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26th January 2010 Archive

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  • Sun's Schwartz finished under Ellison?

    Too many CEOs 'round here

    Jonathan Schwartz is reportedly getting ready to quit Sun Microsystems, four years after being given the job of putting the giant on a course for success. According to All Things D, Sun's chief executive will "soon" resign from Sun, leaving the company in the hands of new owner Oracle. Oracle would not comment. But it would …

    Applications 26 Jan 2010, 00:17

  • Motorola seeks ban on US BlackBerries

    We have patents on your fruit

    Motorola is hoping to convince US trade regulators to ban the sale and import of certain BlackBerry phones, which it claims infringe on several patents. The handset maker said Friday it has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), asking for an investigation into RIM's alleged unlicensed use of five …

    Phones 26 Jan 2010, 00:30

  • AOL seeds future with video buy

    Finds $37m after December layoffs

    Still-existing web outfit AOL has spent $36.5 million to acquire StudioNow, a Nashville-based startup that builds online video platforms for other companies. AOL intends to work StudioNow's mojo into Seed.com, the company's media clearinghouse launched last year shortly after the 26-year-old internet company was spun-off from …

    Financial News 26 Jan 2010, 06:02

  • Red Hat sponsors open source religion

    More than code wants to be free

    Commercial Linux distributor Red Hat started out as a catalog business peddling Linux and Unix software and started tucking a homegrown Linux created by Marc Ewing in the back of the catalogs. It didn't take long to realize that the Linux was worth more than the catalog business, and thus the poster child for the commercialized …

    Operating Systems 26 Jan 2010, 06:02

  • German court finds parent liable for child's file-sharing

    Someone's going straight to bed

    Parents can be legally responsible for the unlawful behaviour of their children using home internet connections, a German court has ruled. It said that a woman had a duty to monitor the use to which her internet connection was put. German law firm Dr Bahr has published details of the case, which was heard by the Higher …

    Law 26 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • SourceForge bars 5 nations from open source downloads

    Some countries more equal than others

    Open-source code repository SourceForge.net has begun automatically blocking the internet addresses of users from countries such as Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, and Syria in an attempt to enforce a policy forbidding them from downloading free software. The move infuriated many purists of the free and open-source software …

    Software 26 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • IBM attempts Google Vulcan death grip

    The future of Notes is Wave

    Another Lotusphere is behind us, with news for IBM's business hivemind and collaboration software aplenty. But why does Big Blue host its shindig way over in Orlando, Florida, when it's easier to peek at Google's portfolio on the other coast? Lotusphere 2010 was a bit unusual in that it didn't completely revolve around the …

    Applications 26 Jan 2010, 08:02

  • Apple tablet wins open source Appceleration

    Webdesktopmobile kit hooks into Jobsian fable

    Appcelerator - the Silicon Valley outfit whose open source Titanium platform lets you build desktop and mobile apps with web-happy development tools - has announced that the platform will soon generate native runtimes for "the new Apple tablet." On Wednesday, Steve Jobs and company will unveil "a major new product," and …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2010, 08:02

  • Adultery website boosted by Christian publicity campaign

    What would Jesus do? Get on Facebook, definitely

    A purportedly Christian man claims to be running a campaign against a website which offers dates for married people. Jon Kurht claims to work for a Christian charity in London and has already had one complaint about a maritalaffair.co.uk billboard rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority. He has now started a Facebook …

    Bootnotes 26 Jan 2010, 08:47

  • MPs probe Climategate

    If you can't stand the heat...

