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29th March 2010 Archive

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  • AMD draws x64 battle lines with 'Magny-Cours'

    Opteron 6100s lock and load

    With AMD's launch of its "Magny-Cours" Opteron 6100 processors today, another battalion in the x64 War of 2010 is moving into position, opposite the field from Intel's "Westmere-EP" Xeon 5600s. Tomorrow, Intel will roll out its big-gun "Nehalem-EX" Xeon 7500s, and in the second quarter, AMD will move its entry "Lisbon" Opteron …

    Servers 29 Mar 05:02

  • Why the Google antitrust complaint is not about Microsoft

    It's about 'bundling' services with a search monopoly

    Google should spend an afternoon with Shivaun and Adam Raff, the two very real people behind a recent EU antitrust complaint against its web search monopoly. To meet the pair - co-founders of the British price comparison site Foundem - is to know you would never describe them as Microsoft mouthpieces. They're computer scientists …

    Music and Media 29 Mar 06:02

  • Buying Solutions signs £6bn framework deal

    Supersize IT

    The Treasury agency Buying Solutions has said that a pan-government framework arrangement with 20 suppliers could be worth £6bn. The deal, announced on 25 March 2010, will deliver desktop hardware, IT hardware infrastructure, software and associated services to Whitehall departments, their agencies, local authorities and the …

    Channel Register 29 Mar 07:02

  • Toshiba Satellite T130 13in notebook

    Review Slim sensation

    If Toshiba's svelte Satellite T110 was too small for you, the next model up, the T130, might not be. Both are part of the company's "thin, light and mobile" line-up, but while the T110 - reviewed here - is an 11.6in laptop that likes look down on netbooks, its bigger sibling is a 13.3in notebook that promises to be more fleet of …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 08:02

  • Choosing an ERP implementation partner

    Workshop Avoiding getting shafted

    Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been around for a long time, yet there is no de facto guide to making it work or any guarantee that you'll get what you want if you invest in it. Yet many thousands of instances of ERP from a range of software vendors are in play today. Despite the uncertainties, businesses make it work. So …

    ERP 29 Mar 08:02

  • HP strike struck

    Up tools, comrades

    HP managers will be celebrating this morning - a threatened two-day strike by 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union has been cancelled. The industrial action was due today and tomorrow (Tuesday) but has been suspended to allow talks to continue. Jim Hanson, PCS national officer for HP, said progress had …

    IT Director 29 Mar 08:15

  • Virtualisation and sorcery: We’re all apprentices now

    Lab VM utopia too good to be true?

    It’s funny to think what might be made of this virtualisation lab in a few years’ time. When we kicked it off back in December last year, we wanted to gauge where organisations large and small were really at – and after a barrage of questions and a solid level of feedback, we think we now know. Whatever the evangelists and early …

    Virtualisation Lab 29 Mar 09:02

  • WIN a Pogoplug 2 DIY cloud computing gadget

    Competition Your drives shared on the network

    The Pogoplug 2 from Cloud Engines connects your storage - external HDDs and USB Flash keys - to your own network and the wider internet beyond it. And we have one to give away to a lucky Reg Hardware reader. CE's brightly coloured gadget - you can read our review here - packs in a trio of USB 2.0 ports on the back and a …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 09:02

  • Capita bags another dealer

    £15m for education provider

    Capita is buying education supplier Ramesys from Lloyds Bank for £15m. Ramesys, based in Nottingham, employs about 300 people and specialises in school projects. It has contracts with Nottingham, Manchester, Waltham Forest, Westminster, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich. Last year it made a loss of £2.9m on turnover of £34m. Paul …

    Channel Register 29 Mar 09:05

  • Are you a 'supertasker'? Probably not

    Small elite really can chat and drive safely, say profs

    Trick-cyclists in America say they have discovered that about 2.5 per cent of the human race are so-called "supertaskers", able to do more than one thing at a time without loss of performance. In particular, supertaskers can drive safely while talking on the phone. "According to cognitive theory, these individuals ought not to …

    Biology 29 Mar 09:13

  • UK Music wants Cabinet creative committee

    Licensing reform needed too

    Britain's music industry umbrella group reckons the UK could overtake the US by 2020, but it's got a few demands for policy makers. UK Music calls for easier digital licensing, less red tape on smaller music venues, and wants a cabinet-level committee to coordinate policy. In a list of policy proposals it calls Liberating …

    Music and Media 29 Mar 09:15

  • Is iFlorist the greatest website in the universe, ever?

