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22nd April 2010 Archive

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  • Mobile network hack reveals sensitive cellphone data

    Brad Pitt geo tracking made easy

    Researchers have demonstrated structural cracks in GSM mobile networks that make it easy to find the number of most US-based cellphone users and to track virtually any GSM-enabled handset across the globe. The hack builds off research by Tobias Engel who in late 2008 showed how to track the whereabouts of cellphones by tapping …

    Security 22 Apr 01:05

  • Apple in shock public attack on Adobe

    I know Flash is but what am I?

    Apple has issued a shock public attack on Adobe Flash. Of course, it's not the attack that's shocking - just the public bit. Typically, the MO of the Jobsian cult is to abuse Adobe Flash behind closed doors - or simply ban it from popular handheld devices. On Wednesday, Apple PR sent a - gasp! - statement to CNET regarding …

    Mobile 22 Apr 04:52

  • More 'Son of Nehalem' details leaked

    Prepare to replace your new motherboard

    A few more details emerged Wednesday about processors to be based on Intel's next-generation Sandy Bridge microarchitecture - and if you've recently invested in a socket-LGA1156 motherboard, it appears that it won't accept Sandy silicon. The Sandy Bridge news doesn't come from Intel itself - and the company didn't respond to …

    Servers 22 Apr 06:02

  • Reverse-engineering artist busts face detection tech

    Hacking Big Brother with help from Revlon

    Concerned about the proliferation of face recognition systems in public places, a grad student in New York is developing privacy-enhancing hacks designed to thwart the futuristic surveillance technology. Using off-the-shelf makeup and accessories such as glasses, veils, and artificial hair, Adam Harvey's master's thesis …

    ID 22 Apr 07:02

  • Ten free apps to install on every new PC

    Product Round-up Bags of functionality for nowt

    You've just taken delivery of a new PC, and you're looking for some good apps to run on it. You'll no doubt have a few in mind, but before reaching for your wallet, check out these ten essentials, all of which we think you'll find darn useful - and they won't cost you a penny. OpenOffice 3.2 Many new PCs come with a copy of …

    reghardware 22 Apr 08:02

  • Architecting for IT service delivery

    Lab Service by design? Really?

    A few years back I was involved in a project that turned out far more interesting than I expected. The plan was to write a training course about a software development methodology. As you see, it did start from a reasonably low point in terms of interest – but it quickly evolved into a much more worthwhile exercise. The course …

    Platform Evolution 22 Apr 08:02

  • HPC storage vendor Panasas hot swaps CEOs

    Pairman replaces Stahan

    HPC storage supplier Panasas has installed a new CEO, Faye Pairman. Just days after announcing its entry into the HPC archive product space with PAS HC, CEO Randy Strahan is being replaced by Pairman. "[Paiman] will be instrumental in taking Panasas to the next level," that prime corporate speak cliche, according to Panasas …

    Storage 22 Apr 08:10

  • HDS scores one way deal with Sepaton

    Lack of reciprocity

    Clustered deduper Sepaton is going to resell Hitachi Data Systems' AMS arrays, but HDS isn't taking Sepaton's deduplication product. Sepaton makes clustered duplication systems which deduplicate globally across the cluster. Its products are OEM'd by HP. Competitor EMC/Data Domain has just announced a 2-node high-end system …

    Channel Register 22 Apr 08:48

  • eBay shares down on good results

    And founder launches local news for locals

    eBay shares were down almost nine per cent in after hours trading despite the company posting a pretty decent set of quarterly results. In the first quarter eBay made revenues of $2.2bn, up nine per cent on last year, and net income was $398m, up 11 per cent on the same period last year. The markets were partly spooked by …

    Financial News 22 Apr 09:06

  • Brussels to rule on cheap pub football sat decoders

    UEFA claims copyright infringement

    The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has been asked whether football rights holders can stop a company importing cheap satellite television decoder cards to allow games to be shown in pubs. Football's European governing body UEFA has sued Euroview, which imports decoder cards from elsewhere in the EU allowing pubs …