    The UK Parliament will examine the 'Climategate' affair, probing issues raised by the public release of source code and correspondence from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU). It sounds like the enquiry may have teeth. MPs will: Examine the hacked email exchanges, other relevant email exchanges and …

    Science 26 Jan 2010, 09:02

  • Apple: iPhone App and iTunes stores don't make money

    How to hook a fanboi

    Apple's App Store and iTunes Store aren't moneymakers. They're lures for prospective handset customers. Although Apple's online content and app marts have long been suspected of being more marketing arms than profit centers, CFO Peter Oppenheimer made that belief a certainty on Monday afternoon when speaking with analysts and …

    Phones 26 Jan 2010, 09:02

  • HMRC warned on wrong tax codes

    Check your letter

    The Inland Revenue should be doing more to warn people about wrong tax codes - with 25m being sent out this year there are bound to be more errors than usual. The Chartered Institute of Taxation is calling for a big advertising campaign to warn people to check new codes and put more resources into dealing with queries from the …

    Government 26 Jan 2010, 09:17

  • Smut-peddling hackers pwn TechCrunch

    Updated Tech site back up off the canvas

    Popular technology site TechCrunch was hit by potty-mouth hackers late on Monday, leaving the site temporarily unavailable. A notice on TechCrunch.com's front page on Tuesday morning explains that "TechCrunch.com was compromised by a security exploit". Access to the site's story archive has been suspended leaving a two para …

    Security 26 Jan 2010, 09:54

  • Adobe processor price switch riles developers

    Thanks for the beta input

    Programmers are shocked and angered by a change to how Adobe charges for its LiveCycle Data Services 3.0, raising questions over their continued loyalty to Flex. Pricing for the freshly-minted LCDS has been branded unaffordable with non-enterprise IT shops canceling projects. Adobe has introduced what amounts to a $30,000 …

    Developer 26 Jan 2010, 10:02

  • Remember CVE? Say hello to CVN

    Cisco, VMware and NetApp start their own gang

    Move over EMC: NetApp is also partnering with Cisco and VMware. In an imitation of the CVE (Cisco, VMware and EMC) vBlock integrated stack concept, Cisco, NetApp and VMware have settled on an integrated stack architecture - without the orderable integrated blocks of product and an Acadia-like entity. The CVN coterie have …

    Storage 26 Jan 2010, 10:12

  • Where to start with unified comms

    On Demand A check list for success

    Unified communications can on one level look like an enormously challenging project – a huge amorphous blob of cables, PBX’s, switches and user requirements and lots of user requirements. Assuming you can untangle that lot, however, there’s still some pretty big fish to fry. How do you get someone to sign off a project that is …

    Tech Panel 26 Jan 2010, 10:19

  • 'Cyber Genome Project' kicked off by DARPA

    The code you write - it'll be as traceable as your DNA

    Applecart-bothering Pentagon boffinry bureau DARPA is at it again. This time, the military scientists want to establish a "Cyber Genome" project which will allow any digital artifact - a document, a piece of malware - to be probed to its very origins. According to an announcement put out yesterday by DARPA, the "Cyber Genome …

    Security 26 Jan 2010, 10:22

  • 'You own the road!': Google gets spanking from media giant

    'Go buy another car', responds Mountain View

    Google chief legal officer David Drummond was on the receiving end of an unexpected mugging yesterday, as the CEO of Burda Media - one of Germany's largest and most successful publishing companies - tore into the Jolly G Giant, accusing it of controlling the market, lack of transparency and, effectively, running off with the …

    Media 26 Jan 2010, 10:28

  • The DoD's very cloudy thinking over Gmail

    Let's get physical

    In the wake of the Google vs. China dustup, we’re starting to see some discussion of the greater implications for computing, both in general and the cloudy Google way. The fact that some Gmail accounts were accessed by hackers looking for dissidents raises some questions about the security of Gmail specifically and the entire …

    HPC 26 Jan 2010, 10:35

  • Solicitor General takes fresh pop at PunterNet

    Baird blasts web-based brass band

    The website PunterNet, which provides a forum for sex workers and clients in the UK, was singled out for a slapping last autumn by Harriet Harman. Naturally the site saw its figures rocket as it was brought to wider attention. The government is now gunning for it again, but who'll benefit this time? It's not hard to see why …

    Law 26 Jan 2010, 10:50

  • 'Aurora' code circulated for years on English sites

    Updated Where's the China connection?

