11th March 2010 Archive

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Swedes serve up flicks with KVM

Cisco blades, minus VMware and EMC

Everybody is talking up the idea of integrated stacks these days, but some customers just won't listen. They think they can just pick and choose any technology they want, like in the old days. Take Swedish on-demand movie and TV show streaming service Voddler, which launched last July. The company put together a mix of Windows …

Servers 11 Mar 06:02
CA eats Nimsoft cloud watcher

Acquisition binge continues

Systems software seller CA is shelling out $350m in cash to buy Nimsoft, an outfit that makes monitoring tools for managed service providers - aka cloud providers. The move makes a certain amount of sense, given that CA's multi-decade business has been based on selling software for running and monitoring transactions, managing …

Financial News 11 Mar 06:02
Feds likely to oppose Google mobile ad deal, says report

Sworn declarations on AdMob

The US Federal Trade Commission is likely to oppose Google's acquisition of mobile ad outfit AdMob after requesting sworn declarations from Google competitors and advertisers, according to a report citing people with knowledge of the matter. Bloomberg reports that at least two companies have been asked to sign statements that …

Mobile 11 Mar 06:45
Patent attack hits Apple, RIM, AT&T, Moto...

Texas troll two-step

Apple, Research in Motion, and a gaggle of other deep-pocket firms have been slapped with a wide-ranging patent infringment suit by an obscure Texas firm. The suit alleges that Apple and RIM - plus AT&T, Insight Enterprises, LG Electronics, Motorola, Pantech Wireless, Samsung and Sanyo - are in violation of one or more of …

Mobile 11 Mar 07:02
Opera Mini 5 betas on Google Android

'No decision' on Opera Mobile

Opera has released an Opera Mini 5 beta for Google's Android platform. The Android incarnation of the Norwegian outfit's low-bandwidth mobile browser can be downloaded directly from the company's website or from Google's Android market. Now used by more than 50 million people worldwide - according to the company - Opera Mini …

Mobile 11 Mar 08:02
Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin Mini

Review Blimp wristed?

Bowers & Wilkins' Zeppelin is undoubtedly the world's most iconic iPod speaker. Every one of its rivals, from the high end of the market downward, looks pretty much how you'd expect an iPod speaker to look. Not so the elongated ovoid that is the Zeppelin. B&W's Zeppelin Mini: not quite as iconic a look as its sibling's …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 08:02
Sony to peddle trade-in scheme to speed upgrade cycle

Exclusive Incentives to encourage take-up of new tech, recycling

Sony is planning to offer a trade-in scheme targeting Blu-ray Disc player owners later this year. Details regarding how the programme will work remain unknown, but the plan will aim to entice punters who bought Sony's early BD players to upgrade to new, more capable models, sources familiar with the scheme have told Reg …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 09:02
Carlos Slim is world's richest man, Bill Gates now number two

How's the recession been treating you?

Mexican telecoms bazillionaire Carlos Slim is the world's richest man, pushing Bill Gates into second place. Gates has been at or near the top of the Forbes Rich List for most of the last 15 years - he retook the top spot from uber-investor Warren Buffett last year, despite retiring and starting to give away his massive …

Financial News 11 Mar 09:16
Computacenter sees profits up, revenues down

UK div sees 'encouraging signs'

Mega reseller Computacenter delivered on its forecast of better-than-expected profits for 2009, though revenues actually declined at the firm. Results for the firm show revenues for the year to December 31, 2009 slipped 2.2 per cent to £2.5bn. Pre-tax profit was £48.4m, up 22.4 per cent on the year. Adjusted profit before tax …

Channel Register 11 Mar 09:30
Bloggers spring 'baccy happy landlord from slammer

After a week of Paypal faffing

Just occasionally the blogosphere can be about more than just hot air – as it proved today by raising over £10,000 to pay off the fine of pub landlord Nick Hogan and to bring about his release from prison. Meanwhile, a score of 'nul points' to Paypal for its rigid adherence to its in-house rules, which meant that Hogan spent …

Policing 11 Mar 09:33
UK.gov OKs plan to flog digi dividend by end of year

Meek spectrum proposals triumphant

The government has asked Ofcom to implement Kip Meek's proposals for spectrum reform, with a view to getting shot of the digital dividend by the end of 2010. The UK has 60MHz of old TV spectrum near the 800MHz point of the dial, along with 190MHz in the 2.6GHz band, both of which the government desperately wants to sell to the …

