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7th April 2010 Archive

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  • AOL to sell or shutter Bebo

    $850m mistake

    It's uncertain whether Bebo will or will not survive into June, but one thing is certain: the declining social networking website will no longer be under AOL's wing. In a memo obtained by PaidContent and published by Silicon Alley Insider, AOL Ventures' Jon Brod stated the obvious: It is clear that social networking is a …

    Music and Media 7 Apr 2010, 00:15

  • Friends of Ubuntu join hands for cloud watcher

    Eye on Koalas eating Eucalyptus

    Ubuntu friends GroundWork Open Source and Eucalyptus have unveiled a new tool for managing and monitoring virtual servers and software that span Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud and similar IT fluffiness floating inside your own data center. Eucalyptus offers an open-source platform for mimicking the Amazon EC2 setup behind your …

    Servers 7 Apr 2010, 00:33

  • North Korea mobilizes Red Star Linux rollout

    Shoddy communist-era construction?

    Critics have often contended open source is a communist movement, and now North Korea is following Cuba and China by building its own Linux operating system. The Stalinist hangover from the Cold War is reported to have devised its own statist Linux in a country that had run Windows XP on the few PCs within its borders. Red …

    Operating Systems 7 Apr 2010, 00:40

  • Riverbed slips McAfee firewall into WAN optimizers

    One appliance better than two

    Riverbed Technology, which leads the WAN optimization appliance market in terms of customer count and installed base, has teamed up with security software and hardware appliance maker McAfee to load the latter's enterprise-grade firewall onto the its WAN appliances. The Steelhead appliances are - like a lot of servers, storage …

    Hardware 7 Apr 2010, 03:35

  • FTC rallies lawyers over Google mobile ad pact

    Antitrust challenge imminent?

    The Federal Trade Commission has put together a team of lawyers for a possible antitrust challenge to Google's proposed $750m takeover of mobile advertising outfit AdMob, according to a report citing people familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reports that the FTC has also passed its concerns over the deal to …

    Mobile 7 Apr 2010, 05:15

  • Spies caught plundering secret Indian docs

    Shadow Network busted

    An espionage gang that infiltrated Indian government computer networks across the globe has been pilfering highly classified documents related to missile systems, national security assessments and the United Nations, according to researchers who tracked the intruders for eight months. The gang, dubbed the Shadow Network, was …

    Security 7 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Are you really capable of supporting unified comms?

    UC Getting your ducks in a line

    Unified Communications (UC), by its very nature, crosses a number of technical domains within the business, encompassing networking, server infrastructure, email management, business applications and so on. It may also involve the rollout of new devices, such as new mobiles or laptops. As businesses implement UC, they will …

    Unified Comms 7 Apr 2010, 07:46

  • Altec Lansing inMotion Compact

    Review Give your tunes some welly outdoors

    Speaker maker Altec Lansing has had a Compact member of its inMotion family on sale for some time, but it recently revamped the portable speaker to bring its electronics in line with the demands of Apple's 'Works with iPhone' certification. Altec Lansing's inMotion Compact: new angle And if you're going to tinker with a …

    reghardware 7 Apr 2010, 08:02

  • Sick of the election already? Get a bet on then

    Reg guide to making cash from votes

    And they’re off! As Gordon Brown confirms what most pundits had been expecting for some months – that the General Election will take place on May 6 - Reg readers can now turn this otherwise tedious event into an opportunity for making money. We are of course talking about betting on the outcome- or rather, the outcomes – we …

    Government 7 Apr 2010, 08:02

  • Sacked Fujitsu boss threatens to sue

    Won't go quietly

    The ex-president of Fujitsu, Kuniaki Nozoe is now threatening to sue the IT services giant, and asking it to sue some of its own executives. Nozoe is suing for damages and for losses suffered by the company. Fujitsu said its auditors would consider the request within the next 60 days, the BBC reports. Nozoe has been involved …

