28th January 2010 Archive

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NewScale spruces IT storefrontware

IT's internal Amazon

newScale - an outfit that offers enterpriseware for cataloging, provisioning, and tracking internal IT stuff - has released a new incarnation of this IT-happy package, dubbed the FrontOffice Suite. Version 9 of the suite includes a new platform - known as the LifecycleCenter - for tracking the entire existence of IT equipment …

IT Director 28 Jan 00:18
Oracle to invest in Sparc iron, clusters

No onesies and twosies

If you were expecting a huge amount of detail on Oracle's plans for Sun processors, servers, and storage products at the five-hour mega-event held in San Francisco today, you'll be disappointed. But if you're a Sun customer, you'll be relieved to know that Oracle at least said it will invest in Sparc and x64 servers, storage, …

Servers 28 Jan 01:18
Cisco offers $250k for your billion dollar idea

And - what the heck - a Flip phone

Ever dream of coming up with the word's next billion-dollar idea – then handing it over to Cisco for a chance to win a 0.025 per cent cut of that billion? Well, now's your next big chance, you silly goose! The network giant has launched its second-ever “I-Prize" contest to tap great business and technology ideas from you, the …

Data Networking 28 Jan 07:02
Oracle murders Sun's copycat Amazon cloud

Back to reality

It took a major acquisition to finally deliver a dose of reality, but Sun Microsystems' me-too Amazon-style cloud is finally dead. On Wednesday, Edward Screven, Oracle's chief corporate architect, said unequivocally that the database giant would not be offering Sun's long-planned and highly-vaunted compute resource service. …

Servers 28 Jan 07:02
3PAR plugs-in more power to VMware

Promises to manage InServes in a jiffy

3PAR is giving more power to VMware administrators to protect, copy and manage virtual server-related data on InServ arrays, with a pair of software plug-ins. 3PAR's Recovery Manager plug-in for vSphere enables VMware admins to rapidly provision new virtual machines (VMs), using VM copies. They can create hundreds of VM-aware …

Virtualization 28 Jan 08:02
Japanese biometric border check no match for, um, tape

Caught sticky handed

Japan's million-dollar biometric immigration screening systems are still no match for a little ingenuity - and some tape. Two South Korean women have been arrested on suspicion of bypassing a cutting-edge fingerprint reading machine and illegally entering Japan by using special tape bearing the fingerprints other people. The …

ID 28 Jan 08:02
Oracle tag teams Solaris and Linux

Virtual togetherness

If you want to know what Oracle's roadmap is for Linux, just watch what Red Hat does. Oracle Enterprise Linux is just a clone of RHEL. Getting a sense of what Oracle really has planned for Solaris - aside from deploying it in SMP systems and clusters - is going to take some time. Oracle's plans for virtualization and system …

Software 28 Jan 09:02
Aussie man convicted for Simpsons smut

What's that Skippy? Lisa's doing what?

A second Australian man has been convicted for possessing computer images of cartoon characters in explicit poses. Kurt James Milner, 28, pleaded guilty to charges of possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to access child exploitation material. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for …

Bootnotes 28 Jan 09:05
Happy Data Protection Day

What do you mean you didn't know?

Today is a special day. No, not iPad day - it's the fourth European Data Protection Day. The European Data Protection Supervisor is trying to show the importance of privacy and data protection. The right to privacy and protection of personal data are recognised as separate and fundamental rights in the EU Charter, backed by …

Government 28 Jan 09:26
UK authorities' inability to seize counterfeits brings EU court referral

Sort it out

The Court of Appeals has asked Europe's highest court to rule on whether UK authorities can seize counterfeit goods passing through the UK and allow brand owners to take legal action against the companies behind the fakes. A haul of 400 fake Nokia phones was seized by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as they passed …

Law 28 Jan 10:02
Logicalis thinks CVN architecture is restrictive

Needs more multi-tenancy tiers and flexible server virtualisation

Logicalis' new cloud service does not appear to support the secure, multi-tenancy architecture announced to a great fanfare by Cisco, NetApp and VMware (CVN) yesterday. It sounds like it should, as Logicalis describes its Cooperative Enterprise Cloud Service as being built on Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) and NetApp …