Mobile 11 Mar 10:00
PayPal restores Cryptome for real

Now go away

PayPal has finally made good on its pledge to restore Cryptome's account many hours after the firm's head of global communications told Register readers it had already done so. PayPal told operator John Young the account had been suspended because of its stated policy: Cryptome welcomes documents for publication that are …

ID 11 Mar 10:28
Blighty surrenders to Street View

95% coverage goes live

Blighty today surrendered to Sreet View's all-seeing eye as Google extended the service's coverage to encompass 95 per cent of the UK. The news will come as no surprise to El Reg's eagle-eyed readership, who kept a close eye on the search monolith's Orwellian black Opels as they prowled Great Britain. Here's our Web 0.2 …

Bootnotes 11 Mar 10:31
Microsoft shows Bottom to Young Ones

Takes retro turn with video player

Microsoft was due to take the full fat version of its video player out of beta today, treating UK viewers to high-end entertainment such as Skins, Shameless and The Young Ones. The MSN Video Player will offer around 1,000 hours of shows, according to New Media Age. Wife Swap and Peep Show will also be among the offerings, …

Music and Media 11 Mar 10:47
Bogus Playstation emulators pack Trojan payload

'Will be around for a long time'

Retro gaming fans are being targeted in a new con designed to infect computers with a Trojan linked to scareware scams. Downloads posing as Playstation 2 emulators that allow games designed for Sony's console to be played on PCs instead deliver only a Trojan. Emulators offered via Appzkeygen(dot)com, for example, come packing …

Malware 11 Mar 10:49
Jobcentre turns to the iPhone

'gis a job - there's an app for that

The UK's Jobcentre Plus service is now available through an iPhone application and Android, providing a vital service to the jobless-but-gadget-obsessed. The app is free to download and provides for keyword searching, with location-specific filtering and maps showing where the work is - we found the location part a bit …

Mobile 11 Mar 11:03
Geeks Guide 2 Cloud Computing

Geeks Guide₂ Save 40% at Reg Books

Cloud Computing with the Windows Azure Platform is written for aspiring Windows Azure programmers by Roger Jennings, author of over 30 books on Microsoft technologies. It offers an excellent overview of cloud computing and provides a structured tutorial format that guides you through Jennings’ approach for programming Windows …

Developer 11 Mar 11:04
US comp-boffins claim fix for multicore 'concurrency bugs'

Pleasurable programming for plentiful processors

American computer boffins say they have developed new software which makes programming of multi-processor machines much easier. "With older, single-processor systems, computers behave exactly the same way as long as you give the same commands. Today's computers are non-deterministic," says Luis Ceze, computer science and …

Servers 11 Mar 11:24
Sony launches 'WiiMote for PS3'

PlayStation Move to debut... just as Wii begins decline

It's not Arc, it's Move, Sony revealed yesterday when it took the wraps off its Wii-style motion controller system for the PlayStation 3. Sony had already said the controller will debut this coming Autumn, but yesterday it added that the add-on will cost less that $100 (£67) as a pack containing the controller, a "sub- …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 11:33
MySpace first to drop pants on Outlook

Microsoft slips through Web2.0rhea looking glass

Microsoft has now slotted MySpace updates into its Outlook application. The company confirmed the move yesterday, after it announced the deal as part of its Outlook Social Connector (OSC) release last month. "MySpace for Outlook enables you to view activity updates for friends and colleagues in the People Pane, synchronise …

Applications 11 Mar 11:46
Password reset questions dead easy to guess

Your pet's name is Poochie? You're pwned

Guessing the answer to common password reset questions is far easier than previously thought, according to a new study by computer science researchers. In the paper What's in a Name? Evaluating Statistical Attacks on Personal Knowledge Questions (pdf), Joseph Bonneau of the University of Cambridge and two colleagues from the …

ID 11 Mar 12:18
Japanese phone boasts killer slacker-sensing app

Oh the data will find work for idle hands to do

Japanese phone co KDDI has been telling the BBC that its latest phones can sense when an employee is slacking off. The phone can tell when a cleaner is scrubbing, or carrying out any rapid thrusting movements with the right hand. The information comes from detailed analysis of accelerometer data, gathered wirelessly from the …

Mobile 11 Mar 12:20
Tories on cyber war: Waffle, mutter, waffle. Um, vote for us!