    Law 22 Apr 09:17

  • Doctor Who game to transmat in on 5 June

    Episode one: City of the Daleks

    The BBC's first Doctor Who game in years will materialise on its website on 5 June, the Corporation said today, ready for downloading to fans' PCs and Macs. Trailed after last weekend's episode, Victory of the Daleks, the game, called City of the Daleks, is set in London in 1963 - the year the show started, no less - and …

    reghardware 22 Apr 09:19

  • Tesco VoIP takes numbers to the grave

    If I'm going down I'm taking you with me

    Customers of Tesco's recently-demised VoIP service are being told they've lost their numbers, as number-portability is more of a recommendation than a requirement in the fixed world. Tesco announced it would shut down its Internet Phone service last month, though the service will still work for another week. But customers …

    VoIP 22 Apr 09:33

  • HTC sets timeframe for Hero Android update

    Éclair 'preparatory upgrade' due in June

    HTC's anticipated update that will take its Hero smartphone to Android 2.1 will now not appear until June. Originally expected in February this year, the upgrade was subsequently put back a month. It didn't show up in March. But this week, HTC released a statement saying that it will provide the update for 2.1 - aka 'Éclair …

    Mobile 22 Apr 09:39

  • Probe uses solar panels to 'surf' Venusian atmosphere

    Space 'windmill' experiment sifts boiling acid clouds

    European space boffins are chuffed to announce that they have successfully 'surfed' the atmosphere of Venus, during a so-called 'aerodrag' experiment in which the solar panels of a space probe functioned as aerofoils skimming the top of the second planet's atmosphere. Above the Earth's "twin". A fairly evil twin, though. …

    Space 22 Apr 09:43

  • Salesforce.com buys cloudy Jigsaw address book maker

    Before it rains anymore

    Salesforce.com plans to buy web-based biz address book vendor Jigsaw for at least $142m in cash. The world’s biggest software-as-a-service provider said yesterday it could go up to 10 per cent higher depending on Jigsaw’s performance between now and when the deal, which is subject to the normal regulatory scrutiny, is expected …

    Applications 22 Apr 09:48

  • The user view of IT delivery

    Lab When was the last time you looked?

    It would be odd to hear from an IT pro who didn’t have ‘demanding users’, regardless of which decade of business computing we care to examine. However, the nature of the demands and the expectations of today’s users are changing. We could cite popular culture, consumer behaviour, freely available services and the ‘disposable’ …

    Platform Evolution 22 Apr 10:02

  • Nokia launches ash cloud tracker

    Boat sailed, plane flown, horse bolted...

    Proving it's still at the cutting edge, Nokia has rushed out an Ash Cloud Tracker application, available free from the Ovi store for those who still care where the Icelandic bugbear is. While the application is no doubt of enormous value to the residents of Orkney and the Shetlands where restrictions are still in place, the …

    Applications 22 Apr 10:03

  • Britain's bingers out-boozed by Irish

    And Romanians. And Germans...

    It's once again an election issue, but Britain's reputation for binge drinking may be undeserved compared to some of its European neighbours, according to a shock official report. Ireland, Romania, Germany and Austria all have a higher rate of binge drinking than the UK, a European Commission survey has found. Some 34 per …

    Bootnotes 22 Apr 10:10

  • Why the banks aren't scared of the Robin Hood Tax

    We'd all be paying it anyway

    Thank God the adults have arrived, finally. The IMF has just come out with its suggestions for how we might want to tax and reform parts of finance and is saying things which are sensible, at least in part. In doing so they've continued the process of killing the Robin Hood Tax stone dead, which is great news. Well, something …

    Government 22 Apr 10:13

  • Bayonetta

    Review Wondrously barmy beat-em up

    Bayonetta is not meant for the casual gamer. Not because the enemies are particularly tough, or because of the bewildering number of combos available. Nor is it because it's a difficult game to complete - although, if that's what you want, Platinum Games has you covered with the inspirationally named Infinite Climax mode. …

    reghardware 22 Apr 10:14

  • Phones 4U not responsible for iPhone sex appeal survey

    Nothing to do with us, claims retailer

    UK mobile phone retailer Phones 4U has distanced itself from research released yesterday that claimed women are more likely to fancy men who own iPhones. The study, which relied on the testimony of 1500 British women, found that 54 per cent of respondents said they would more likely date a guy if he owns an Apple handset. Just …

    reghardware 22 Apr 11:00

  • EMC shows storage recession is over

    The bellwether rings it out

    Storage bellweather EMC has signalled the end of the recession in storageland with an enviable set of results. It made record first quarter revenues of $3.9bn, up 23 per cent from a year ago. Net income was $373m, a whopping 92 per cent increase from the recession-blighted first 2009 quarter. Highlights were 28 per cent year- …

