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29th April 2010 Archive

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  • Microsoft's Linux patent bingo hits Google's Android

    How to make enemies and influence people

    Talk about dissonance. On the day Microsoft crowed that it was letting its employees contribute code to an open-source project, Joomla, it fired another shot at Linux. On Wednesday, Microsoft announced a patent agreement with phone maker HTC that provides "broad coverage" under Microsoft's patent portfolio for HTC devices …

    Mobile 29 Apr 2010, 00:26

  • Brazil shells out for 244 teraflop Cray super

    The price of better weather

    Supercomputer maker Cray has pushed another XT6 massively parallel Opteron-Linux super out the door, this time to the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais in Brazil. You know, that South American country where they still have an economy that is roaring like an Asian Tiger. The XT6 supers, which were announced last …

    HPC 29 Apr 2010, 06:02

  • Review Peak Cape 7 Ion

    The Cape 7 Ion combines a single-core Intel Atom 230 processor with a Nvidia Ion graphics chipset in a tiny PC that measures 173 x 154 x 20mm - approximately the same size as a paperback book. Inside the casing there is a Fujitsu 2.5in laptop hard drive that was 80GB in the test sample but will be 160GB in production versions …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Review Shuttle XPC SG41J1

    The SG41J1 is part of Shuttle's entry-level J series of barebones systems so you’ll be building this PC yourself. Provided you can live with fairly basic integrated graphics you’ll need to supply an LGA775 Intel Core 2 processor, DDR 2 memory, a hard drive and an operating system, plus mouse, keyboard, speakers and a display …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Review Dell Inspiron Zino HD

    The price of the Dell Inspiron Zino HD has risen since Reg Hardware first reviewed it, with the base price now starting at £329 instead of £279. The highly specced review system came complete with a Blu-ray combo drive and we calculate the all-in price at £730. You don’t get a TFT display included in that price but you should …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Buyer's Guide: Mini Desktop PCs

    Reviews The Pros and Cons of tiny PCs

    When you choose the components for a new desktop PC, it’s pretty much a numbers game. The more you pay, the more CPU cores, gigahertz of CPU speed, and gigabytes of memory and hard drive space you get. You don't have to worry about very much else. Looks are more important when your PC is in your living room It’s a different …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Review Fujitsu Esprimo Q9000

    Fujitsu's Esprimo Q9000 packs the guts of a laptop into a tiny desktop system. There’s a 2.13GHz Intel Core i3-330M with integrated Intel HD graphics, 4GB of DDR 3 memory, a 160GB Hitachi laptop hard drive and Gigabit Ethernet. There's an 802.11n Wi-Fi option - it was included in the test unit - and you can apparently spec up …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Review Acer Aspire X5900

    Acer classifies its Aspire X5900 as a prestige PC and I have to confess that I was bowled over by the looks of this sleek micro-tower. The power button is brightly lit with a white LED, while the hard drive activity light is positioned on the top of the case along with the DVD eject button. It’s all very neat. This is a full …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Review Viewsonic PC Mini 132

    The Viewsonic PC Mini 132 has a fair amount in common with the Cape 7 Ion as both machines are tiny devices that combine an Intel Atom processor with an Nvidia's Ion integrated chipset. Viewsonic includes a stand that holds the PC upright with the antenna for the Atheros-made 802.11n wireless pointing upwards. Alternatively, …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Group Test Mini Desktop PCs: Best Buys

    Mini PCs range from the downright tiny to systems that, today, seem barely smaller than a regular mini-tower machine. They encompass models based on desktop components and PCs that use laptop parts. To recap, here are the machines I looked at this time: Acer Aspire X5900 Dell Inspiron Zino HD Fujitsu Esprimo Q9000 Peak …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • Mini Desktop PCs

    Group Test Six compact computers for your consideration

    While Microsoft and Intel both spent many years trying to persuade us we needed big, bulky media centre PCs underneath our TVs, space considerations and a lack of downloadable content meant that most folk were more than happy to make do with a DVD player. The explosion in online content - particularly video material - means …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • RIM's BlackBerry OS 6 may be too late to fend off Apple

    New browser and revamped interface not enough

    RIM has been under rising pressure to deliver a significant update to its ageing operating system, so it came as no surprise that BlackBerry OS 6.0 was unveiled at its Wireless Enterprise Symposium this week. The upgraded OS will be officially launched in the third quarter and claims to be the biggest refresh in several years, …

    Phones 29 Apr 2010, 07:02

  • EU mulls new central cybercrime agency

    Better than multiple bodies?

