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29th January 2010 Archive

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  • 1,000 devs raid iPadded code kit

    Jobsian slipstream

    A day before Steve Jobs uncloaked the Apple iPad - a tablet that doesn't multitask - Appcelerator told the world that its Titanium web-code-meets-local-app development kit would embrace the long-awaited Apple device. In the two days since, over 1,000 developers have downloaded the kit and registered to use it. Prior to the …

    Developer 29 Jan 2010, 00:22

  • Windows 7 misses Microsoft's summit of success

    Beware the false bottom

    Microsoft has reversed the blow to its business wrought by the recessionary end of 2008, announcing second-quarter results more in-line with its standard performance. On Thursday, the company boasted the demand for Windows 7, launched in October, had propelled it towards record second-quarter revenue and profit. The comparable …

    Software 29 Jan 2010, 04:12

  • Fujitsu: 'iPad? That's ours'

    Updated Oh, and there's that Canadian bra

    In addition to ignoring support for Adobe Flash, multitasking, and a few other niceties in its new iPad, Apple seems to have ignored one other important detail: it doesn't own the name "iPad." Fujitsu says it does. "It's our understanding that the name is ours," Fujitsu's PR director Masahiro Yamane told The New York Times on …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2010, 06:02

  • Windows 7 upgrades Vista laptops to lower battery life

    Time to replace your brand new battery

    Laptop owners upgrading their Windows XP and Windows Vista machines to Windows 7 are complaining that Microsoft's new OS has severely reduced their available battery life. One user tells The Reg that after upgrading his circa 2007 HP notebook from Vista to Windows 7, the machine's battery life dropped from two hours to a half …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2010, 06:39

  • Who ate all the iPies?

    Comment Apple's mid-life crisis in tablet form

    So, a portlier iPhone has emerged from Cupertino with typical fanfare and panache, but even the hardcore fans seem disappointed by what is essentially an iPhone with a mid-life crisis. The waistband has expanded, but in every other respect the iPad remains almost identical to its original form with all the omissions in place …

    Mobile 29 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • Oracle hands out love and handcuffs to Sunware

    Hello, Java. So long, Kenai

    Oracle has unveiled a Java and open source strategy extending some but not all of the existing efforts at Sun Microsystems. Among the winners: Sun's HotSpot Java Virtual Machine, which will be integrated with the fast JRockit VM from BEA Systems; JavaFX, which should see an update by the summer; and Sun's Operations Center …

    Applications 29 Jan 2010, 07:02

  • BPI rejects scareletter approach to possible pirates

    ACS:Law treads lonely path

    The tactic of using IP addresses extracted from internet service providers to send scare letters to suspected pirates is not something the British music industry would consider. ACS:Law has made a tidy business from sending out letters to suspected file sharers offering a one-off £500 payment draw a line under further …

    Media 29 Jan 2010, 08:02

  • Ellison: Only Oracle can do OLTP clustering

    Armonk, we have a problem

    You have to admire Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder and chief executive officer of IT giant Oracle. Well, maybe admire isn't the right word. But you can at least be amused by him. Yesterday, Ellison spent the last hour of the five-hour Sun takeover extravaganza taking questions from the audience, mostly fielding softball …

    Servers 29 Jan 2010, 08:02

  • Oracle sues support firm over 'massive theft'

    Shades of TomorrowNow

    Oracle is suing third-party support provider Rimini Street, alleging "massive theft" of its software and support materials via illegal access to its technical support websites. Rimini Street sells enterprise software support for Oracle SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft, and JD Edwards-branded software, boasting 50 per cent savings in …

    The Channel 29 Jan 2010, 09:02

  • iPad vs e-book readers: price matters

    Analysis Do you want cheap as chips — or Apple?

    Apple would have been daft not to embrace e-books when planning the iPad, but will its new offering hinder the likes of the Kindle? If your definition of an e-book reader is a tablet equipped with a monochrome E Ink screen, then the answer is likely to be in the affirmative. E Ink screens have just one advantage over the iPad’ …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2010, 09:02

  • EU damns scanners, Facebook, MySpace and Phorm

    Not keen on SWIFT either

    Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, has promised tough new laws to curb privacy-breaching technology like body scanners and has also warned the social networking industry that it needs to do more to protect children using its services. In a speech to mark Data Protection Day Reding said she …