    Storage 22 Apr 11:10

  • Tory defence shadow's laptop nicked

    The ideal man for the MoD

    A laptop belonging to Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, has been stolen. His car was also taken after thieves broke into his home in Southwark and stole the keys along with the computer and his mobile phone. Police were called to the property at 7.20am this morning but made no arrests. Fox had been at home alone. The …

    Government 22 Apr 11:13

  • Sony confirms PS3 3D update inbound

    Trophy tweaks too

    Sony has announced that PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.30 will be available "shortly" and will pave the way for the roll-out of stereoscopic 3D gaming. Sony announced earlier this month that a couple of PS3 updates are on their way: one to add stereoscopic 3D gaming, the other to enable support for 3D Blu-ray Disc content. …

    reghardware 22 Apr 13:08

  • The iPad will doom humanity to painful bog-roll horror

    End of print + paperless office = sandpaper bumwad crisis

    Journalists are always moaning about the ever-accelerating disappearance of printed newspapers and magazines, as this seems likely in many cases to take away their livelihoods. Many of you out there, however, probably care not a snap of your fingers for the welfare of idle (and often dissolute) scribblers who think the world …

    Environment 22 Apr 13:12

  • Official airport iPhone app prompts privacy fears

    Heathrow Guide demands personal data

    The British Airports Authority (BAA), owner of Heathrow, has released an app for both iPhone and Android handsets that aims to aid aviators make the most of the their passage through through the airport. However, it is already drawing flack from downloaders for demanding personal details such as name, email address, date of …

    reghardware 22 Apr 13:20

  • Buzz goes orienteering on Google Maps

    Meta Web2.0rhea handed compass

    Google has slotted the mobile version of its privacy-lite Buzz feature into its Maps site in a move to make its creepy realtime Tweetbookish tech more popular. The company announced the addition of a read-only Buzz layer in Google Maps yesterday. It’s now available from the “More” button located in the top right-hand corner of …

    Applications 22 Apr 13:26

  • Rogue McAfee update strikes police, hospitals and Intel

    It's bad, but is it Blaster-bad?

    Many enterprises, including police departments and hospitals in the US, were hit by a false positive from McAfee on Wednesday that labelled a core Windows file as potentially malign. A detection update from McAfee (DAT 5958) falsely labelled the svchost.exe as the Wecorl-A virus, sending a core Windows system file into …

    Malware 22 Apr 13:31

  • Android on an iPhone? There's an app for that

    Setting the robots on Cupertino

    Linux developers have managed to get Google's Android OS running on an iPhone, providing an open OS for the most closed of platforms. The Linux On The iPhone blog has been mucking about with booting utilities and drivers for a while, but can now demonstrate a duel-boot iPhone that will switch between Apple and Google at a …

    Operating Systems 22 Apr 13:33

  • Want to escape ACTA? Move to China

    Google may have jumped the gun

    Google has become the first major tech company to express concern about the Lizard People's ACTA Treaty. This isn't surprising. As the world's de facto governing body for all-matters-internet, Google doesn't like somebody muscling in on its patch. There's only one way to settle this, as Harry Hill might say. "We're concerned …

    Law 22 Apr 13:43

  • Nokia welcomes a slow 2010

    More money, just not very much more

    Nokia's first three months of 2010 were passable, but not good enough for investors, and the company saw fewer handsets going to the USA. Net sales hit €9.5bn - three per cent more than Nokia made in the first part of 2009. Operating profit jumped to €488m, which compares well to the paltry €55m in same period last year, but …