Virtualization 28 Jan 10:24
Steve Jobs re-invents the portable telly

Analysis And at exactly the right moment

If you don't understand what Apple's iPad is all about, think of it this way: it's a portable TV. You think we jest? Consider. What we call a TV has long become divorced from its original function: to receive and display broadcast pictures. The process of separation began in the 1980s when we started watching pre-recorded …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 10:35
'Tightly bound' stars seen locked in 'diabolic strip waltz'

Lurid Pic Powerful lenses probe bizarre relationship

More news of the stars today: snappers armed with extremely powerful lenses have secured pics of "a very intimate couple", "tightly bound" and "dancing around each other in a diabolic waltz" as the darker, dominant one strips the other. Extragalactic tightly bound intimate diabolic strip waltz action. The pair in question …

Space 28 Jan 10:52
Endeavour good to go on 7 Feb

Last nighttime shuttle launch confirmed

NASA has confirmed that space shuttle Endeavour will blast off on 7 February on its STS-130 mission to the International Space Station, marking the last nighttime shuttle launch before the venerable fleet is retired. Endeavour will depart Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A at 04:39 EST (09:39 GMT) carrying the US's …

Space 28 Jan 11:04
Virtualisation in two years’ time

Lab Anyone have GPS and a good road map?

It is always somewhat tricky forecasting the future, never mind doing so in IT. Even in an area like “virtualisation” it is difficult to give a black and white picture of just what your IT will look like as virtualisation moves beyond the pilots, specific workloads and test/dev environments that today form the technologies' …

Virtualisation Lab 28 Jan 11:13
Regulator sniffs around stonking iPhone game bills

Kids making accidental megabucks calls

UK phone regulator PhonePayPlus has launched an investigation after game-playing iPhone users complained about surprise premium rate call charges. Concerns have focused on a free to download, advertising-supported game called BubbleWrap, developed by Orsome New Zealand and available via Apple's App Store. BubbleWrap comes …

Mobile 28 Jan 11:14
Telcos tuning up for HD Voice

Comment Your throat, but clearer. Eventually. Cost TBA

All the UK's networks are going to be rolling out "HD Voice" over the next year or two, promising to relay every nuance of our words and stop us making calls on the bog. Orange was first up, announcing back in December that it would be rolling out the service over the next year, and 3 has started doing live demonstrations on …

Mobile 28 Jan 11:20
Sky 3D to launch in April

Secret pubs showing 3D footie this weekend

Sky has confirmed that its long-awaited 3D TV channel will launch in April. And the broadcaster plans to kick things off this weekend with 3D footie coverage at nine British boozers. The 3D TV service will work with all existing Sky+ HD boxes and will “initially” be available at no extra cost to customers already signed up to …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 11:31
Seagate pumps £60m into Springtown plant

Next-gen read/write heads

In a bit of cheery news for Ulster, Seagate is pumping £60m into its Springtown, Londonderry, plant to develop next-generation read/write heads. Springtown develops and manufactures the hard disk drive heads using nanoscale technology, and supplies more than a million heads a day. The £60m is made up of £47.3m from Seagate …

Storage 28 Jan 11:42
India eyes man in space by 2016

Confirms $2.76bn mission

India has announced its bid to the fourth nation to put a man in space, and says it'll put a pair of astronauts into a seven-day low-Earth orbit in 2016. According to the International Business Times, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is firming up just what "infrastructure and facilities" the $2.76bn project will …

Space 28 Jan 11:42
Apple iPad to hit UK this March

Prices still a secret

Apple has confirmed that its iPad tablet will appear in Blighty the month after next. A late March UK iPad arrival is all Apple’s European PR team is willing to say for now. The company hasn’t confirmed what the device’s starting price will be, and the March launch is only expected to apply to the Wi-Fi iPad. Even in the US, …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 11:52
Mellanox recovering but wheezing