    Law 29 Jan 2010, 09:08

  • Zoo man uses virtualisation to tame his server herd

    On Demand Reg reader tells it like is

    It’s not every day you get to look under the bonnet of somebody else’s projects, but today you can. Reg reader, Phil Morris from Chester Zoo, joined us in the studio last week to talk about how he virtualised a raft of servers at his data center in the North West of England. And if you’re looking for some insight before you …

    Virtualisation Lab 29 Jan 2010, 09:24

  • Baidu gets out of jail free

    Pack your bags, Google

    Google may as well pack its multicoloured luggage and head for the airport - Baidu scored an important legal victory this week which all but assures it of the number one spot in the Chinese market. An appeals court ruled this week that deep-linking to unlicensed music doesn't constitute copyright infringement, in a case …

    Media 29 Jan 2010, 10:04

  • First mass-produced camera heads to auction

    Gadgets geeks shocked by lack of Flickr support

    An extremely rare model of the world’s first commercially produced camera will be auctioned later this year. The Daguerreotype originally cost 400 French Francs - an average yearly salary in 1839 The Giroux Daguerreotype camera was designed by Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre and produced in 1839. It will be auctioned on 29 May …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2010, 10:05

  • High-flying 3PAR down at ground level

    Revenues yes, profit not so much

    3PAR is growing revenues, but has seen the bottom line go red in its third quarter. Its product strengths don't seem strong enough to repel competitive pressures. Its third quarter 2010 revenues were four per cent up year-on-year at $50.1m, confirming as others have that the recession is definitely easing. Notwithstanding that …

    Storage 29 Jan 2010, 10:10

  • Who's the world's largest tech firm?

    Not who you think

    The world's biggest technology company, by revenue, is now Samsung, which has just replaced HP at the top of the pile. For 2009 Samsung brought in revenue of $117.8bn, beating HP which made $114.6bn for the year ended 31 October. It is on track to beat the ink giant in 2010 too - predicting sales of $127bn versus $120bn at HP …

    Financial News 29 Jan 2010, 10:29

  • Silicone implants that generate 'leccy invented for US spooks

    Katie Price will never need to buy batteries again

    In news sure to delight topheavy Z-list celebrities everywhere, US boffins funded by shadowy federal agencies say they have developed a new kind of silicone implant which can generate electrical power from the movements of the bodily area in which it is placed. The new technology, developed at Princeton University in the …

    Science 29 Jan 2010, 10:31

  • Ex-Broadcom boss beats drugs orgy charges

    White lines blow away

    Henry T Nicholas III, the billionaire co-founder of Broadcom, has been cleared of drugs charges by a federal judge. The US government alleged that as CEO, Nicholas' life was a non-stop party of cocaine, ecstasy, meth, valium, marijuana and prostitutes, which he distributed among friends and business partners. A Californian …

    Financial News 29 Jan 2010, 11:00

  • Remote tribe discovered worshipping iPad

    It came to me in a dream, claims shaman elder

    Anthropologists claim to have contacted a remote Papua New Guinea tribe which worships a crude effigy of an Apple iPad crafted from the bark of a sacred tree. That humans bow at the altar of Jobs is nothing new, but what makes the case of the Ka'zi exceptional is that the tribe has until now had no contact with the outside …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2010, 11:02

  • World phone biz backs out of downturn

    324m shipments in Q4 09

    World mobile phone sales were up ten per cent year on year in Q4 2009, market watcher Strategy Analytics said today. World+Dog bought 324m handsets during the quarter. The increase in shipments markets the first period of year-on-year growth the industry has experienced since Q3 2008. Among the winners were Nokia, Samsung and …

    Phones 29 Jan 2010, 11:08

  • GTA IV updates coming to PS3

    Windows version also confirmed

    Downloadable updates for violent videogame Grand Theft Auto IV will finally be available for the PlayStation 3 in March. The game’s publisher, Rockstar, has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, which contains both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony episodes, will be offered for download over …

    Games 29 Jan 2010, 11:10

  • French mock British G-spot probe

    It does exist, you just can't find it

    French experts have roundly condemned British research which concluded that the legendary G-spot is probably a myth. The King's College London team declared that the Gräfenberg Spot "may be a figment of women's imagination, encouraged by magazines and sex therapists" and that it was "rather irresponsible to claim the existence …

    Science 29 Jan 2010, 11:15

  • Moto to make Nexus One version two?