    An error-checking algorithm found in software used to attack Google and other large companies circulated for years on English-speakinglanguage books and websites, casting doubt on claims it provided strong evidence that the malware was written by someone inside the People's Republic of China. The smoking gun said to tie Chinese …

    Security 26 Jan 2010, 11:02

  • DHS 'brainiacs' to commercialise airport liquids-OK scanner

    'Washington feels your pain', apparently

    The US Department of Homeland Security says that its "government brainiacs" are on the verge of rolling out an airport bag scanner which would avoid the need to separate frustrated travellers from their "liquids, gels, sprays" and even "spreads". Fearless and surprisingly unbuttoned inhouse investigative journal DHS Science …

    Science 26 Jan 2010, 11:23

  • Analysts predict early upturn this year for tech deals

    Tentative revival to follow last year's collapse

    The number of technology company mergers and acquisitions fell by 60% and the value of those deals by 52% last year, according to figures produced by consulting form PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Though deal-making slumped to levels last seen in 2003, PWC analysts have claimed that UK deals will soon pick up in number and …

    Financial News 26 Jan 2010, 11:34

  • Oz eyes Chinese cane toad market

    Amphibious pest to supply traditional remedies

    An Australian businessman has come up with a rather brilliant way of tackling the country's cane toad plague: sell the amphibious pest to the Chinese. While it's not well regarded in the Lucky Country, the cane toad (Bufo marinus) is "a popular ingredient in a range of traditional medicines in China", the BBC explains. Its …

    Science 26 Jan 2010, 11:45

  • IDC raises PC chip forecast as AMD claws back share

    What recession?

    AMD has clawed back some share from Intel, as the PC processor market breaks free of recession and returns to normal seasonal patterns, according to IDC. The figures were strong enough to prompt the firm to up its forecasts for the year ahead. The research firm's latest figures show total shipments in the fourth quarter were …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2010, 12:00

  • Belkin Home Base

    Review Printers, hard drives etc on your WLAN

    There is no shortage of wireless routers that will let you hook up a printer and maybe some USB storage too and make them available to anyone on the network. If your router lacks this ability, there are plenty of gadgets that will add it by bridging USB to an Ethernet port. The downside of either approach will be instantly …

    Broadband 26 Jan 2010, 12:02

  • HP talks up slate launch

    Later this year and (well?) under $1500

    HP has confirmed plans to launch a tablet later this year, hinting that the machine will cost considerably less than $1500 (£930). The PC giant teamed up with Microsoft to unveil the tablet – currently unofficially referred to as the HP Slate – at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month. Phil McKinney, CTO of HP …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2010, 12:03

  • Dell bulks up on EMC products

    Spread a little OEM

    Dell will supply additional EMC products this year, confounding speculation that ties between the two were weakening. It's been noted by analysts such as Stifel Niklaus' Aaron Rakers that Dell could be selling relatively fewer EMC CLARiiON drive arrays as its EqualLogic iSCSI SAN business booms. This has prompted thoughts …

    Storage 26 Jan 2010, 12:13

  • Fujitsu workers take strike to Parliament

    No more job cuts

    Fujitsu workers will go to Parliament tomorrow - the next day of industrial action at the firm. The strike started with one day of action last Friday, with 454 Unite members walking out. Workers want Fujitsu to do more to avoid further redundancies - 100 more job losses are expected at the company. They also seek an end to …

    Financial News 26 Jan 2010, 12:29

  • Aurora-style attacks swiped oil find data from energy giants

    Social networks implicated in planning Google assault

    At least three US oil giants were hit by cyberattacks aimed at stealing secrets, in the months before the high-profile Operation Aurora attacks against Google, Adobe et al in December. Targeted attacks against Marathon Oil, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil took place in 2008 and followed the same pattern as the later Aurora …

    Security 26 Jan 2010, 12:32

  • German retailer Tweets iPad details

    If only it had...

    German electronics retail giant Media Markt has Twittered the price of the iPad - and said when the tablet will launch in Europe. Or has it? According to the post, we should expect to pay €499 (£434) if you buy the iPad through a mobile phone network, or €899 (£781) on its own, unsubsidised. The device will go on sale on 1 …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2010, 12:39

  • New inside out hover-magnet fusion reactor debuts at MIT

    'Turbulent pincher' to bitchslap tokamaks, pellet-lasers?