'Computers. Clicking, typing. Email. I could go on'

Tory peer and shadow security minister Baroness Pauline Neville Jones has set out her party's thoughts on cyber war and defence. Unfortunately once the waffle is stripped away there's pretty much nothing there. Here are a few selected bits from her speech: Neither the government nor the private sector can completely control …

Enterprise Security 11 Mar 12:22
Top exorcist says Satan at work in Vatican

When did they bring in the equal opps policy?

The Catholic Church's top exorcist has warned that Satan is alive and well and causing a whole load of problems at the Holy See. Father Gabriele Amorth, who according to The Times is president of honour of the Association of Exorcists, said the Vatican's current problems - including recurrent child abuse allegations and a …

Bootnotes 11 Mar 12:27
Punters: we want our internet TV

Net-sourced video, yes; web browsing, no

Consumers really do want to access internet video on their tellies, market watcher In-Stat has concluded. The research that led In-Stat to make this claim comes out of the US, but it's hard to believe there would be any significant difference had the company surveyed Britons instead beyond the inevitable lag in the numbers of …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 12:28
Home Secretary swats away calls for Mosquito ban

Hoodie-busting sonic weapon row

A European committee is calling for a community-wide ban on the Mosquito device which gets rid of teenagers by emitting an irritating buzzing noise that older people cannot hear, even though the device has the backing of Home Secretary Alan Johnson. The Culture, Science and Education committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of …

Policing 11 Mar 12:39
Virgin signals start of telegraph pole broadband test

Stringing up rural communities

Virgin Media is to see whether it can string up extensions to its fibre-optic network to Britain's telegraph poles in a bid to explore ways of bringing high-speed broadband to rural communities. The trial, which will kick of this month and run for a six-month period, will take place in Woolhampton, Berkshire, a village south- …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 12:59
Home Sec says 17m ID cards in circulation by 2017

No! Really? That many eh?

The government expects to have issued 17 million ID cards by 2017, Home Secretary Alan Johnson told the Commons yesterday. Johnson was responding to a question from his Tory shadow, Chris Grayling, who asked: "What proportion of the estimated 49 million products to be issued between April 2012 and March 2017 ... will be …

Government 11 Mar 13:08
Tories pat small biz heads in open source IT procurement pledge

Claims Conservative government would cap tech +£100m contracts

Shadow chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne claimed today that the Conservative party, if elected to form the next government, would meet its "ambition" of ensuring that the next generation of "Googles, Microsofts and Facebooks" were British companies. The Tories pledged in their technology manifesto that they would be …

Channel Register 11 Mar 13:15
Estonian DDoS revenge worm crafter jailed

Infection still spreading

An Estonian virus writer has been jailed for two and a half years for creating a Windows worm family that launched denial of service attacks on the websites of a local insurance firm and ISP. Artur Boiko, 44, was convicted by a jury of creating the Allaple worm and sentenced to two years and seven months following a trial. …

Crime 11 Mar 13:35
Database state breached 11 times

As Hillier says give kids ID cards for social networks

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has given Parliament some details on the most recent breaches of the various identity databases held by his ministry. Johnson told the House of Commons that there were 11 occasions in the last year when information was used or accessed improperly. In response to a question from Chris Grayling, Tory …

Government 11 Mar 13:41
Mutated genetic supertrout developed in lab

Belgian 'blue cow' biotech produces: Das Überfisch

After ten years of tinkering with DNA in a Rhode Island lab, a top fish boffin claims he has created a genetically enhanced mutant supertrout. "Our findings are quite stunning," says Professor Terry Bradley, an expert on trout, salmon, flounder and tuna. "The results have significant implications." Bradley says he has managed …

Biology 11 Mar 13:44
Buying bandwidth in the app store

The search for revenue continues

Mobile operators are looking at application stores as a way to boost revenue, not by selling applications but by selling the bandwidth needed to use them. We're going to have to start paying more for mobile data anyway if the operators are to maintain profits and invest in new frequencies and technologies, but operators and …

Mobile 11 Mar 14:50
Carrier apathy depresses Google Phone outlook

Nexus One estimates drop 70%

Google is discovering just how dangerous it is to ruffle the feathers of the major cellcos. Its Nexus One handset may be one of the most advanced on the market and bear the magical brand, but half-hearted marketing efforts by carriers have led to disappointing sales. Now, analysts at Goldman Sachs have slashed their estimates …

Mobile 11 Mar 15:03
Google, Facebook cop for preposterous patent potshot

Bits of the internet on a phone? WE OWN THAT!