    CEO talks up 'consumer device' partnership with Google

    Motorola’s CEO has confirmed that the company is developing a “consumer device” in partnership with Google. While announcing Moto’s fourth-quarter financial results – we’ll zip through those in a minute — Sanjay Jha said the company will launch “at least one direct-to-consumer device with Google” in 2011. The CEO’s comment …

    Phones 29 Jan 2010, 11:17

  • How secure are virtual desktops, really?

    Lab Lock and load

    As we discussed in an earlier article in this series many “desktop virtualisation” solutions exist today. Each has its own deployment architecture and comes complete with a range of operational benefits and challenges. Some work well in particular scenarios which would not suit others. With interest growing in the potential use …

    Virtualisation Lab 29 Jan 2010, 11:29

  • UK.gov shutters half its websites

    Direct to the bin, guv'

    907 of the government's 1,700 websites have closed following the recommendations of the Varney report in 2006. A further 479 are "committed to be closed", according to a written answer from Cabinet Office minister Angela Smith on 27 January 2010. She was responding to a request for information from shadow Cabinet Office …

    Government 29 Jan 2010, 11:30

  • Many voice encryption systems easily crackable

    Updated Malware will shut your yap

    A vast majority of voice encryption products are seriously flawed, according to controversial tests by an anonymous hacker. Using the commercially available FlexiSpy wiretapping utility and a 'homemade' Trojan, Notrax (the anonymous hacker's nickname) claims to have defeated 11 out of 15 voice encryption technologies in tests …

    Security 29 Jan 2010, 11:31

  • Sony slams colour e-paper quality

    But does want to offer a colour Reader

    The quality of electronic paper is not yet high enough for Sony to develop a colour e-book reader, an executive at the company has said. Fujio Noguchi, Deputy President of Sony’s digital reading business, said during a recent press conference that while the company is “considering making colour e-book readers” there “is no …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2010, 12:04

  • Greenock pensioners cuffed for Tesco 'sex romp'

    Alleged indecency incident in bakery aisle

    Two Greenock pensioners prompted the closure of a Tesco bakery aisle and police intervention after "stunned shoppers" clocked the pair indulging in a "sex romp", the Sun reports. Fay Byrne, 62, and chum Peter Echlin, 78, were arrested for alleged public indecency after "horrified store bosses alerted cops". A Tesco source …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2010, 12:16

  • Samsung ST550

    Review Two-screen camera

    Samsung’s ST550 is a rather innovative point-and-shoot compact camera as it features both a front and back LCD. The idea is to make self shots and timed group pics easier to compose. With the ST550, standing with arm outstretched and looking silly – just to end up with snapshot of just half your head in front of the Tour Eiffel …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2010, 12:17

  • Italians salute Mussolini on the iPhone

    Fascism? There's an app for that

    An iPhone app which allows nostalgic Italians to enjoy speeches by Benito Mussolini has proved a big hit, having attracted over 6,000 downloads since it launched on 21 January. Creator Luigi Marino claims the one hundred speeches and 20 audiovisual files available via the €0.79 application are of "documentary interest", and …

    Mobile 29 Jan 2010, 12:21

  • IT training firm goes titsup

    School's out for....

    Tech training firm Advent Computer Training has been forced to cease trading, leaving its students in limbo. With headquarters in Worcestershire, Advent provided Microsoft Certifed Systems Engineer qualifications and other courses. Such courses typically cost several thousand pounds, and students are often trying to change …

    Small Biz 29 Jan 2010, 12:26

  • Xiotech reloads Matrix

    Comment ISEbergs warning

    Xiotech is aiming to build a Matrix eco-system of storage system app vendors linking its superdisk ISE enclosures with direct storage-controlling apps like VMware, Oracle and Exchange 2010. Matrix is not an HP-like integrated IT stack product set, but a dynamic set of storage resources coordinated by a Matrix controller doing …

    Storage 29 Jan 2010, 12:47

  • Sun takes over MoD's UFO bureau

    Martian eggface prof Pillinger endorses soaraway plan

    Renowned British tabloid the Sun has pledged to take on the task of running the nation's UFO-report bureau after cash-strapped Ministry of Defence chiefs closed it down last year. The paper says its public-spirited move has been endorsed by famous Mars-prang eggface prof Colin Pillinger. The Currant Bun proudly announces …

    Science 29 Jan 2010, 12:49

  • British poshos outdrink chavs

    Or are just better at maths

    Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that despite what the government keeps telling us we are not a nation of drunks, and people with manual or routine jobs actually drink less than those with professional or managerial ones. Not only that, but average alcohol consumption is also falling. In 2006 the average …