    MIT boffins this week have taken the wraps off a new kind of nuclear fusion reactor, different from the humdrum tokamaks and laser-ignition chambers which have thus far offered such disappointing results. The new kit is called the Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX), and features a half-ton magnetic doughnut suspended in midair …

    Science 26 Jan 2010, 12:55

  • Entire UK will be on ID database sometime in next 3 millennia

    If it was down to them, that is

    Applications to join the ID card register are running at 50 a day, meaning the Labour government will achieve its aim of chipping the entire population of these islands in somewhere between 136 and 3,342 years. Or never, if the Tories live up to their promises and kill the scheme should they get into power. In a series of …

    Government 26 Jan 2010, 13:01

  • Large minority of users fancy touchscreen PCs

    Survey signals good news for Jobs?

    Almost a third of notebook PC users and more than a quarter of desktop PC owners are keen to have a touchscreen on their next computer. Market watcher Canalys talked to 4000-odd phone and PC users in various European countries and found that while touchscreens are a minority interest, it's a big minority. Survey subjects were …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2010, 13:21

  • Chinese Avatards scale Hallelujah Mountain

    Tourist chiefs rebrand peak in honour of sci-fi epic

    Chinese tourist bosses in Hunan Province have jumped energetically onto the Avatar bandwagon by renaming a peak in honour of the paradigm-busting sci-fi epic. Earlier this week, the South Pillar of Heaven (南天一柱, in case you're wondering), located in the Zhangjiajie "Scenic Spot", officially became "Hallelujah Mountain" - a nod …

    Bootnotes 26 Jan 2010, 13:22

  • Panasonic intros compact camera foursome

    The sexy shooter, the tough guy, the ultra-portable and the cheapskate

    Panasonic has kicked off 2010 by refreshing its compact camera line-up, launching four models to cater for everyone from first-time shooters to photography feature fanatics. TZ10 The Lumix DMC-TZ10 included all the usual shooting features – such as face detection, geo-tagging and 720p video capture – you'd expect on such a …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2010, 13:30

  • Dunstone vows to bash Tories on filesharing laws

    And the record labels can shove their partnerships

    TalkTalk boss Charles Dunstone has promised to continue his firm's campaign against laws meant to reduce illegal filesharing under a Conservative government, despite being friend of David Cameron. Dunstone today hosted a reception within sight of Parliament as part of TalkTalk's "Don't Disconnect Us" campaign, aiming to …

    Broadband 26 Jan 2010, 13:46

  • Huffington Post retweets all of Twitter

    Microblog confusion causes online huff

    US political blog The Huffington Post republished everything that appeared on Twitter last night. The blog has now removed the content and added this rather cryptic message: HuffPost is building a directory to help our audience discover and follow the very best Twitter users. The feature is currently being tested and will …

    Media 26 Jan 2010, 13:54

  • StopBadware morphs into standalone non-profit

    Anti-Malware Inc backed by Google and Mozilla

    StopBadware, the anti-malware project started four years ago at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, has spread its wings and become a standalone nonprofit corporation. Google, PayPal and Mozilla provided initial (unspecified) funding to get StopBadware Inc up and running. Maxim Weinstein, StopBadware …

    Security 26 Jan 2010, 14:15

  • Spanish towns vie for nuclear dump prize

    Mixed local reaction to controversial 'cemetery' bid

    The Catalonian town of Ascó yesterday voted to bid for a controversial €700m nuclear waste dump, joining Yebra in Castilla-La Mancha as the second candidate to date* for the lucrative honour of storing the spent output of Spain's nuclear power programme. The town council, with widespread local support, voted seven to two in …

    Science 26 Jan 2010, 14:40

  • IBM's monster tape will take three days to fill

    35TB cartridge poses whole new set of problems

    IBM Research has devised technology with FujiFilm to create a 35TB capacity tape, but it will take 3 days to write the data at LTO5 speeds. The new hyper-capacity half inch tape technology has been successfully read and written at a 29.5bn bits/sq in areal density, which means a tape capacity of 35TB according to the …

