacks Apple's lack of action on climate change
Mac maker's green credentials rotting?
Apple’s MacBook Air may have received the thumbs-up from Greenpeace, but the iPhone maker should be avoided by the "climate-conscious consumer", a new eco survey claims.…
· Windows XP SP3 sends PCs into endless reboot
That Groundhog Day feeling, again
Microsoft's service pack three (SP3) for Windows XP has caused havoc on hundreds of PCs, just hours after it was released as an automatic update.… 
· US: BAE 'could have' pirated our secret Stealth 3.0 tech sauce
Arms globocorp enters grey zone?
Global arms and aerospace colossus BAE Systems this week released a high-profile audit into its internal ethics and served it up with a big slice of humble pie as it promised to be a better corporate citizen in future.…
· Vista security credentials tarnished in malware survey
Better off with a Win 2000 box
Windows Vista is better at protecting against malware than XP but more easily infected than Windows 2000, according to a study by Australian anti-virus firm PC Tools.…
· Office 2007 SP1 goes automatic for the people
'Huddled masses yearning to breathe free'
Microsoft will start automatically pumping out its first service packs for the Office 2007 suite next month.…
· Compulsory lobby register moves closer
EU Parliament calls for Book of Fat Lunch
A compulsory register of lobby companies revealing which companies or organisations are paying their bills comes a step nearer today.…
· Iubi Blue personal media player
Not a bad box of tricks
Review Anyone after a portable 30GB media player is quite possibly going to end up with either a Cowon A3 or the Archos 605, both of which we liked. Many might argue, however, that list should also include the Iubi Blue.…
· Fujitsu develops world's first hi-def train simulator
Going loco - virtually
Writing down the number of the 10.47 to Chichester standing in the freezing cold is fine, but now you can pretend to be the actual train driver, thanks to Fujitsu, which has developed the world’s first HD virtual railway.… 
· Toshiba to ship laptops with Cell-based GPUs this year
And putting PS3 processor into TVs in 2009
Toshiba has pledged to begin selling notebooks equipped with its oddly named SpursEngine graphics chip this year. SpursEngine is based on the technology that powers the PlayStation 3's Cell processor.…
· Irish data protection chief in leaked report 'hack'
Man bites watchdog
Updated There's red faces at the office of the Data Protection Commissioner this morning after a blogger lifted an upcoming official report off its website and published it early.…
· MPs say shared service sums 'don't add up'
Cabinet Office's claim 'flimsy'
MPs say that the Cabinet Office's claim that government could save £1.4bn a year through sharing corporate services is a "flimsy estimate at best".…
· Swiss ponder the 'dignity of plants'
Biotech guidelines tackle thorny issue
A Swiss government ethics committee has issued guidelines on the thorny issue of the "dignity of plants" in relation to biotech research after the country's 2004 Gene Technology Law declared that "the dignity of creatures" should be considered in any grant-funded research.…
· Rowling ruling bolsters privacy chief's view of data protection
Auto-breach
The Court of Appeal's ruling in JK Rowling's privacy case confirms that a breach of other laws can result in an automatic breach of the Data Protection Act, an expert has said.… 
· EDF circles British nuclear powerplant sites
Buys farmland to secure juice futures
French nuclear energy colossus EDF, which also operates various types of non-nuclear generation in the UK, has been buying up farmland close to existing British nuke plants.…
· Local mag claims Aussie Eee PC buyers will pay extra for Linux
'Generous' Microsoft charging less for Windows XP?
In a move that's going leave local Linux buffs alleging Asus has been handsomely rewarded by Microsoft, the computer maker is to charge less for the Windows version of the Eee PC 900 in Australia than the version using the open source OS.…
· Barclays Capital slashes contractor rates by 10%
IT workers get credit crunched
Barclays Capital is forcing its IT contractors to choose between a 10 per cent pay cut or a quick exit from the company.…
· NZ bank robber stashes loot where the sun don't shine
'Bottom area' rustling gives game away
A NZ bank robber who stashed the NZ$2,000 proceeds of a heist up his tradesman's entrance was fingered by "rustling sounds" from his "bottom area", the Southland Times reports.…
· Sun Java chief to developers: 'We're genetic freaks'
Time to change your definition of 'application'
JavaOne Todd Fast, chief architect in Sun Microsystems' Java Enterprise tools group, took a big gulp of Web 2.0 Kool-Aid at JavaOne while telling professional developers they must embrace a broader definition of "application" if they are to take advantage of the current sea change in the way software is built and delivered.…
· Texas graverobbers 'used skull to smoke dope'
Three cuffed over morbid tale
Houston Police Department is investigating a teenager's claim that he and two accomplices desecrated the grave of an 11-year-old boy, severed his skull, and subsequently used it as a bong to smoke marijuana, the Houston Chronicle reports.…
· Microsoft orders 65nm Xbox 360 graphics chip
'Jasper' to break Red Ring of Death?