    Servers 7 Apr 2010, 09:08

  • Orange unpeels fresh biz-friendly mobile broadband plans

    Special rates for the working day

    Orange has revamped its business-centric mobile broadband plans, rolling out four new contract plans. 'Business Everywhere 5 to 9' and 'Business Everywhere 9 to 5' both offer 'unlimited' data transfers during the hours implicit in their names: 5pm to 9am and 9am to 5pm, respectively. Both cost £10 a month on a two-year …

    reghardware 7 Apr 2010, 09:28

  • Quantum scales up Scalar tape library

    Releases i6000

    Quantum has moved its tape library range up-market by bolting four more expansion cabinets onto its existing top-end i6000 library and adding LTO5 support, bumping maximum raw capacity up to just under 8PB from the i2000's 2.8PB. It effectively replaces the i2000. The maximum number of drives stays the same as the i2000, at 96 …

    Storage 7 Apr 2010, 09:35

  • Mandybill set to survive

    Photographers rejoice, pirates mourn

    The Mandybill looks set to become law, with its teeth and gold fillings intact. Conservatives have vowed to oppose three controversial clauses of the Digital Economy Bill in the next 48 hours of legislative horse trading, but will keep the online file sharing portions intact. Photographers have been more persuasive than the …

    Government 7 Apr 2010, 09:57

  • Connecting up your ERP to the outside world

    Workshop Poll Business imperative or really stupid idea?

    In this week's ERP workshop poll, we are looking at the practicalities of integrating with or providing access to the outside world - suppliers, distributors, resellers, customers and so on. If you have experience of ERP from this perspective, get clicking below with your feedback. READER POLL: 1. Which of the following …

    Software 7 Apr 2010, 10:02

  • Police cuff 70 eBay fraud suspects

    Scams caused €800,000 losses

    Romanian police have arrested 70 suspected cybercrooks, thought to be members of three gangs which allegedly used compromised eBay accounts to run scams. The alleged fraudsters obtained login credentials using phishing scams before using these trusted profiles to tout auctions for non-existent luxury goods (luxury cars, Rolex …

    Crime 7 Apr 2010, 10:04

  • Hitachi offers to double li-ion battery longevity

    Twice as long before cell will no longer charge up

    Hitachi has come up with what it claims is a compound capable of doubling the longevity of lithium-ion batteries - the rechargeable cells found in everything from e-cars to iPads. Today's Li-ion batteries have limited lifespans thanks to the build up of crystal deposits within the electrolyte that hinder the movement of charge …

    reghardware 7 Apr 2010, 10:13

  • Vodafone takes Opera to the masses

    Even poor people want mobile internet

    Vodafone has been working with Opera to customise Opera Mini for use on its networks in the developing world, pushing the mobile internet to those unfamiliar with the fixed alternative. The project will roll out in India, South Africa, Turkey, Tanzania and Egypt, and involves providing the Java-based Opera Mini along with …

    Mobile 7 Apr 2010, 10:19

  • Murdoch tells old media to 'stand up' to Google, Bing

    News aggregation argy-bargy rumbles on

    News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch has once again hit out at search engines, and called on newspaper publishers to stop the likes of Google and Microsoft’s Bing from freely displaying articles online. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington yesterday, Murdoch reiterated his disgust at how search engines handle news and …

    Music and Media 7 Apr 2010, 10:26

  • Lower termination rates will bring pricey data

    Good for telcos or punters?

    Ofcom has proposed a steep decline for termination rates, hitting a ha'penny a minute by 2014, but can a measure that saves consumers £800m a year be all good news? Not according to Orange, which reckons the change will stifle innovation, stall investment and lead to customers having to pay to receive phone calls. This …

    Telecoms 7 Apr 2010, 10:34

  • Asset management And Service Management

    Workshop Is there any benefit in linking these?