    Storage 26 Jan 2010, 14:57

  • Top Gear's Stig prowls Loch Ness

    Street View sighting of elusive motoring beastie

    We're obliged to all those readers who rushed to alert us that The Stig of Top Gear fame has been spotted on the shores of Loch Ness: Of course, no one knows just who The Stig is, but what's clear is that, in common with Judge Dredd, he never takes his helmet off - a fact proved by another sighting early last year at the BBC …

    Bootnotes 26 Jan 2010, 15:01

  • Orange serves up Monkey's brains to advertisers

    Updated Painting Orange customers Blyk

    Orange has launched a new advertising platform, aimed at advertisers wanting to exploit customers on its Monkey tariff, using technology inherited from Blyk. "Orange Shots" is based on the platform developed by Blyk for the latter's advertising-supported free-calls service, the UK part of which was hosted by Orange until it …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2010, 15:40

  • EMC emerges from recession doldrums

    Back to square one, in the good way

    EMC is emerging from the recession, with revenues back to where they were a year ago, but higher quarterly profits. The company recorded $4.1bn revenues for its fourth 2009 quarter which was just two per cent higher than the $4.02bn recorded in 2008's last quarter. However, without increased VMware revenues - $607m compared to …

    Virtualization 26 Jan 2010, 15:53

  • Apple's Tablet won't save Big Dumb Media

    Where there's Steve, there's hope

    There are many harmless and very entertaining pages on the internet devoted to speculative history, some of which are devoted to Moses' Ark of the Covenant. It was apparently some kind of electrical apparatus. Possibly involving fusion. It performed magic. It transformed the destiny of people who used it wisely. Now I doubt if …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2010, 16:28

  • Windows Mobile 7 to arrive on HTC smartphone?

    Touch Diamond 3 uncovered

    HTC’s Touch Diamond 2 bagged the Editor’s Choice award among Register Hardware’s top Windows Mobile smartphone of 2009. But it appears the firm is already working on a successor, this time designed to run Windows Mobile 7. The successor will be known as both the HTC Diamond 3 and the Obsession. HTC had planned to launch the …

    Phones 26 Jan 2010, 16:30

  • Nokia's X6 now Doesn’t Come With Music

    Phone’s storage upped, free music ditched

    Nokia has updated its X6 Comes With Music (CWM) handset with a rehashed model that... er... doesn’t come with music. The Finnish phone giant unveiled its X-series handset line – the successor to its established XpressMusic range — in September 2009. Nokia's X6 now comes with...just 16GB The X6 was the first model and came …

    Phones 26 Jan 2010, 16:35

  • Symantec dishes equal backup dedupe portions

    Backup Exec and NetBackup both happy

    Symantec is delivering on last year's deduplication promises by adding client/server and media server deduplication to its two backup products, NetBackup 7 and Backup Exec 2010. Backup Exec 2010 is claimed by Symantec to be the first backup and recovery product to offer granular recovery of Microsoft Exchange, SQL and Active …

    Storage 26 Jan 2010, 16:37

  • Red Hat mulls BI strategy as Oracle overlords close in on Java

    Who's the JBoss daddy?

    Red Hat is looking to fill gaps in its increasingly burgeoning portfolio of software goodies by declaring it may soon get into the BI game. The company’s JBoss CTO Mark Little told journalists at a press event in London this morning that plans were afoot to develop software for that market. He would not be pushed, however, on …

    Developer 26 Jan 2010, 16:45

  • Teen attacks father in Fifa 2009 fight

    Argument over 'non-violent videogame' prompts stabbing

    Critics often blame violent videogames when any youth who owns a console steals or stabs. But a teenager in Italy has proven that violent games aren’t always the driver for physical brutality. The perhaps aptly-named Mario – aged 16 and from Rome – allegedly stabbed his father with a kitchen knife earlier this week following …

    Games 26 Jan 2010, 17:00

  • Voltaire pairs InfiniBand and Ethernet

    Why can't we all just get along?