    The European Commission will investigate the establishment of a new EU agency to tackle cybercrime. The new agency could be part of Europol, EU ministers have said. The Council of Ministers has asked the Commission to look at its agreed set of cybercrime objectives and investigate whether a new, centralised agency is a better …

    Law 29 Apr 2010, 09:13

  • Highly Available: Systems design and stuff like that

    Regcast Architects for a brighter IT tomorrow

    Last week we ran a live video webcast on High Availability IT - and very good it was too. This webcast is now highly available - can you see what we're doing here? - you can stream it on demand through our lovely media player. Plenty of slide action too. Our panel, Reg presenter Tim Philips (who sings, badly) and Microsoft's …

    Platform Evolution 29 Apr 2010, 09:20

  • IBM flashes 1.2 million TPC-C result

    Feel the SandForce, Luke

    IBM recorded 1.2 million TPC-C transactions on a Power 780 server using a massive 35TB of flash memory, in the vendor's latest storage burn-up. Big Blue's 9179 Power 780 server was given 3.5TB of PCIe-connected solid state drive (SSD) NAND, identified by a FC4367 part number. We understand that this was multi-level-cell (MLC) …

    HPC 29 Apr 2010, 09:24

  • Asteroids the source of Earth's water, NASA suggests

    Oceans: Coming soon to a planet near you

    NASA scientists have provided tantalising evidence that Earth's oceans may have originated in space, supplied by water-packed asteroids which deposited their loads in terminal collisions with our ancient planet. Observations of 24 Themis - which at roughly 190 km (120 miles) wide is the largest of the Themis asteroid family …

    Science 29 Apr 2010, 09:25

  • US boffins fashion quantum-computing bit out of SQUID

    That's 'bit' as in 'piece'. No 1s or 0s allowed

    Federal boffins in the States say they have fashioned another building block which could be of use in assembling the postulated hard-to-understand but applecart-busting quantum computers of tomorrow. Modulate the qu-slosh with the purple bit. In essence, the so-called "rf-SQUID-Mediated Coherent Tunable Coupling Between a …

    Servers 29 Apr 2010, 09:27

  • AOL first quarter sales nosedive 23 per cent

    Where have all the young clicks gone? Long time passing

    Struggling internet old guard AOL saw revenue and profits plunge in its first quarter, the company reported yesterday. It said sales plummeted 23 per cent in Q1 to $664m. Ad revenues fell by 19 per cent to $354.3m, and subscriptions dropped 28 per cent to $282.7m. Net income nose-dived 58 per cent to $34.7m for the first …

    Financial News 29 Apr 2010, 09:49

  • Telefonica prices up HP smartbook

    Android'n'ARM gadget launch detailed

    Spain will get HP's Compaq AirLife 100 'smartbook' next month, the nation's biggest telco, Telefonica - owner of Britain's O2 - said yesterday. Prices start at €229 (£199) for the 10.1in ARM-based, Android-running netbook on a €48 (£42) per month 'unlimited' data contract. Pay €299 (£260) up front and you can get away with a € …

    Laptops 29 Apr 2010, 10:04

  • Win an HP Touchsmart 600 All-in-one-PC!