    Raised eyebrows at gushing customer reviews

    It's come to our attention that there's a bit of a ding-dong going down at Trustpilot as to whether online flower outfit iFlorist is the greatest company ever to do business on the interwebs or, well, not. Here's a random selection of reviews: Here's the beef, according to one alarmed netizen, who can't bring himself …

    IT Director 29 Mar 09:32

  • PS3 update to rid all consoles of Linux support

    Sony making console 'more secure', apparently

    Sony will release the next PlayStation 3 firmware update this week, the company has announced. But the software - version 3.21 - will disappoint Linux buffs. It will remove the 'Install Other OS' option from older consoles. The update goes live on 1 April. A fair few Linux fans will hope Sony's announcement is an early April …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 09:48

  • Facebook prepares for another privacy row with its users

    Zuckerberg tries to pimp your data again

    Facebook has once again decided to tweak its privacy policy, but this time the Mark Zuckerberg-run company has told its users to expect another overhaul ahead of making the changes - presumably in an effort to prevent the kind of protest the Web2.0rhea site suffered last year. On Friday Facebook’s deputy general counsel …

    Mobile 29 Mar 09:52

  • N00b spooks to be pensioned off

    Pipe and slippers, Mr Bond?

    MI5 has begun laying off older intelligence officers who cannot get to grips with the internet and other modern technologies. Jonathan Evans, director general of the Security Service, recently told the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) he was making voluntary and compulsory redundancies to improve the organisation's IT …

    Government 29 Mar 09:57

  • iPads sold out

    And apps will set you back ten bucks each

    iPad versions of applications will come at a premium, but with the iPad now sold out even the most spendthrift Apple fans will have to wait. Apple's iPad is already shipping to customers who pre-ordered early, to arrive before Easter. However, the initial manufacturing run has sold out and American visitors to the online store …

    PCs & Chips 29 Mar 10:35

  • Virgin Media talks up 'simple' mobile tariff revamp

    Virgin Media is to launch a line of "incredibly compelling" - so no hyperbole there, then - mobile phone tariff next month which it pledged would be a paragon of simplicity "in a market traditionally littered with complicated options". Pay monthly packages will run from £15 to £40 in £5 steps. That's for 18-month contracts - …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 10:44

  • Boy, 4, presses dad's iPhone, wins £500 eBay auction

    Ouch!

    A four year-old boy bid £500 for - and won - a bookplate signed by JK Rowling - while playing with his dad's iPhone. His father, James Hinton, 30, had been browsing eBay for signed books, when a call of nature intervened. He put his phone down on the sofa, and went to the toilet. Thirty seconds later, he returned to find his …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 10:57

  • DNS glitch sends surfers to China

    Bad directions on the information superhighway

    A networking error resulted in Chilean surfers being redirected to servers in China late last week. A smaller number of Californians were also affected by the snafu, which was inconsistent but persisted for around two days between Wednesday and Friday last week. Affected web users looking for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were …

    Telecoms 29 Mar 11:04

  • Orange to slash price of top iPhone plan

    Exclusive £75 for unlimited calls, texts, internet

    Orange will this week tweak its iPhone pay monthly plans to introduce a new package offering unlimited calls and unlimited texts. The plan will cost £75 a month and is only available with a two-year contract. Essentially, it's Orange's former £125-a-month package, reissued for £50 a month less. Like other iPhone packages, the …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 11:10

  • MS coughs to Hotmail block

    Have you got anything without spam?