    Network convergence may be all the rage, but the reality is that many shops have a mix of Ethernet and InfiniBand networks. Voltaire wants to sell customers - particularly those running financial trading systems or parallel database clusters - one box that will span both kinds of networks, and hence the Grid Director 4036E. …

    Data Networking 26 Jan 2010, 17:03

  • HP to appeal over potentially massive BSkyB ruling

    Judge delivers verdict in '£700m' contract case

    BSkyB has claimed victory in its long-running contract dispute with EDS, the services giant now owned by HP. A ruling was delivered to the firms today, and it is believed that the ruling accepts one of BSkyB's five claims, while rejecting the other four. However, British TV firm BSkyB sees this as a vindication of its claims …

    Management 26 Jan 2010, 17:49

  • Amazon EC2 watcher kick-starts cloud of clouds

    Six clouds. One kick

    Cloudkick - the San Francisco startup that recently spied a latency slowdown on Amazon's sky-high Elastic Compute Cloud - has officially launched its eponymous cloud-management service, a means of juggling server instances across Amazon EC2 and similar on-demand compute offerings. You might call it a cloud of clouds. When the …

    Servers 26 Jan 2010, 19:07

  • Microsoft yanks leaked Windows Mobile 6.5 tools

    Wait for it, wait for it...

    Microsoft has quickly withdrawn a test version of the Windows Mobile 6.5 software development kit (SDK), after it was accidentally posted to the web on Friday. The SDK contained documentation, sample code, header, and library files; emulator images; and tools to build applications in Visual Studio 2008 Professional and 2005 …

    Developer 26 Jan 2010, 19:21

  • Novell beefs software appliance kit

    How to harden SUSE Linux

    Novell says that its SUSE Appliance Toolkit is ready for primetime. Today, the company released an expanded version of the kit - used to create software appliances based on the SUSE distribution of Linux - giving software vendors and corporations a set of tools that were missing from the appliance making service SUSE Studio and …

    Applications 26 Jan 2010, 19:30

  • IBM reloads Sun poaching gun

    New kit for the Oracle-phobic

    With the European Union finally giving approval to Oracle's $7.4bn acquisition of Sun Microsystems last week, IBM is stepping up efforts to exploit any untapped feelings of uncertainty in shops using Sun iron. On Tuesday, IBM announced the addition of new software to its four-year-old “Migration Factory” vendor poaching …

    Applications 26 Jan 2010, 19:48

  • Google's Voice speaks from iPhone

    If you can't beat 'em, web 'em

    Google has launched a new app that give US-based iPhone and Palm Prē and Pixi users access to its Google Voice service. But no, it's not the long-awaited Google Voice app for the iPhone that Apple has yet to approve for inclusion in its App Store. This Google Voice is an HTML5 web app, accessible through the iPhone's Safari …

    Phones 26 Jan 2010, 20:36

  • Google to ape Apple with Nexus One 3G patch

    The sincerest form of flattery

    Google's Nexus One is following in the iPhone's footsteps. Its 3G connectivity is spotty, and Google is hurrying a patch, just as Apple was forced to do when it introduced the iPhone 3G. Thanks to some sharp eyes at Cnet's Deep Tech, we've been alerted to a blog post in the Nexus One help forum in which an apologetic Googler …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2010, 22:06

  • Defects in e-passports allow real-time tracking

    This threat brought to you by RFID

    Computer scientists in Britain have uncovered weaknesses in electronic passports issued by the US, UK, and some 50 other countries that allow attackers to trace the movements of individuals as they enter or exit buildings. The so-called traceability attack is the only exploit of an e-passport that allows attackers to remotely …

    Security 26 Jan 2010, 22:07

  • NASA's Spirit rover stuck for good

    Starts new life as stationary robot

    Spirit's days of wandering the Martian landscape are over, as NASA resigns itself to leaving the bogged-down rover in place to survive the Red Planet's winter. The space agency said Tuesday that it's ending efforts to extricate the robot from the loose soil where it's been trapped since April. Spirit will instead continue to …

    Science 26 Jan 2010, 23:05