    Competition Sleek and shiny fun for all the family

    Recently, Reg Hardware reviewed the "remarkable" HP Touchsmart 600, as our reviewer Alistair Dabbs called this all-in-one PC. Big beastie You can catch his video review about the touchy-feely mediatastic beast here. We liked it so much that we asked HP if we could keep our otherwise new review machine to give away for a …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 10:06

  • Beijing security know-how rules irk suppliers

    Secret sauce

    Chinese government rules due to come into force on Saturday would oblige security vendors to disclose encryption information. The regulations mean that suppers of six categories of products - including smart cards, firewall and routers - will need to submit trade secrets to a government panel in order to receive a license to …

    Security 29 Apr 2010, 10:19

  • UK white space could fill up fast

    Ofcom demands new regulatory powers

    The UK's white space spectrum could start filling up before the Digital Dividend comes around, but only if we're prepared to give Ofcom a lot more power, and only if we can all agree on what white space actually is. While the FCC is still dithering about who's going to run the American white space directory, UK players have …

    Mobile 29 Apr 2010, 10:55

  • Nokia nudges out another X phone

    Cut-price candybar

    Nokia's latest, unveiled today, is the X2, a budget candybar aimed at music lovers and - wouldn't you know - social networkers. Nokia's X2: low-cost musicphone The X2 is based around a 2.2in, 320 x 240 display and is equipped with an FM radio, two speakers and dedicated music keys up the side. It'll do Bluetooth A2DP …

    Phones 29 Apr 2010, 11:08

  • Microsoft shifts Windows Summit online

    No mingling in flesh, people

    Microsoft has axed plans to hold a Windows get-together in Redmond in May and instead has shifted the whole shebang online. The software giant’s Brandon Le Blanc confirmed the decision in a blog post yesterday. “I have exciting news about a special event called Windows Summit 2010. For those who don’t know, Windows Summit …

    Applications 29 Apr 2010, 11:11

  • US tech industry loses quarter of a million jobs

    Fewer American jobs for American workers

    The technology industry in the US lost quarter of a million jobs in 2009. In all, 245,600 jobs were lost - a four per cent fall. But this is actually better than the rest of the US economy which lost five per cent of positions in the year. High-tech manufacturing fared worst. 112,600 jobs were lost between 2008 and 2009, …

    Financial News 29 Apr 2010, 11:16

  • Best Buy opens first UK store tomorrow

    Website arrives in autumn

    Best Buy is opening its first store in Thurrock, Essex tomorrow morning, but it will not have a working ecommerce site until autumn. The Essex shop is one of four due to open this year. It promises 50,000 square feet of floor space. But Best Buy will not have a functioning website ready until the autumn - a spokeswoman said …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 11:20

  • Terror in the Outback: Attack of the Giant Space Balloon

    Rogue gasbag wrecks car, petrifies goggling onlookers

    A "giant space balloon" went out of control in Australia yesterday in a "gut-wrenching" incident which saw a car wrecked and bystanders within inches of death, according to eyewitness accounts. The giant gasbag was intended to ascend 20 miles to the edge of space, there to measure cosmic gamma-ray emissions and probe the …

    Science 29 Apr 2010, 11:22

  • Apple guzzles wobbly concierge service

    Where Google walks, so Cupertino follows

    Apple has acquired a company whose only application is a voice-based concierge service for the iPhone, proving Apple can listen to its customers just as well as Google can. Google's Android Platform has Voice Search built in, while Apple's iPhone only responds to the most basic of vocal commands, which is where Siri comes in. …

    Phones 29 Apr 2010, 11:54

  • 'Phantasmal' bioweapon drug-sweat microfrogs bred in UK

    Tiny blowgun batrachians perspire new super-Morphine

    Tiny, exceptionally toxic "phantasmal frogs" - of a type used by jungle-dwelling blowgunners to poison their darts - have reproduced in captivity for the first time at a Portsmouth aquarium, in a triumph for British batrachian-breeding boffinry. Rumours persist that when their darts ran out, Ecuadorian blowgunners would …

    Science 29 Apr 2010, 12:31

  • What's impacting IT security today?

    Mini Poll Assessing the changing direction of security

    Okay, we've banged on often enough about how security shouldn't be about products - it should be about making sure our data is adequately protected and all such good ideas. But the question is just how practical is this? We know a whole load of change is coming to IT today, some internal and some external. We also know that the …

    Security that Fits 29 Apr 2010, 12:37

  • Symantec buys PGP and GuardianEdge too

    Crypto shopping spree

    Symantec has announced a surprise deal to buy both email and data encryption firms PGP Corporation and GuardianEdge Technologies for a combined total of $370m in cash. The security giant is paying $300m for PGP and $70m for GuardianEdge as part of deals announced on Thursday and expected to close in June. Both agreements are …