    Microsoft has apologised to its UK Hotmail users after some of the software vendor's IP addresses were embarrassingly blocked due to spamming. "Microsoft is dedicated to providing the most trusted and protected consumer experience on the web," said a Redmond spokesman. "We worked closely with Trend Micro to fix the issue and …

    Telecoms 29 Mar 11:26

  • Brits still getting bull from broadband providers

    Fast as an unladen swallow on afterburners, honest

    British broadband providers are still failing to warn punters that the real speeds they will experience are likely to be much slower than heavily advertised maximum speeds. Mystery shopper research from Ofcom found that three quarters of people were not told that real-world speed would be slower than the fastest possible line …

    Telecoms 29 Mar 11:27

  • Best Buy trumpets UK store openings

    Five big box outlets in 2010

    Best Buy opens its first UK outlet, a superstore with with a 50,000 sqft shop floor, in Lakeside, Thurrock, in May. Best Buy, America's biggest consumer electronics chain, has also pencilled "big box" store openings in June for Southamption and Merry Hill, West Midlands, and later this year for Aintree, near Liverpool, and …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 11:42

  • Erotic trojan keelhauls Japanese pirates

    'Visual novel' download with a surprise ending

    Some Japanese aficionados of the "visual novel" who decided they'd really rather not pay to enjoy interactive erotic romp Cross Days ended up with their personal info splashed across the internet, TorrentFreak reports. The recently-released novel in question quickly popped up on filesharing sites for those who like their bangs …

    Music and Media 29 Mar 11:43

  • Official: Sony Ericsson X10 has no multi-touch hardware

    Blow for fans of iPhone wannabe

    A Sony Ericsson staffer has admitted that the company's eagerly awaited Android-based touchscreen smartphone, the Xperia X10, lacks hardware support for multi-touch operation, dashing hopes that the feature's absence might be remedied by a firmware update. The X10 is due to go on sale next month through Vodafone, Virgin Media …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 11:46

  • Radio lobby 'hides' 2m analogue receiver sales

    Mysterious boost for DAB

    Maybe the Great Digital Switchover won't be so difficult, after all. The UK's digital radio lobby group has redefined what an analogue radio is, giving DAB a stunning boost in market share. You'll recall that in the Digital Britain report last summer, Lord Carter recommended that when digital listening (mostly on DAB radios) …

    Government 29 Mar 11:48

  • Nips slip past Apple censors

    But is it art?

    iPhone fans with a penchant for naked breasts and an inability to surf the web can now play puzzles containing risqué images - in apparent violation of Apple's 'no naughty bits' policy. But these ones are allowed 'cos they're art. The new applications consist of sliding puzzles showing nudes taken from classical paintings, …

    Mobile 29 Mar 11:52

  • BT hijacks business browsers

    For when email spam isn't annoying enough

    BT is annoying business broadband customers by hijacking their browsers to nag them to download a branded desktop utility. The firm has decided it simply must tell subscribers about "Desktop Help", which it says allows it to fix users' technical problems remotely. To that end, it is redirecting HTTP requests to its own …

    Telecoms 29 Mar 12:01

  • Google pushes out Chrome 5 beta for Windows

    Developer channel stacks up

    Google has released a new Windows-based beta of its Chrome browser to its developer channel. The Chrome 5.0.360.0 release comes with several bug fixes and a new tabbed bookmark manager, which was slotted into Google's Chromium code last week. Google had previously provided the bookmark manager as a separate window, which some …

    Applications 29 Mar 12:57

  • Discovery is go for April launch

    'We are ready to fly', says NASA

    Discovery is ready for a 5 April launch on its STS-131 mission to the International Space Station. "We are ready to fly," declared Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, last Friday, following a "thorough review" of the spacecraft and systems. The shuttle will blast off from Kennedy Space Center's …

    Space 29 Mar 13:08

  • Carphone Warehouse splits with self

    Best Buy Europe arrives

    Carphone Warehouse has completed its split into two companies, with one owning half of Best Buy Europe - whose first UK store will be opening in May. It's been more than a year since CEO Charles Dunstone first talked of splitting Carphone Warehouse into two companies. Today both of them are trading shares and one is poised to …