    Science 29 Jan 2010, 13:22

  • Google Apps goes loopy on booted-off Premier subs customers

    Updated Mountain View fails to cough up glitch fix

    This article was updated to reflect that Google subsequently reported the error had now been fixed. Google Apps business customers who forget to renew their subscriptions are struggling to reconnect to the Premier version of the online suite because of a system error. However, Mountain View - which is aware of the problem - …

    Applications 29 Jan 2010, 13:24

  • Experts fret over iPad security risks

    Death and taxes and browser exploits

    Apple's much hyped iPad tablet may come tightly locked down but the device is still likely to be affected by many of the security issues that affect the iPhone, as well as some of its own. Security experts polled by El Reg were concerned about a variety of risks, in particular phishing attacks and browser exploits. Graham …

    Security 29 Jan 2010, 13:32

  • Hong Kong Taoist masters still hard at it

    Gang dupe woman into sex on promise of 'heavenly treasure'

    A 47-year-old Hong Kong woman was conned out of HK$1.5m (£120,000) and persuaded to have sex with two Taoist "masters" on the promise of receiving HK$130m (£10.4m) in "heavenly treasure", HK's The Standard reports. Appearing before District Court judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi, who recently sent down a truck-driving Taoist Mao …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2010, 13:38

  • AT&T plans $2bn wireless overhaul

    Less iPhone suckage by 2011

    AT&T has acknowledged that its US wireless service is in need of an upgrade, and the company is putting its money where its apologetic mouth is, allocating an additional $2bn or so to upgrade its network in 2010. "Wireless is our No. 1 investment priority," John Stankey, head of Big Phone's operations division, is quoted by …

    Broadband 29 Jan 2010, 14:02

  • Interpol chief questions body scanner rollout

    Over-expensive, under-effective

    The head of Interpol has questioned whether the ongoing scramble by western governments to install body scanners at airports is financially worthwhile and said they are is unlikely to stop terrorists. Ron Noble, the internation criminal intelligence agency's secretary-general, said at Davos that if you are a terrorist, "Are …

    Law 29 Jan 2010, 14:16

  • iPad Mini/Nano beta-tester: Of course it's real

    Comments Pocket-size voice fondle-slab's existence confirmed

    Our world exclusive yesterday disclosing Apple's pocket-sized, enhanced version of the recently announced iPad fondle-slab device has drawn a good deal of excited comment. Naturally there could be nothing tastier than whipped-up hype digested, excreted, eagerly gobbled up again and finally plopped onto a plate for your Friday …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2010, 14:23

  • Teletext toddles off as licence taken

    Smell you later, interactive telly

    UK regulator Ofcom has revoked the licence that allowed Teletext to broadcast text-based services alongside the TV signal - ending 17 years of independent interactive TV. The licence under which Teletext transmits its service requires the provision of local information as well as news of some sort, and Teletext pulled those …

    Broadband 29 Jan 2010, 14:53

  • Spanish disco offers gals free 'consolers'

    'You're going to vibrate'

    A Spanish disco is tonight offering free "consolers" to the first 400 girls who pitch up at the door, and promises the lucky recipients they're "going to vibrate". Valencia's Cuomo, described by El Periódico as one of the region's best known nightspots, and which attracts thousands of youngsters every weekend, promises a …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2010, 15:21

  • Show me the money!

    Workshop Uncovering the financial aspects of IT

    IT costs money, and the job of any CIO, IT director or manager will include some element of balancing the books. In their simplest form, budgets split across money for new acquisitions and one-off purchases, and money to be spent keeping things going, covering everything from contract renewals and staffing, to spare parts and …

    Infrastructure Workshop 29 Jan 2010, 15:41

  • Danes ditch Microsoft, take ODF road - at last

    Cross party parliamentarians gang up against Redmond

    The Danish Parliament has agreed to ditch some Microsoft-based software in favour of the ODF standard from April next year. According to version2.dk and courtesy of politken.dk, parliamentary parties decided - after four years of deliberation - to use the Open Document Format in all Danish state office documents. “My ambition …

    Applications 29 Jan 2010, 15:41

  • CpW unveils new identity excitingness

    It'll be called... Consignia! Oh, hang on

    Details of the forthcoming Carphone Warehouse demerger are emerging: the company is to become "New Carphone Warehouse" and er, "TalkTalk". New Carphone Warehouse will hold half of Best Buy Europe (Best Buy USA holding the other half), and almost half of Virgin Mobile France, while TalkTalk runs the fixed and mobile businesses …

    Networks 29 Jan 2010, 16:07

  • IBM countersues Neon over zPrime accelerator

    More lawyers feast on the mainframe largesse

    With mainframe revenues off sharply and likely to be so until the System z11 mainframes ship much later this year, IBM can ill afford to look the other way as Neon Software peddles its zPrime tool for offloading mainframe workloads to much cheaper specialty engines on Big Blue's mainframes. So it has called out the lawyers and …

    Servers 29 Jan 2010, 16:18

  • Lens firm promises shake-free cameraphones

    Optical stabilisation to replace digital in 2011?

