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17th March 2010 Archive

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  • Apple's Mac - the ghostbuster's choice

    IMs from beyond the grave

    Apple's Mac has long been the go-to machine of choice for creative designers and photographers. Scientific apps such as A/G Blast contribute to our understanding of the world around us. And now a tip from MacDailyNews points us to another creative realm in which the Mac is expanding human knowledge: investigation of the …

    Bootnotes 17 Mar 2010, 06:02

  • Googlenet dwarfs all but two of world's ISPs

    The tier 1 network that isn't

    Google handles more internet traffic than all but two of the world's ISPs, according to data from network-security outfit Arbor Networks. If Google were an ISP, says Arbor chief scientist Craig Labovitz, it would be the fastest-growing carrier in the world, and its size would be matched only by a pair of tier 1 providers, …

    Networks 17 Mar 2010, 07:02

  • LG InTouch Max GW620

    Review Android for the masses?

    It's taken a while, but LG has finally got around to releasing an Android handset. We're pleased to see they haven't just gone for a me-too 'droid either – the GW620 is firmly aimed at the lower mid-range rather than the smartphone high end. It puts the focus firmly on social networking, with integrated SNS, a slide-out Qwerty …

    Phones 17 Mar 2010, 08:02

  • Ordnance Survey consultation reaches end of line

    Where's our map data going?

    Public consultation on the future of some Ordnance Survey mapping data ends today, and a government spokeswoman told The Register that it will respond within the next few weeks. The government reiterated late last year that it wanted to make certain OS products “freely available” to UK citizens. However, that declaration …

    Government 17 Mar 2010, 09:18

  • Security in the virtualised world

    On Demand How should it change your approach

    If virtualisation is creeping across your organisation then you should tune in to this, the latest webcast in our virtualisation series: Virtualisation and Security: Practical Matters. The event was broadcast live last week and is now available to watch at your leisure, when it suits you. Reg impresario Tim Phillips steers …

    Virtualisation Lab 17 Mar 2010, 09:25

  • Google's Chinese ad partners demand satisfaction

    Mountain View silence induces 'extreme pain'

    Twenty-seven of Google's Chinese ad partners have asked the web giant to clarify its position in China, saying their businesses are suffering as Google mulls a possible exit from the country and urging the company to explain how they will be compensated if it does depart. "We see our business volume declining dramatically, but …

    Financial News 17 Mar 2010, 09:37

  • Samsung confirms Android 2.1 update for Galaxy Portal

    Free update inbound

    Samsung has announced it will upgrade its Android-based Galaxy Portal smartphone - aka the Galaxy Spica - to version 2.1 of the Google operating system. The handset - model number i5700, reviewed here - will get the Android 2.1 update at some point during the next few months as Samsung begins a worldwide rollout starting this …

    Phones 17 Mar 2010, 09:44

  • Emulex gets NetApp FCoE blessing

    Follows on from HP

    NetApp has blessed the use of Emulex's OneConnect Converged Network Adapter (CNA) for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), a huge tier 1 storage vendor endorsement for the firm. The company has been lagging behind competitor QLogic in getting storage vendor endorsements for its CNA when running FCoE and 10GbitE. It won HP …

    Storage 17 Mar 2010, 10:03

  • Potholes on the road to server virtualisation

    Lab And how to avoid them

    While the broader question of what’s going to prevent server virtualisation going mainstream might be interesting, it's far more pertinent to find out what’s going to prevent virtualisation working in your own organisation. According to your feedback, virtualisation itself doesn’t seem to require that great a skill set to get …

    Virtualisation Lab 17 Mar 2010, 10:18

  • Microsoft cuts out paste

    Anything Apple can do...