    Channel Register 29 Mar 13:14

  • AMD claims no premium for four-way chips

    The Opteron 6100 sales pitch

    With Intel finally on par with Advanced Micro Devices in terms of CPU performance, memory bandwidth and basic server architecture, AMD is left to keep even or slightly ahead on performance and compete aggressively on price. And with the launch of the "Magny-Cours" Opteron 6100 processors today, which make use of AMD's own …

    PCs & Chips 29 Mar 13:26

  • Lords: Analogue radio must die

    Cash for trannies scheme, more ads

    Digital radio isn't great and the public doesn't want it, but you're going to get it anyway. So recommends the House of Lords Communications Committee today. 90 per cent of the UK listens to radio, and 94 per cent of listeners are happy with what they've got. The Lords accept most of the points made by critics of DAB and the …

    Government 29 Mar 13:32

  • Trojan poses as Adobe update utility

    Be careful what you invite in

    Miscreants have begun creating malware that overwrites software update applications from Adobe and others. Email malware that poses as security updates from trusted companies is a frequently used hacker ruse. Malware posing as update utilities, rather than individual updates, represents a new take on the ruse. Vietnam-based …

    Malware 29 Mar 13:48

  • Avnet rings up Bell Micro sale

    Another breadliner gets borged

    Avnet is paying $252m for Bell Microproducts - the 20-year veteran distie which specialises in storage kit. Including Bell's debt pile of $342m this gives a value for the deal of $594m. The all-cash payment values each Bell share at $7, a third more than they were changing hands for on Friday. Both boards of directors have …

    Channel Register 29 Mar 14:16

  • Child safety tsar demands faster action

    Byron review, not all bad

    The UK may be a world leader when it comes to internet safety – but it needs to do more - that was today’s verdict from Professor Tanya Byron – author of the government’s current policy on the internet, Safer Children in a Digital World. Byron confirmed that the UK is the world leader in child internet safety but advised that …

    Government 29 Mar 14:37

  • AMD signs Acer to hit Intel in the Duomos

    Flashes racks, towers in Milan

    Acer has set itself the target of grabbing 10 per cent of the enterprise server market after embracing AMD's make-or-break Opteron 6100 architecture today. The Taiwanese-owned, Italian-controlled vendor unveiled the AMD-loaded lineup, which spans from towers to rack-mounted HPC kit, at a press conference in Milan today. They …

    HPC 29 Mar 14:51

  • A quarter of underage children have social networking profiles

    Study finds kids privacy-savvy

    One in four underage children have profiles on social networking sites, according to research by media regulator Ofcom. The survey found that 25 per cent of eight to 12-year-olds surveyed have a social networking profile. Children under 13 are not allowed to have a profile on the major platforms, including Facebook, Bebo and …

    Law 29 Mar 15:07

  • BBC ices launch of free iPhone news app

    Beeb Trust investigates Auntie's Apple fondle

    Next month's release of iPhone apps for BBC news and sports coverage has been shelved, while the BBC Trust probes the proposal. The Corporation’s governing body asked the BBC to hold off on development of the service until the trust has considered whether the free apps can be justified. According to a report on the BBC, the …

    Mobile 29 Mar 15:23

  • Tories to cut IT to keep National Insurance down

    Down with this sort of thing

    The shadow chancellor today announced cuts in large IT programmes would form part of a £6bn public spending squeeze under a Tory government, that would be used to cancel most of a rise in national insurance planned for next year by Labour. Under the plan to slash "without reducing the quality of front line services", George …

    Government 29 Mar 15:26

  • The Storage love-in

    2U from us 4U

    We at The Register pride ourselves on our ability to get under the covers of the technology industry, challenging pre-conceived ideas and asking the questions that much of the world daren't ask. Well here we go again. This week we’re briefly requesting your insight on the world of storage – the world of storage vendors to be …