    Cameraphones will sport much improved image stabilisation within a year, lens manufacturer Varioptic has promised. The company has designed its first lens to feature optical image stabilisation (OIS) and yet is also small enough to fit inside a cameraphone. Varioptic expects phone firms to launch handsets featuring the lens, …

    Phones 29 Jan 2010, 16:54

  • Bathroom scale plugs into Google Health

    Share your weight with Mountain View

    Not content with knowing where you go, both in real and cyber space, Google will soon know how much you weigh too - thanks to wi-fi-connected scales. The scale in question come from Withings, and it was launched last year with connections to various fitness websites and an iPhone application. But now Withings has managed to …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2010, 17:41

  • Google mystery server runs 13% of active websites

    And only Google runs its mystery server

    The Google Web Server - custom-built server software used only by Google - now runs nearly 13 per cent of all active web sites, according to the latest survey data from the web-server-tracking UK research outfit Netcraft. Netcraft data has the Google Web Server (GWS) running nearly 11 million active sites - i.e., sites with …

    Applications 29 Jan 2010, 19:25

  • Brits choose Altix UV supers to fight cancer

    SGI beefs pipeline

    The Altix UV massively parallel supers might not be shipping until the third quarter of this year, but Silicon Graphics is lining up customers who want to get the box early. The latest customer to ink a deal for an Altix UV is the United Kingdom's Institute of Cancer Research. Because Intel has yet to launch the "Beckton" …

    HPC 29 Jan 2010, 19:26

  • CA taps IBM alum as chief exec

    McCracken takes the helm

    CA has tapped another IBM veteran as its next chief executive officer, replacing its turn-around champion John Swainson, who retired from the IT management omnicorp's helm at the close of 2009. The company's new CEO, William McCracken, has served as executive chairman since Swainson's retirement plans were announced in …

    Applications 29 Jan 2010, 19:33

  • Google (finally) pays bounties for Chrome bug reports

    Up to $1,337

    Google will begin paying bounties as high as $1,337 to researchers who privately report high-severity security bugs in its Chrome browser and Chromium open-source project. The "experimental new incentive," which Google announced Thursday, is for external researchers only. It addresses a key complaint among many researchers that …

    Security 29 Jan 2010, 20:00

  • CIA, PayPal under bizarre SSL assault

    Plus hundreds of others

    The Central Intelligence Agency, PayPal, and hundreds of other organizations are under an unexplained assault that's bombarding their websites with millions of compute-intensive requests. The "massive" flood of requests is made over the websites' SSL, or secure-sockets layer, port, causing them to consume more resources than …

    Security 29 Jan 2010, 20:55

  • Woman sues rail line for 'exploding' toilet

    ROTM Crap maintenance alleged

    A woman is suing Chicago's regional rail system for injuries sustained when a toilet she used "exploded" underneath her. Artist's (tasteful) interpretation of an exploding toilet. In a complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, Julianna Mandernach accuses the Chicago Metra line of negligently allowing public …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2010, 21:30

  • PHP fluffed to suck data from Microsoft's cloud

    Azure spit and polish

    Zend Technologies has updated its developer framework to improve the way PHP applications float on Microsoft's Azure cloud. The PHP shop has released version its Zend Framework 1.10, claiming it lets developers easily call Windows Azure APIs from their open-source PHP applications. Applications will be able to call the …

    Developer 29 Jan 2010, 21:35

  • Apple video shows Flashed iPad

    Updated Which is it, Steve?

    Will Apple's new iPad support Adobe Flash when it ships in March? Not if you trust Steve Jobs' much-picked-over presentation in San Francisco on Wednesday - or the current EULA attached to the device's beta SDK. But for some reason, the marketing materials on the Apple website tell a different story. If you watch Apple's promo …

    Mobile 29 Jan 2010, 21:49