Good revenue rise, smaller profit

InfiniBand supplier Mellanox is making profits as the recession eases, but much less than before. The company, like competitor Voltaire, is embracing 10gigE alongside InfiniBand, and the greater competition in the Ethernet market means it has to work harder to stay afloat. In its fourth 2009 quarter revenues were $35.5m, a 41 …

Storage 28 Jan 11:57
ISSCC: Home cooking at the wafer bakers

Iron chefs chop their chips

The semi-annual dance of chip technology previews gets its 2010 start at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco two weeks from now, and Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, IBM, Sun Microsystems (soon to be a division of Oracle), and Hitachi are going to be talking up their future chip tech. Intel's chip …

PCs & Chips 28 Jan 12:02
Home Office spawns new unit to expand internet surveillance

Exclusive One acronym to rule them all

The Home Office has created a new unit to oversee a massive increase in surveillance of the internet, The Register has learned, quashing suggestions the plans are on hold until after the election. The new Communications Capabilities Directorate (CCD) has been created as a structure to implement the £2bn Interception …

Government 28 Jan 12:02
Aussie censor balks at bijou boobs

Gets confused about other female bits also

The proposed Australian Government clampdown on smut just got a whole lot broader, as news emerged of a ban on small breasts and female ejaculation in adult material. The end result of this widening of the censor’s net could be the addition of millions of websites to the internet filter now being proposed. Breasts came under …

Law 28 Jan 12:03
Tesco store bans shopping in pyjamas

Customers also required to wear shoes

The Tesco branch in Cardiff's St Mellons has clearly had enough of barefoot shoppers wandering the aisles in their pyjamas, and has ordered customers so dressed to cease and desist. According to the BBC, the store has posted a "customer dress code policy" notice reading: "To avoid causing offence or embarrassment to others we …

Bootnotes 28 Jan 12:11
Asus G51J 3D laptop

Review In yer face 3D gaming, for a price

Late last year we were left somewhat underwhelmed with Acer’s attempt at a 3D laptop. The Aspire 5738DZG was underpowered, making 3D gaming nigh-on impossible. Now Asus has entered the fray, with the G51J 3D, which handles the whole 3D thing in a very different way. Asus’ G51J 3D: combining 3D and raw power Instead of using …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 12:27
Congressional websites befouled by mucky-mouthed hackers

Swear splatter follows State of the Union address

A number of Congressional websites were defaced with abuse aimed at President Obama following Wednesday's State of the Union address. Websites maintained by Congressmen including Charles Gonzalez (Texas), Spencer Bachus (Alabama) and Brian Baird (Washington) were replaced with a one-line abusive message aimed at Obama by the " …

Enterprise Security 28 Jan 12:34
Facebook faces new privacy probe

Canucks still not happy

Facebook is facing a second investigation by Canadian privacy regulators over concerns that it is failing to properly protect people's data. Last year the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found Facebook failed to properly protect users' data, failed to properly restrict access to third parties which access the data …

Law 28 Jan 12:45
Next from Apple: The Pocket iPad

Exclusive Fondle-slab to be miniaturised, gain killer voice app

Sources in Cupertino have exclusively confirmed to the Reg that Apple intends to follow up its anticipated iPad success with a miniature, pocket-sized version boasting added voice technology. "The iPad's a great device," an executive familiar with the matter said yesterday. "But think how great it would be if you could carry …

Bootnotes 28 Jan 12:48
New SGI chases new partners

Boutique strategy

The recently combined Rackable/SGI is looking to add some new blood to depleted partner ranks. After the merger, the company dropped about one-third of its combined partners for various reasons and is now trying to rebuild its channel presence. The company is looking for folks who have both enterprise and HPC chops – which …

HPC Blog 28 Jan 13:25
Nokia adds police radar to handset

'I clocked you chatting at 120 words per minute, sir'

Police use radar guns to snare speeding drivers. Now Nokia has adapted the technology to improve the way people interact with mobile phones. The “active radar sensor” – nicknamed Mobile Radar by Nokia – is capable of measuring speed and direction of movement. The technology behind the sensor is a closely guarded secret, but …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 13:26
Windows 8 possible July 2011 release?