    Windows Phone 7 Series won't be able to cut and paste, as Microsoft continues to create something with all the limitations of the iPhone and little of the charm. Microsoft has confirmed comments made at MIX10 that Windows Phone 7 Series devices won't be able to cut and paste between applications - apparently users don't want …

    Mobile 17 Mar 2010, 10:21

  • Study shows gaming can hinder reading, writing progress

    Parents of young boys, take note

    A study has confirmed what any savvy parent could have told you: young boys who are given games consoles may fail to advance as far academically as their Wii, Xbox and PlayStation-less peers. A team from the Denison University in Ohio led by psychologists Robert Weis and Brittany Cerankosky gave PlayStation 2s to 32 boys out …

    Games 17 Mar 2010, 10:30

  • Mafia don suspect tracked down via Facebook

    Capo gets poked and cuffed

    Italian police successfully used Facebook to track down a Mafia suspect. Pasquale Manfredi, 33, who reportedly calls himself Scarface and allegedly runs the 'Ndrangheta mafia, was captured in Calabria using intelligence gleaned from the social networking site. Manfredi, who used the alias Georgie on Facebook, is suspected of …

    Security 17 Mar 2010, 10:39

  • Microsoft confirms IE9 will shun Windows XP

    Updated The cost of GPUness

    Microsoft has confirmed that Internet Explorer 9 will not support Windows XP. This is hardly a surprise, and it was implied by Microsoft's press materials, which said that the browser's platform preview requires Direct2D, an API available only with Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. But just to lay the matter …

    Operating Systems 17 Mar 2010, 10:56

  • Sky gets Five HD

    Freeview who?

    Five may not be coming to Freeview HD any time in the near future, but it will show up on Sky. The two broadcasters today said Five HD will debut on the satellite service in July. Sky said the deal is an important step toward reaching its target to present 50 HD channels by Christmas. Five HD is the forty-second channel it …

    Media 17 Mar 2010, 11:03

  • Ellison's storage Pillar sits at fork in the road

    Comment Finance, founding and two choices

    Larry Ellison founded Pillar Data on the premise it would become the next EMC or NetApp, and go through an IPO or be bought. On its way there it sees a new system that could replace 100 NetApp filers coming by 2012. This perspective on Pillar was given by its CEO and CFO at a customer summit in Phoenix, Arizona on March 10. …

    Storage 17 Mar 2010, 11:06

  • WD adds 1TB portable Mac drive

    My Passport SE

    Western Digital has extended its portable drive line for the Mac with 750GB and 1TB models. WD's My Passport line of portable 2.5-inch hard drives connect by USB 2.0 to its hosts, Macs in this case. The My Passport SE is the higher capacity variant, with the high-end My Passport Studio adding FireWire 400 and 800 connectivity …

    Hardware 17 Mar 2010, 11:15

  • How much of a burden is ERP on your IT department?

    Mini Poll Reviewing the practicalities and pressures

    Following our discussions earlier in the week on the current state of ERP, we thought it would be useful to gather some structured feedback on the burden such systems place on IT departments. So, if you have a couple of minutes, let us know how things are with your ERP system in the following mini-poll: READER POLL: ERP BURDEN …

    ERP 17 Mar 2010, 11:17

  • Virgin Media readies Android attack

    HTC Desire and Sony Xperia X10 launches lined up

    Virgin has become the latest mobile phone network to catch the Android bug - it has launched two smartphones based on the Google OS and will release two more next month. April will see both HTC's Desire and Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10 come to Virgin Media on what the company promised would be a range of "compelling" tariffs. …

    Mobile 17 Mar 2010, 11:34

  • Microsoft slapped with $106m patent kipper

    VirnetX wins infringement case against Redmond

    Microsoft has been ordered by a US federal jury in Texas to pay nearly $106m to VirnetX Holding Corporation for infringing two internet communication patents. Under the ruling Microsoft will be required to cough up $71.75m for infringing a virtual private network patent, and $34m for violating a patent intended for setting up …

    Operating Systems 17 Mar 2010, 11:38

  • US kiddies treated to Playboy TV

    'Technical glitch' delivers explicit previews

    Kids in parts of North Carolina were yesterday treated to previews of Playboy TV featuring "nude women having explicit sexual conversations", as local news outfit WRAL puts it. The outrage affected Time Warner Cable's Kids On Demand and Kids On Demand Preschool channels (described as "the safe and fun place for your kids to …

    Bootnotes 17 Mar 2010, 11:41

  • ATI Graphic cards turbo charge password recovery

    Cracking on steroids

    Russian password cracking firm ElcomSoft is using the latest graphics cards from ATI to double the speed of its iPhone password breaker and wireless security auditor products. ATI Radeon HD5970-accelerated password recovery runs twice as fast as NVIDIA Tesla-supported recovery, or up to 20 times faster than on Core i7-960 rigs …