    Mobile 22 Apr 13:51

  • Facebook farms out 'social graph' to Microsoft and chums

    Marketeers like it - users not so much

    Facebook rejigged itself again yesterday to become even more ubiquitous on the web in a clear battle cry against Google. Users immediately complained to CEO Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook’s latest facelift. “Fk you. You're a piece of sh*t Zuckerberg,” said Facebook user Derek Chan on the first comment posted on the boydroid’s …

    Applications 22 Apr 14:07

  • Cybercrime talks end in failure

    US and Euros object to proposed changes

    Plans to ratify an updated version of a global treaty against cybercrime have failed. Negotiations on modifying the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime to take into account third world objections and the move to cloud computing floundered after delegates attending an international conference in Brazil last week failed to reach …

    Law 22 Apr 14:10

  • Mark E Smith pens World Cup ditty

    Arrivederci, it's one on one-ahhh

    Ancient shout-at-the-bins Northerner Mark E Smith has penned a World Cup Song, to grunt England to success in South Africa this summer. He has the field to himself, since the FA has decided not to commission an Official Dirge for 2010. In the ditty, Smith advises the team to "take care of the invention of your nation", "socks …

    Music and Media 22 Apr 14:18

  • BT loses on termination fee back payment

    Tribunal says yes, court says no

    BT is considering its options after losing its claim for hundreds of millions of pounds in overpaid termination fees, despite the Competition Appeals Tribunal ruling in its favour. The Tribunal hearing decided that Ofcom had set the termination rates too high, and that BT was entitled to claim the money back. So BT took …

    Telecoms 22 Apr 14:33

  • Mellanox rides networking upgrade wave

    QDR InfiniBand, 10 GE taking off

    The quad data rate InfiniBand and 10 Gigabit Ethernet upgrade cycles within big data centers are well under way as the global economy continues to thaw and companies like Mellanox are benefiting from a strengthening upgrade cycle. Mellanox, which makes InfiniBand silicon and switches as well as InfiniBand and Ethernet adapters …

    Data Networking 22 Apr 14:52

  • Dell growing EqualLogic engineering team by 50 per cent

    Comment Links with Exanet in Israel too

    The Dell EqualLogic engineering team is going to be lead by Brian Nadeau, one of EqualLogic's first ten employeers. Like the founders Nadeau worked at Digital Equipment Corporation, now absorbed into HP courtesy of its Compaq acquisition. He was involved in SCSI things inside Ultrix, DEC's Unix-alike offering. After leaving …

    Storage 22 Apr 14:54

  • Marmite sends in the lawyers against BNP

    You either love it or hate immigrants

    The maker of Marmite has launched legal action against the British National Party for using the brand in an election video. Global omnicorp Unilever was unimpressed by a YouTube clip that prominently featured a jar of its celebrated yeast extract alongside a standard loony tirade by BNP leader Nick Griffin. The firm today …

    Bootnotes 22 Apr 14:55

  • Facebook flirts with RFID

    Tracking developers in meat space

    Developers attending today's Facebook conference, f8, are being issued with RFID badges integrated with their Facebook profiles for clocking into site locations. The details come from the All Facebook, which reports that Facebook is being atypically opaque about the data gathered from the radio frequency identification tags. …

    Developer 22 Apr 15:01

  • Phase change memory arrives

    Numonyx launches Omneo product

    Numonyx has launched two Phase Change Memory (PCM) products under an Omneo brand. Both are 90nm, 128Mbit parts with the P5Q product having a serial peripheral interface and the P8P one using a parallel NOR interface. The P8P is a second-generation product that supports, Numonyx says, one million write cycles. The gen 1 product …

    Storage 22 Apr 15:23

  • Pentagon looks to revive Nazi space-bomber plan

    Pocket 'Antipodes raid' hyper-smartmissiles sought

    The US military appears to have temporarily given up on exotic scramjet powered hyper-plane and -missile notions for the purpose of suddenly blowing things up at short notice anywhere in the world. Rather, Pentagon boffins are now re-examining a plan once considered by the Nazis for the purpose of bombing America. Ha - Take …