Question marks line up on Microsoft roadmap revelations (maybe)

An ex-Microsoft employee has let the cat out of the bag about when the software giant might release Windows 8. MSFTKitchen reports that in early December last year, Chris Green wrote a post on his MSDN blog, which appeared to reveal that Microsoft might-possibly-maybe release the next iteration of its operating system in July …

Operating Systems 28 Jan 13:41
Brit kids failing to fall out of trees

Console-related injuries soar, however

Brit kids are dismally failing to do themselves an injury in the time-honoured way, by falling out of trees, as they increasingly spend their time glued to video games, the Sun has revealed. According to shock figures obtained by the paper, a healthy 1,796 youngsters aged 15 and under required treatment for tree-related damage …

Bootnotes 28 Jan 13:57
Apple iPad vs netbooks: fight not over yet

Analysis Can't beat 'em, join 'em?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was rather dismissive of the netbook at the iPad's launch last night. He needed to be: he was trying to win over journalists and analysts who've spent the last 18 months or so asking when his company will release just such a product - and telling readers why it really should. Jobs' criticisms were …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 14:09
Paddy Power takes bets on iPad shipments

'Over two million sales this year, for sure'

Paddy Power is offering short odds of 11/4 on that Apple's iPad will sell between 2-3 million units in 2010. The Irish bookie, which knows a publicity bandwagon when its sees one, reckons the smart money is on "over two million sales this year, for sure” . It is also offering ever-so-slightly better odds of 3/1 that Apple's …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 14:15
Symantec slaps Trojan alert against Spotify

Scanner turns song software slayer

Symantec has apologised over a cock-up that resulted in the incorrect classification of streaming music service Spotify as a Trojan on Thursday. A misfiring anti-virus definition update caused Symantec's Norton security software to wrongly classified Spotify program files as malign and shuffled them off into quarantine. …

Malware 28 Jan 14:27
EDS ruling won't mean overhaul for IT procurement

Sweat ye not

IT companies will not have to conduct a total overhaul of their sales processes in the aftermath of a long-awaited court ruling this week, a technology law expert has said. The ruling focused on the dishonesty of one employee, not a whole company. BSkyB hired IT company EDS to build it a £48m customer relationship management …

IT Director 28 Jan 14:54
Nokia Q4 shows it ain't dead yet

It's getting its mojo back

Nokia had a pretty decent fourth quarter and is showing the first signs that savage cost-cutting and redundancies might just be working. Sales were down four per cent to €12bn and operating profit jumped 132 per cent to €1.1bn. The Finnish firm sold 126.9m mobile devices, up 12 per cent on last year which gave it a 39 per …

Mobile 28 Jan 14:55
EU super-regulator sets up shop

Has nice cup of coffee, chat

The EU's telecoms super-regulator started work today, with the first item for debate being where to build a Hall of Justice. Europe's latest regulatory body had its first meeting today - bringing together representatives of the 27 national telecommunications regulators, and tasking them with the problem of deciding where they' …

Telecoms 28 Jan 15:57
Obama to scrap Moon, Mars expeditions - report

Astronauts held in orbit for 'at least another 10 years'

President Barack Obama is set to effectively scrap all US manned spaceflight plans beyond Earth orbit for the foreseeable future, according to a newspaper report. The Orlando Sentinel - which has proven itself to have good sources in US space circles in the past - says that the White House budget proposal for the US space …

Space 28 Jan 16:02
World+Dog jumps on iPad accessory bandwagon

Apple add-ons also available

The iPad was uncloaked fewer than 24 hours ago, but manufacturers — and Apple itself — are already tripping over one another to launch accessories for the still unavailable tablet. Apple's iPad Keyboard Dock: physical keys, USB power and audio-out Apple’s most noteworthy accessory has to be the iPad Keyboard Dock: a docking …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 16:30
Oracle: Storage trouble in store

Comment Sun's 7000 top of the class - who's getting expelled?