    Security 17 Mar 2010, 11:54

  • LG backs away from '15,000 3D TVs for pubs' claim

    Sky limited

    LG isn't going to supply Sky with 15,000 3D TVs so that the broadcaster can enable 15,000 of Blighty's pubs to show their clientele 3D footie matches, the consumer electronics company has claimed. Yesterday, it said that 15,000 total is the number of tellies it had agreed to sell to the satellite broadcaster, which will kick …

    Hardware 17 Mar 2010, 12:06

  • Google China uncensors verboten tank man

    Search engine breaks law against Google will

    Google's Chinese search engine was defying local law on Tuesday by returning links involving the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the Xinjiang independence movement, according to a report from NBC News. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company tells NBC that despite its January 12 …

    Government 17 Mar 2010, 12:13

  • Incredible Hulk snared on Street View

    Joins Captain America in Shetlands shindig

    Even comic book superheroes need to chill out from time to time, and it appears that the Shetland Island's Pierhead Restaurant & Bar is where they let their hair down, along with the Mafia and giant white mice*: We're obliged to local Brenda Pelforth for alerting us to what a happening place the Shetlands are. She asks: " …

    Bootnotes 17 Mar 2010, 12:15

  • Mozilla ditches support for aged SeaMonkey 1.0

    It's all about number 2.0 now

    Mozilla has dropped support for version 1.0 of its four-year-old internet app suite, SeaMonkey. The open source browser maker pushed out a second iteration of SeaMonkey last autumn, so 1.0's demise was all but inevitable. Mozilla confirmed yesterday that its modern-day take on Netscape Communicator had moved on significantly …

    Applications 17 Mar 2010, 12:30

  • Game developer's lost electric buggy FOUND ON MOON

    Vintage 1973 vehicle discovered by NASA orbiter

    A lost, broken-down solar/nuclear robot rover left on the Moon by the Soviet space programme - and nowadays owned by a wealthy computer game developer and space tourist - has been precisely located by NASA's new moon-mapping satellite. NASA: Lunar lost property office The Lunokhod-2 rover was despatched to the Moon in 1973 …

    Science 17 Mar 2010, 12:34

  • Irate Aussies go after US website

    World government is living in Sydney

    The owner of a US website accused of breaking Australian law by the Australian Human Rights Commission has told them to rack right off. Encyclopaedia Dramatica is a tasteless collection of articles along the lines of Sickipedia or Something Awful. ED is refusing to bow to demands from the AHRC that it remove an article about …

    Government 17 Mar 2010, 12:38

  • Legless Lithuanian attacks copper with todger

    'Evasive action' prevents spam truncheon injury

    A legless Lithuanian who "assaulted a female police officer with his penis" has been fined £600 for his trouble, the BBC reports. Marium Varinauskas, 28, got so rat-arsed that his girlfriend called cops to their Aberdeen flat. They arrived at 1am on 15 November "to find the self-employed engineer sitting on the sofa wearing a …

    Bootnotes 17 Mar 2010, 12:52

  • Desktop refresh cycles: How long is yours?

    Workshop Playing leapfrog on the desktop

    Depending on the organisation you work in, the notion of ‘desktop refresh’ will have taken one of several forms. At one end of the spectrum, major ‘one-off’ upgrades can be the norm. The other end may involve nothing formal in the way of a modernisation program, relying more on individual employees making the case for a new …

    Desktop Management 17 Mar 2010, 13:26

  • Xiotech throws blocks at hypervisors

    Extends VirtualView API

    Xiotech has got an IAS architecture to embed its storage building blocks better in virtual server environments with snazzy VirtualView automated storage provisioning and management software. IAS stands for Integrated Application Storage, and the base pitch is that existing controller-based storage is too complex. Storage …

    Storage 17 Mar 2010, 13:34

  • MS virtualisation bug dodges defences

    Redmond downplays virtual PC vuln

    A newly discovered flaw in Microsoft's virtualisation technologies creates a potential mechanism for hackers to sidestep security defences. The unpatched vulnerability creates a possible route around security threat mitigation technologies such as Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Safe Exception Handlers (SafeSEH) and Address …

    Virtualization 17 Mar 2010, 13:55

  • Despite pub massacre, British songwriter revenue nudges up

    CDs now for Xmas only?