    When it comes to providing users with access to the tools and information they require to perform their daily tasks, the notion of service provisioning is usually to be found close to the heart of IT operations. A wide range of new solutions are now available to ‘help’ IT deliver services to users but is the job getting any …

    Desktop Management 7 Apr 2010, 10:37

  • OCZ prods Z-Drive to go faster

    2TB and upgradable flash modules

    OCZ has boosted the speed and doubled the capacity of its solid state Z-Drive as well as making it upgradable with interchangeable NAND modules. The existing Z-Drive 1 is a PCI-e connected 256GB-1TB solid state drive (SSD) with good performance: up to 800GB/sec read, 750GB/sec write and a 500MB/sec sustained write speed for …

    Storage 7 Apr 2010, 11:16

  • MPs criticise 'impossible' e-Borders schedule

    Legal issues still looming

    An influential group of MPs today claimed the government's timetable for the £1.2bn e-Borders programme is "impossible" and criticised the lack of progress on legal problems. The Home Affairs Select Committee said that officials have not resolved concerns in Europe. The e-Borders system aims to register every journey in and …

    Government 7 Apr 2010, 11:23

  • Israel using Facebook as 'spying tool' in Gaza

    My enemy's enemy is my friend

    Hamas has accused Israel of using Facebook to recruit spies from among the Palestinian community in the Gaza strip. For years Israel has maintained a network of agents in the West Bank and Gaza. Those discovered face torture and almost certain execution as collaborators. Hamas reckons fans of Bookface and similar services are …

    Music and Media 7 Apr 2010, 12:02

  • How Labour’s Web2.0rhea cockup helped the photographers

    Kumbaya is not a legal defence

    Maybe photographers have a guardian angel, after all. The Stop 43 campaign to throw out the orphan works clause may be the only part of the vast Digital Economy Bill where activists have achieved their goal – rather than made things worse. With the Tories pledging to drop the clause, it’s unlikely to survive the wash-up – …

    Law 7 Apr 2010, 12:13

  • Broadband tax scrapped in 'wash-up'

    Celebrate with cider

    The Tories forced the government to drop a 50p-a-month tax on every landline last night as ministers made deals to get their budget plans through before the election. The levy had been intended to pay for rollout of fibre optic cables in rural areas. The Conservatives hailed the outcome as a "victory for consumers". The …

    Data Networking 7 Apr 2010, 12:14

  • Sky revamps News app for general election

    Updates from the hustings

    Satellite broadcaster Sky has updated its Sky News iPhone app to provide punters - be they Sky subscribers or not - with live-feed general election coverage. The app presents not only the top ten election stories but also Sky News live. Politics buffs can view information on previous elections - something more than 'Blair won …

    reghardware 7 Apr 2010, 12:37

  • BlackBerry sees iPhone shrink in rear view mirror

    Android grows, Palm shrivels

    Research in Motion's Blackberries have extended their lead over Apple's iPhone as the top smartphone platform in the US. During the same period - December 2009 through February 2010 - Google's Android platform saw a surge of nearly 140 per cent to 9 per cent overall, while Palm's share dove 25 per cent, down to 5.4 per cent. …

    Mobile 7 Apr 2010, 13:02

  • Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Sata 3 SSD

    Review Solid state of things to come?

    The 256GB Crucial RealSSD C300 breaks new ground, as it is the first SSD to use a Sata 3.0 interface with its theoretical connection speed of 6GB/second. Alas, the use of Sata 3.0 interface on a conventional hard drive wasn’t so convincing, as revealed in Reg Hardware’s Seagate Barracuda XT review. In closing that piece, the …

    reghardware 7 Apr 2010, 13:07

  • Giant solar-powered aircraft takes to the skies

    Solar Impulse sets sights on round-the-world challenge

    Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard today moved one step closer to fulfilling his ambition to fly a solar-powered aircraft round the world as his Solar Impulse completed its first full-fat test flight. The Solar Impulse boasts a wingspan as wide as a Boeing 747, with 12,000 solar cells powering four electric motors which lifted …