Oracle is putting a heavy focus on Sun's 7000, tape and flash storage products, implying the rest of the bought-in storage line is not so well-regarded and may be under threat. Larry E and the new exec team at the big O have spoken and the storage winners and losers are becoming clear. In the winners' enclosure are the …

Storage 28 Jan 16:37
Data cops seek law change after CRU broke rules

Prevarication pays

The Information Commissioner's office wants to plug a loophole in the UK’s sunshine laws, after academics at the centre of the ‘Climategate’ scandal at the University of East Anglia escaped prosecution on a technicality. The ICO has said the Climatic Research Unit breached Section 77 of the Act - the so-called "shredding …

Environment 28 Jan 17:10
Google graduates social stalking tool

Search sniffs out friends and family stuff

Google's social network stalking aid has graduated from the company's experimental Labs site to prime-time on Google.com. In the next few days, with its Social Search tool, Google will let English-language users scour for publicly-available content produced by friends and online contacts . To use social search, users need to …

Music and Media 28 Jan 19:30
Citrix desktop virt soars in Q4

XenServer foundation

Citrix Systems staked its future on virtualization when it shelled out $500m to buy XenSource in August 2007. And while it's arguable that virtualization on servers and desktops has not played out as expected, mashing up system virtualization technologies with existing application virtualization tools to create new products - as …

Virtualization 28 Jan 19:39
Apple lets 3G VoIP onto iPhone

Trio already there

Apple is now allowing VoIP-over-3G apps, after a change to the new beta version 3.2 of its iPhone SDK, released yesterday in concert with the announcement of Cupertino's long-awaited iPad. The news comes by way of a press release from iCall, a second from Fring, and a third from Acrobits, all providers of VoIP services for the …

Mobile 28 Jan 19:57
Confirmed: no iPad iBooks for Blighty

Bad news for e-book buffs

Apple UK's iPad web pages are now online and they confirm fears that the tablet's iBooks application and associated content store will not be available to British buyers at launch. The UK page www.apple.com/uk/ipad/features/ matches its US equivalent, www.apple.com/ipad/features/, in all respects but one: it lacks the US' …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 20:38
Critical infrastructure execs fear China

But they fear the US more

Operators of electrical grids, telecommunications networks, and other critical infrastructure say their systems are under constant attack, often from sophisticated nation-states, according to a poll of 600 IT executives in 14 countries who oversee such networks. The findings come two weeks after Google said it and at least 20 …

Security 28 Jan 21:10
FCC probes Googlephone's double dip cancel fees

Early termination times two

The US Federal Communications Commission has questioned whether Google properly warns Nexus One buyers that the subsidized version of the inaugural Googlephone carries not one but two early termination fees. If you purchase the Nexus One with a two-year T-Mobile wireless contact, Google knocks $350 off the price of the …

Mobile 28 Jan 22:03
Adobe sounds off on iPad's Flash slap

And so does Hitler

Apple claims that its just-announced iPad "lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen," but Adobe's group manager for Flash marketing isn't buying it. "If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab - not to mention the millions of other sites on the web - I'll …

Mobile 28 Jan 22:04
Amazon in 71% profit surge

Um, let's give the Kindle credit

Amazon simply had a wonderful Christmastime. In the fourth quarter, the mega-etailer pulled in revenues of $9.52bn, a 42 per cent increase from a year ago, while profits hit $384m, a 71 per cent leap. In announcing these Q4 results today - a day after the debut of the Apple iPad - Amazon chief Jeff Bezos couldn't help but …

Financial News 28 Jan 22:56
Ellison wants another failing Bay Area giant

First Sun. Now the Warriors

Larry Ellison clearly has a soft spot in his wallet for struggling San Francisco Bay institutions. On Wednesday, Oracle's chief executive finally confirmed long-standing rumors that he's trying to buy the Golden State Warriors, the Oakland, California-based professional basketball franchise. The question is whether the team's …

Odds and Sods 28 Jan 22:59
Juniper needles way to recovery

Berries 2009 revenue slump in Q4

Juniper Networks saw a slight drop in fourth-quarter profit, but the network kit maker unexpectedly topped its own estimates for revenue thanks to renewed spending from corporate customers and US phone carriers. The world's second-largest network kit maker is also optimistic for a rebound from 2009, which saw profits for most …

Financial News 28 Jan 23:37