    Performance royalties for British artists increased last year, driven by international agreements. Paid music use overseas was up almost 20 per cent to £166.9m, a healthy part of the £623m recorded by PRS For Music for 2009. Britain is one of only three music exporters in the world - in other words, UK talent brings in more …

    Media 17 Mar 2010, 14:59

  • Nokia puts hive mind to work on Best Phone Ever

    And it should have wheels and, and a knife with fire coming out

    Nokia's "Designed by Community" project is intended to find out what a mobile phone feature set should be, but even the Finns aren't promising to build it. The site, which is part of Nokia Conversations, offers visitors the opportunity to vote on various aspects of the "perfect" handset with user interface elements being this …

    Mobile 17 Mar 2010, 15:01

  • AMD: OEMs primed for Opteron 6100s

    Tier one server makers MIA

    This being the week when Intel is rolling out its six-core Xeon 5600 processors for the workhorse two-socket server market, it's a little tough for rival Advanced Micro Devices to get some attention. But the "Westmere-EP" hubbub is starting to die down, and AMD thought this was a good time to remind everyone that it has its own …

    Servers 17 Mar 2010, 15:07

  • Welsh auditor in court over child abuse images

    Released on bail

    Jeremy Colman, the ex-Auditor General for Wales, has appeared before magistrates on 14 charges of making and possessing child sexual abuse images and failing to disclose a password. He has been charged with making and possessing 429 images, 126 of which were level four - the most serious images, sadism and bestiality, are …

    Security 17 Mar 2010, 15:10

  • US broadband seeks ISP speed stickers

    Government mandated bandwidth exams

    Government-mandated ISP ratings, a new copyright symbol and a national poll database - just a taste of what you'll find in the new plan for America's next-generation broadband. The National Broadband Plan has been presented to the US Congress and covers everything from ensuring that schools get decent broadband to providing …

    Broadband 17 Mar 2010, 15:17

  • Debating the power of the Chocolate Factory

    Is Google getting too powerful?

    The RSA plays host to a debate tomorrow 'Is Google getting too powerful?' with a bumper harvest of Reg staff present. Panelists include policy expert Damian Tambini of the LSE, Becket McGrath, partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge and Tom Hyde of digital marketing agency, Profero. Joining them is our own Andrew Orlowski, …

    Management 17 Mar 2010, 15:33

  • Flat-pack plug designer wins top award

    Judges wowed by elegant take on UK's clunky three-pin power system

    Young designer Min-Kyo Choi has bagged the Design Museum-backed Brit Insurance Design Award 2010 for his novel take on Britain's bulky three-pin power plug. Choi's design, which Reg Hardware featured back in June 2009, packs the standard UK plug in to a flat unit 48 x 44 x 10mm. Design Award winner: Choi's three-pin plug …

    Hardware 17 Mar 2010, 15:33

  • Muso turfed off train for 'suspicious' set list

    South West Trains objects to The Killers

    A 25-year-old musician was turfed off a South West Trains service after security operatives objected to his "suspicious" set list, The Portsmouth News reports. Bassist Tom Shaw was putting together the list for his band The Magic Mushrooms, and ill-advisedly included the word "killers" as shorthand for These Things That I've …

    Bootnotes 17 Mar 2010, 15:40

  • El Reg insults 'millions of Irish Catholics'

    Orange masthead on St Patrick's Day? Oops...