Gathering information from around the internet and presenting it on a mobile phone is protected by patent, according to Wireless Ink, which is suing Google and Facebook over it. The patent covers the aggregation of information for presentation to interested individuals on a mobile phone, and was granted in October last year …

Mobile 11 Mar 15:23
BBC might pay for Tory broadband promises

Superfast broadband needs super funding

Mandybill minister Stephen Timms has attacked Tory promises of "superfast broadband" as "hopeless" and lacking in funding. His comment, which was characteristically posted on Twitter, followed the Conservative party's launch of its technology manifesto earlier today. "Conservative broadband policy hopeless. Minor regulatory …

Government 11 Mar 15:31
Koobface gang refresh botnet to beat takedown

Twitter scourge changes pants

Command and Control servers associated with the infamous Koobface worms have gone through a complete refresh over the last fortnight. Russian net security firm Kaspersky Lab reckons the change up might be aimed at making takedown efforts by cybercrime fighters more difficult. Koobface spreads via messages on social networking …

Malware 11 Mar 16:32
Erstwhile Sun openista gets April Fool director job at OSI

It's not a joke, it's real!

Ex-Sun open source veteran Simon Phipps has been elected to the board of directors at the Open Source Initiative (OSI) group. Phipps confirmed in a blog post today that he would start his new role on 1 April. On Monday he quit Oracle-owned Sun, where - prior to Larry Ellison's acquisition of the database firm - he had worked …

Operating Systems 11 Mar 16:43
BT rolls out new, 'competitive' consumer deals

That's competitive as in really expensive

UK infrastructure owner BT has today announced its new consumer bundle offerings following relaxation of Ofcom competition rules. The headlining £7.99-a-month anytime calls plus broadband is reasonable - but lasts for only 3 months, followed by a 15-month lock-in at an unimpressive £15.99. “Offering a bundle of broadband and …

Telecoms 11 Mar 17:08
Jesus Phone to exhibit holy gift of bilocation

Jobsian prophets predict multitasking for iPhone 4.0

Apple will add multitasking to the Jesus Phone this summer with the release of the divine handset's version 4.0 software update, according to a report citing anonymous people who have accurately predicted Jobsian behavior in the past . AppleInsider reports that iPhone OS 4.0 will offer a "full-on solution" to multitasking, …

Mobile 11 Mar 18:45
Super Micro to launch AMD render cloud

A great game console in the sky

The conceptual render cloud that Advanced Micro Devices was showing off a little more than a year ago at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show is going commercial this year. Back in January 2009 AMD was still a maker of CPU and GPU chips and had teamed up with Otoy, a Sherman Oaks, California developer of 3D rendering software …

Servers 11 Mar 19:07
One-third of orphaned Zeus botnets find way home

Cyber security's short-lived victory

The takedown of 100 servers used to control Zeus-related botnets may be a short-lived victory, security researchers said after discovering that about a third of the orphaned channels were able to regain connectivity in less than 48 hours. The resurrection of at least 30 command and control channels came after their internet …

Security 11 Mar 20:04
Microsoft plants Bing on Google-free Chinese Androids

Google apps 'postponed' on China carriers

Motorola will soon push Microsoft's Bing search engine onto Android phones in China, after announcing an alliance with the Redmond software giant that will see Bing appear on Androids across the globe. In the wake of this Moto-Microsoft pact, Google has confirmed with The Reg that it has barred the use of its mobile …

Mobile 11 Mar 22:37
TSA worker tried to sabotage terror database, feds say

One week after losing job

A former data analyst for the US Transportation Security Agency has been accused of trying to sabotage a terrorist screening database used to vet people with access to sensitive information and secure areas of the nation’s transportation network. 46-year-old Douglas James Duchak, who worked as a TSA contractor for five years, …

Crime 11 Mar 23:59