Claims the next incarnation of the Xbox 360's internal workings is due to begin being built into the console in August appear to be on track. Microsoft was this week said to have placed orders with chip and motherboard makers.…
· MWg specs up 2008 handset roadmap
Windows Mobile 7 device en-route
The Mobile and Wireless Group (MWg) has given Register Hardware a sneak peek at four upcoming handsets, including its first Windows Mobile 7 device, during the official launch of the firm's two latest handsets: the Atom V and Zinc II.… 
· 'Great tits cope well with warming'
BBC secures Headline of the Week
It's beers all round for the BBC this morning who've outregged El Reg leader writers with this deliciously suggestive offering:…
· Rock Group goes titsup
Staff theft leads to cashflow problems
Updated Rock Group PLC is in the hands of administrators who are trying to sell the UK notebook maker as a going concern.…
· When flash mobs go bad
Facebook water fight soaks up thousands of pounds of damage
An open invitation on Facebook to hold a massive water fight in Leeds has resulted in thousands of pounds worth of damage to its prize winning public garden.…
· Wanted: Americans to join Al Qaeda
Net is recruiting sergeant, senators warn
Al-Qaeda is getting better at using the Internet to tempt Americans into joining their cause. And that increases the threat of homegrown terrorism in the US, a Senate committee warned today.…
· AMD boss keeps schtum on manufacturing restructure
Meeting doglegs to pointlessness
AMD's annual shareholder meeting today could have been an excellent time to elaborate on the company's plan to reverse course from an extremely rough 2007.…
· Oracle sharpens axe for BEA layoffs
Four portals, two application servers, no future
Oracle is Friday expected to start laying off at least 500 staff, eliminating duplication across product engineering and management, following its $8.5bn acquisition of BEA Systems.…
· India and Belgium decry Chinese cyber attacks
Join the ranks
Belgium and India have joined the growing ranks of countries voicing concerns about cyber attacks originating from China. Earlier this week, officials from both countries said computer networks inside their borders are routinely targeted by hackers trying to ferret information that could benefit the Chinese government.…
· Hitachi slips past Fujitsu with speedy 320GB laptop drive
7,200rpm, 2.5-inch drive out-firsts 'world's first'
Hitachi is updating its TravelStar laptop hard drive range with a more capacious 320GB disk that spins at 7,200rpm.…
· I Was A Teenage Bot Master
The Confessions of SoBe Owns
Exclusive One day in May 2005, a 16-year-old hacker named SoBe opened his front door to find a swarm of FBI agents descending on his family's three-story house in Boca Raton, Florida. With an arm and leg in casts from a recent motorcycle accident, one agent grabbed his good arm while others seized thousands of dollars worth of computers, video game consoles and other electronics. His parents looked on.…
· MySpace revs profile transfer engine
Down with the walled garden
MySpace has launched an initiative that will one day allow its social-networking-obsessed users to automatically shuttle their profile data to third-party web sites.…
· Surprise, surprise: F5 is doing something
A storage de-dupe and network acceleration box
According to an IT man from Arizona, F5 is up to something, something good. We've been wondering what it has been doing now that it has acquired Acopia and its file virtualising ARX switch. Well, according to this Arizonan who is familiar with the situation, F5 is developing a single box to replace two that people would need now.…
· Facebook agrees to child-safety measures
Reining in Web 2.0 predators
Facebook has reached an agreement with 50 attorneys general to permanently deploy measures designed to rein in pedophiles and other predators on the social networking site.…
· Why Microhoo! is like, so, totally dead
!!!!! and then, like, !!!!!!
Blog 0.2 Those of you au fait with my traditional morning ritual will know that I normally rise at 5.43am, dip an Indonesian virgin-thigh-rolled organic sesame seed crunch power bar into a cup of sea urchin and gauva infusion, do fifteen minutes Pilates, ensure my beachside condo is feng shui compliant before parsing the latest declaration from a besuited Beastmaster of Redmond currently jollying it up abroad.…
· Interpol appeal unmasks US actor as child abuse suspect
Operation IDent-ification
A man matching the description of a suspected child abuser who became the target of an international manhunt earlier this week has been arrested in the US.…
· MEPs deny sports 'intellectual property' landgrab
Own(ing) goals
Updated MEPs today voted against* a bigger role for intellectual property in sports, stoking a copyright head-to-head between the powerful governing bodies of world sport and the media organisations that seek to report it.…
· Renault F1 comp site spills entrants' details
You will never break the chain
A Grand Prix competition from Renault hit the barriers on Thursday after it emerged that the motoring firm was inadvertently leaking entrants' personal details onto the web.…
· iPlayer to tart up Freesat
Beeb and ITV square up to Sky
iPlayer, the BBC's promiscuous media delivery software, will be available on Freesat within a year, the operator hopes.…
· Britannica opens kimono, reveals widgets
Free access for bloggers
Britannica is opening up its content for use by publishers - including amateurs - but insists it isn't threatened by the world's biggest compendium of unusually-shaped vegetables.*…
· Ofcom lays out wireless roadmap
Planes, trains and automobiles
Ofcom's annual research report, this year entitled The Wireless World of Tomorrow, focuses on how wireless technologies might change the transport and healthcare landscapes over the next 20 years.…
· HSBC in further data loss
Stolen Hong Kong server contained data on 159K
Security-incident prone bank HSBC has admitted losing a server containing transaction data on 159,000 Hong Kong-based account holders.…
· Salesforce boss Benioff pushes cloud
Pours scorn on Microsoft, bear hugs Sir Stelios
Salesforce.com boss Marc Benioff yesterday robustly elaborated on the firm's plans to push yet more services on to the cloud with the official launch of Visualforce.…
· Lancashire plodcopters in laser dazzle outrage outbreak
Blind justice meted out to presentational-aid yob trio
It now appears that laser-pointer pilot dazzle attacks have joined the hilarious satnav-inspired motoring blunder as a staple of news kibble, with the global presentational-aid-related airborne blinding epidemic now devastating the skies above Lancashire.…
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