    Physics 22 Apr 15:27

  • Google Street View logs WiFi networks, Mac addresses

    Why are you doing this?, ask Germans

    Google's roving Street View spycam may blur your face, but it's got your number. The Street View service is under fire in Germany for scanning private WLAN networks, and recording users' unique Mac (Media Access Control) addresses, as the car trundles along. Germany's Federal Commissioner for Data Protection Peter Schaar says …

    Government 22 Apr 15:46

  • MS withdraws ineffective security update

    The patch that failed

    Microsoft has withdrawn an update for Windows Server because the patch, issued eight days ago, does not treat the root cause of the problem it was meant to fix. MS10-025 was designed to address a flaw specific to Windows 2000 Server installations also running Windows Media Services. The bug was critical for affected users, …

    Enterprise Security 22 Apr 15:51

  • Sun sat sends stunning solar snap

    NASA's first SDO images a treat

    NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has demonstrated its "unprecedented new capability" by firing back some impressive first images of the Sun, including this "full-disk multiwavelength extreme ultraviolet image", captured on 30 March: NASA explains: "False colors trace different gas temperatures. Reds are relatively …

    Space 22 Apr 16:00

  • Dell preps Windows Phone 7 portrait slider

    No 'low-priced' Win Mo, says Microsoft

    Dell is building all sorts of new-age handhelds - including a portrait slider phone running Windows Phone 7 and branded with Microsoft's Windows logo - according to a new report. Engadget reports that the Dell slider phone - called Lightning - will offer multi-touch, a QWERTY keypad, 5Mp auto-focus camera, 1GB Flash memory, …

    Mobile 22 Apr 18:28

  • AMD set to release low-cost six-core Phenom IIs

    Motherboard makers getting ready

    AMD is poised to release its new six-core enthusiast-level processors at prices far below competing Intel parts, and Asustek, Gigabyte, and MSI are busily readying motherboards in anticipation of the launch. So say "sources from motherboard makers" speaking with the Taiwanese market-watchers at DigiTimes. According to that …

    PCs & Chips 22 Apr 18:29

  • PGP co-founder takes OS security job with Apple

    'I Could Tell You But Then I'd Have To Kill You and Associates'

    Jon Callas, who as co-founder and chief technologist of PGP helped bring strong encryption to the masses, has taken a job with Apple working on operating-system security. His move around the beginning of the year was confirmed by two of his long-time friends and this brief bio, which says Callas remains on PGP's technical …

    Security 22 Apr 21:57

  • Citrix profits soar on hodgepodge of desktop virt

    Seven up

    The mish-mash of application, desktop, and server virtualization that make up the Xen family of products seems to be working for Citrix Systems. In the first quarter ended in March, the company's sales were up 12.3 per cent, to $414.3m, and net earnings increased nearly seven fold compared to last year's tepid first quarter, …

    Financial News 22 Apr 22:04

  • Forget the GPad - is Google building a server chip?

    The needs of a 10 million node machine

    So, Google borged a mystery chip designer that was working on "some kind of server," and the web is convinced the Chocolate Factory is merely interested in using this all-star startup to build a GPad. How quickly the web forgets that Google is the world's fourth-largest server maker. According to a New York Times source " …

    HPC 22 Apr 22:28

  • Hulu to charge $10 for past-its-prime time TV

    (Yes, it's still trapped in the US)

    Online TV site Hulu will begin a $9.95 per month subscription service come May 24, according to the Los Angeles Times. No, the subcription service won't be for all Hulu content - the most recent five episodes of popular TV shows will remain free. The Times cites Fox's Glee, ABC's Lost, and NBC's Saturday Night Live as examples …

    Music and Media 22 Apr 23:37

  • Amazon rides shoe-fetishist to 68% profit leap

    As Kindle goes - gasp! - brick and mortar

    Amazon says its profits climbed 68 per cent in its first quarter. And it says the Kindle "remains our #1 bestselling product." But, yes, it's unclear how much of that profit rise came from the seminal ereader, which now sits in the shadow of the Apple iPad. Amazon has never given specific Kindle sales figures. And this didn't …

    Financial News 22 Apr 23:40