    Storage 29 Mar 15:27

  • Ericsson pulls in $1bn from China Mobile

    Not to mention a paltry $800m from China Unicom

    Ericsson has managed to flog $1.8bn of mobile infrastructure to China, signing a $1bn deal with China Mobile today and proving that Huawei won't win them all. The two deals, reported by Reuters, relate to the networks' deployment of 3G technologies - TD-SCDMA for China Mobile and WCDMA for China Unicom, the former being a …

    Telecoms 29 Mar 15:45

  • 3view names the day it'll take DVB-T2 box orders

    Still mum on when the set-top will ship

    It's not saying when you'll be able to get your hands on the thing, but set-top box maker 3view today gave advance notice that it will begin taking advance orders for its Freeview HD box next week. We should point out that while the 3view unit picks up Freeview HD broadcasts, it's not - yet - officially licensed to use the …

    Reg Hardware 29 Mar 16:07

  • Big Windows Server users get prepaid Amazon fluffing

    The appliance of license

    Windows server customers who've bought in bulk can now use their licenses to effectively access prepaid computing power in Amazon's Web Services cloud. The online toaster warehouse has struck an agreement with Microsoft so business customers can use their existing Enterprise Agreements with the software giant to activate …

    Operating Systems 29 Mar 17:47

  • Apple unleashes four dozen free Snow Leopard fixes

    Tiger loses out

    Apple has released an update to Mac OS 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, that aims to fix issues with QuickTime X, OpenGL, Windows compatibility, printer and USB-device problems and more. The update, version 10.6.3, is now available through Software Update, or can be downloaded here. A full listing of the 48 updates and bug-fixes in 10 …

    Operating Systems 29 Mar 18:37

  • Ex-contender for top IBM job pleads guilty on securities charges

    Takes number, gets in line

    The former senior IBM executive once considered a successor to chief Sam Palmisano and caught in an insider trading sting has pleaded guilty to two of the charges brought against him in court in New York. The insider trading scheme revolves around Raj Rajaratnam, the founder and managing director of Galleon Management, …

    Business 29 Mar 19:00

  • MS to release emergency IE fix on Tuesday

    Drive-by download risk prompts out-of-sequence patch

    Microsoft has announced plans to release an out-of-sequence patch, designed to resolve a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer. A cumulative update to Internet Explorer (MS10-018) plugs a security hole in IE 6 and IE 7 exploited by hackers over recent weeks. The latest version of Microsoft's browser, IE 8, is not …

    Enterprise Security 29 Mar 19:05

  • Tinfoil Condition Red! LHC 7 TeV mega-blasts today

    'Dr Dark Energy': Only 49% chance of Earth exploding

    Tuesday will be a big day at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), far and away the most powerful particle-punisher ever assembled by the human race. For the first time ever, boffins operating the colossal machine will cross the streams produced in its twin mighty hadron cannons, colliding particles at never-before-seen 7 Tera- …

    Physics 29 Mar 19:47

  • Video giant embraces Flash-phobic iPad with HTML 5

    Won't trash-talk Adobe's playa

    Adobe's Flash Platform took another hit Monday when a leading online video technology provider announced enhanced and growing support for HTML5, specifically intended to support non-Flash devices such as Apple's iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Brightcove, which describes itself as a "a cloud-based online video platform," said in …

    Applications 29 Mar 20:38

  • Red Hat previews Terabyte-bustin' next virtual machine

    More memory, more cores - just, more

    Red Hat's commercial implementation of its open-source KVM hypervisor, Enterprise Virtualization 2.1 (RHEV) is just four months old, but changes in server hardware and end users' desire to run fatter virtual machines has compelled Red Hat to kick out another release. The beta testing program for RHEV 2.2 opened up Monday, and …

    Hardware 29 Mar 20:54

  • Sun's IBM-mainframe flower wilts under Oracle's hard gaze

    Theater of absurdity

    Larry Ellison likes to buzz rotten fruit off some corporate type’s head. Over the years Microsoft, PeopleSoft, BEA Systems, SAP, and Red Hat have lined up to be been duly pelted during calls with Wall St or during Oracle's mega OpenWorld customer and partner conference. It's all good theater in Silicon Valley, but it's theater …

    Operating Systems 29 Mar 23:46