    Physics 7 Apr 2010, 13:27

  • Apple shrugs to iPad Wi-Fi problems

    Try standing nearer the router

    Apple has admitted that its iPad isn't very good at Wi-Fi, and suggests that customers having problems move nearer to their hotspot to get a signal. Most iPad owners seem happy with the device's Wi-Fi performance, but signal strength is a problem, as is reconnecting to networks which have the same name but operate on a …

    Wireless 7 Apr 2010, 13:48

  • Microsoft launches iPad-happy website for wimmin

    Ladies night, oh what a site

    Microsoft launched a website for women yesterday based on Adobe’s Flash technology, and it renders particularly well on Apple’s iPad. The site's homepage animation does not currently run on Microsoft’s own Silverlight software, which is the vendor’s rival to Flash. The Register has asked Microsoft when it plans to slot …

    Applications 7 Apr 2010, 13:59

  • iPad anti-virus shield guards against phantom threat

    'You'll thank us one day'

    Mac security specialist Intego has begun offering the first antivirus scanner capable of inspecting Apple's much-hyped iPad, despite the questionable need for security scans on the device. The iPad, which Apple began selling in the US last weekend, runs on the same operating system as the iPhone. Only jailbroken iPhones with …

    Malware 7 Apr 2010, 14:49

  • Google Checkout checks out

    Beep

    The UK version of Google's payments service Google Checkout has been foundering for two days, and is currently completely offline, with no explanation from the company. Frustrated merchants complain on Google's own forums that the login page is delivering a 404 error. US users are also reporting problems on Twitter. The …

    CIO 7 Apr 2010, 15:27

  • US weather meisters buy mini Cray

    Getting a foot back into an old door

    Supercomputer maker Cray has managed to get the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, to take delivery of a Cray XT5m minisuper, getting its foot back in the door of a facility that helped put Cray on the map. In 1976 NCAR took delivery of the very first Cray-1A vector super designed by Seymour …

    HPC 7 Apr 2010, 15:29

  • Adobe mulls changes to close hole in PDF apps

    'Powerful functionality' v 'potential risks'

    Adobe Systems may make changes to its widely used PDF programs to prevent attackers from using them to mount attacks that hijack users' computers. The attack was first demonstrated last week by researcher Didier Stevens. By misusing a feature contained in the PDF specification, his proof-of-concept attack showed how hackers …

    Security 7 Apr 2010, 18:00

  • Apple's iPad - the device for execs who create nothing

    66 app makers woo office fanbois

    After the iPad was unveiled in late January, someone inside Apple quietly contacted the San Diego-based startup Mellmo to "encourage" the company to port its Roambi app to the keyboard-free device. Clearly, other app makers worked hand-and-hand with Apple prior to the tablet's launch this past weekend. Or at least semi-hand-in- …

    Mobile 7 Apr 2010, 20:13

  • Microsoft's web privacy push: 'We're the anti-Google'

    Responsible by name, unprofitable by nature

    Signs are emerging that Microsoft has realized it can exploit concerns over what Google does with information involving where you've surfed and what you've searched for. Microsoft has apparently pledged that it won't index users' information in its web-based email service, Hotmail, to serve tailored ads - unlike Google with …

    ID 7 Apr 2010, 20:15

  • Microsoft's HPC Server 2008 R2 goes beta 2

    Matches Linux MPI, snatches Win 7 cycles

    Microsoft is a supercomputing wannabe, and with Windows HPC Server 2008 R2, the company will be coming at the Linux-dominated HPC community from a few oblique angles that play to Microsoft's - not the Linux community's - strengths. With the second beta of HPC Server 2008 R2, Microsoft is allowing for supercomputer clusters to …

    HPC 7 Apr 2010, 21:55

  • IBM widens data analytics fleet

    Smartie boxes multiply

    IBM has expanding its lineup of appliances for data analytics. Big Blue's Systems and Technology Group, which designs and makes servers, and its Software Group, which codes systems software for those machines as well as for those from Big Blue's competitors, are broadening the cross-group Smart Analytic Systems for real-time …

    Servers 7 Apr 2010, 22:09