    It won't have escaped the attention of our US readers that El Reg Stateside today features an orange masthead - part of a temporary sponsored makeover. Well, it's fair to say that the Strategy Boutique could have brainstormed that one bit more thoroughly. One reader was moved to protest: "Why are you insulting millions of …

    Bootnotes 17 Mar 2010, 16:28

  • Vodafone Spain supplies pre-Mariposa'd smartphone (again)

    Botnet-ready? Excellent

    Vodafone Spain has again supplied a HTC Magic smartphone that came pre-infected with the Mariposa botnet client and other malware crud. The second incident, involving an Android-based phone supplied to a researcher at S21Sec, comes a week after the mobile phone giant supplied the same type of infection on the identical model …

    Mobile 17 Mar 2010, 16:32

  • Microsoft renews vows with JQuery Javascript

    Redmondian open source library love abounds

    Microsoft has put more of its considerable weight behind the open-source JQuery Javascript library, vowing to provide additional code contribution, testing resources, and integration with new versions of its own development tools. Redmond .NET veep Scott Guthrie announced the news yesterday at the company's MIX conference in …

    Developer 17 Mar 2010, 16:36

  • FCC plans spectrum-flog to fund broadband

    Or maybe just kill television

    The FCC's National Broadband Plan will be largely funded through the sale of radio spectrum the FCC doesn't own: a good trick if one can pull it off. Beyond selling off other people's spectrum to pay for the National Broadband Plan the FCC is also planning to monitor existing operators to ensure they report connection speeds …

    Mobile 17 Mar 2010, 16:46

  • Google Apps punts kill-Microsoft-Exchange-now tool

    When 25 million emails go bump in the night

    While Microsoft has been failing to outfox Google in the web search and ad game, Google has - apparently - swiped a few of Redmond's customers away from MS Office. The Mountain View Chocolate Factory gloated on its corporate blog that 25 million people worldwide had switched to Google Apps in the past year. In a separate blog …

    The Channel 17 Mar 2010, 16:55

  • IE9 - the big questions and Microsoft's half answers

    Will it SMIL? Yesnomaybe

    “HTML5 will enable a new class of applications,” says Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft's Internet Explorer general manager, speaking to the press at the company's Mix10 conference in Las Vegas. But exactly what parts of HTML5 will the company support? And what will happen when changes are made as the standard evolves? Hachamovitch …

    Software 17 Mar 2010, 17:13

  • Novell, Ingres partner for appliances

    A warm handoff

    In January, Novell released its SUSE Appliance Toolkit after nearly a year of alpha and beta testing. Now begins the difficult task of getting systems, middleware, and database software makers to rejigger their code and make it available through the online tool so companies can spin up and spit out software appliances. Today …

    Software 17 Mar 2010, 17:20

  • Cybercrime's bulletproof hosting exposed

    Zeus botnets' tangled web

    Researchers at RSA have identified the network framework that endows some of the worlds most notorious botnets with always-on connections that are virtually immune from takedowns. At the network's heart are the servers that shepherd tens of thousands of infected PCs so they continue to send spam, spread malware and stay …

    Security 17 Mar 2010, 19:38

  • Mobile apps to earn $17bn by 2012

    As Android crowds the iPhone

    The market for mobile apps - be they for smartphones, less capable "feature phones," or carry-alongs such as Apple's iPad - will swell to $17.5bn by 2012. Or so says a study commissioned by a company with a vested interest in that growth, Getjar, the self-described "world's largest cross platform app store," with just under …

    Mobile 17 Mar 2010, 19:40

  • Cisco beefs up fixed port Ethernet switches

    It's all about video

    Switch maker and server wannabe Cisco Systems is making big bets that video streaming over the internet will be the next killer app - and one that will drive its revenue and profits in the new decade as voice over IP did in the prior one. Today Cisco put some new fixed-port Ethernet switches into the field to support video …

    Data Networking 17 Mar 2010, 20:30

  • First WiMAX phone to debut next week?

    Sprint to punt HTC Supersonic

    The first WiMAX-capable smartphone is said to be slated for introduction next week by Sprint Nextel. The phone will be the widely rumored HTC Supersonic, according to a report in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal citing the ever-loquacious "people familiar with the matter". The introductory honors will be borne by Sprint Nextel …

    Networks 17 Mar 2010, 21:24

  • Red Hat to be cloud facilitator, not fluffer

    OSBC Databases and the agony of choice

    Red Hat will help others build clouds, but is unlikely to following operating-system rival Microsoft by becoming a cloud service provider itself. Chief executive Jim Whitehurst said Wednesday that Red Hat can best serve its customers by delivering technologies that are certified to run on a "myriad of different clouds" and by …

    Software 17 Mar 2010, 22:42