    Security 29 Apr 2010, 12:52

  • Met terror squad beats all complaints

    167 filed, zero upheld

    No public complaints against the Metropolitan Police's elite counter-terrorism squad have been upheld since the unit was formed three and a half years ago, new figures reveal. Data on complaints against the Counter Terrorism Command, SO15, were released to The Register under the Freedom of Information Act. Since the beginning …

    Law 29 Apr 2010, 13:02

  • UK regulator wants register of all premium-rate firms

    PhonepayPlus in code shake-up

    UK premium rate regulator PhonepayPlus has started consulting on plans to simplify its code of practice. PhonepayPlus wants to introduce a registration scheme that will make it easier to identify rogue providers. The proposed code represents a substantial change from the previous regulatory regime based on "transparency, …

    Government 29 Apr 2010, 13:58

  • Megan Fox not world's sexiest woman: Official

    Merely the second most desired, bless her

    It's official: Megan Fox is merely the second most sexy woman in the world, according to FHM's annual analysis of just who its readers consider the pick of international females. For the second year running, the Transformers "actress" must bow to Girls Aloud warbler Cheryl Cole, as must Victoria's Secret model Marisa Miller, …

    Hardware 29 Apr 2010, 14:02

  • The Register primer on enterprise virtualization

    Reg readers pitch in

    Here's the score, a seven-pager on enterprise virtualization, inspired by an online survey of 301 IT Pros. Most are already engaged in virtualization projects and all were Reg readers to a man (or woman) - yes it was our online survey. Based on the study's findings, we produced this editorially independent Register primer, …

    Virtualization 29 Apr 2010, 14:14

  • Handset also-rans create new mobile platform

    Because what we need is another standard

    Third-tier mobile handset manufacturers have banded together to make a new mobile application platform - as if the industry didn't have enough already. DoCoMo, Renesas, Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic and Sharp will be happy to licence the new application platform out to the rest of the industry, in case anyone feels that Android, …

    Mobile 29 Apr 2010, 15:24

  • Feeds and speeds on HP's Tukwila blades

    Scale 'em up and out

    If you are a shop that uses Hewlett-Packard's Integrity line of servers sporting HP-UX, OpenVMS, or NonStop operating systems (perhaps with a smattering of Windows and Linux), and you were excited about the prospect of putting quad-core "Tukwila" Itanium 9300 processors in the new Tukwila blades HP announced earlier this week, …

    Servers 29 Apr 2010, 15:32

  • O2 to offer low-cost laptops with built-in mobile broadband

    Netbooks and notebooks covered

    O2 is to begin selling the Samsung N150 netbook and Asus UL30A notebook, touting both machines' built-in 3G HSDPA connectivity. The N150 goes on sale tomorrow, O2 said, for £30 plus a commitment to a two-year £25-a-month tariff. The UL30A will cost £80 plus £30 every month for two years. Take your pick: Asus' UL30A... The …

    Mobile 29 Apr 2010, 16:00

  • Steve Jobs issues open letter on Flash

    'It's old. It's rubbish for mobile. Namaste'

    Steve Jobs has posted a lengthy "open letter" explaining Apple's antipathy to Adobe's Flash. "It's old. It's rubbish for mobile. Namaste", would have been succinct, and quite adequate, but His Steveness feels it's worth a 1,700 word detour. Jobs points out that open standards such as HTML5 and SVG vector graphics are the way …

    Mobile 29 Apr 2010, 16:20

  • Ubuntu 10.04 triumphs over GRUB bug

    Updated Late breaker

    Canonical has overcome a late-breaking bug in Lucid Lynx to deliver the next installment of Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu 10.04 was released to the web mid morning Pacific time on Thursday, the day originally scheduled. Final code can now be downloaded for Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop, Server and Netbook editions. The release came after …

    Operating Systems 29 Apr 2010, 17:41

  • Microsoft SharePoint bug exposes credentials, sensitive data

    Just add javascript

    Microsoft says it's investigating a security flaw in older versions of its SharePoint Server product that an independent researcher says can easily expose sensitive data and user authentication credentials. The XSS, or cross-site scripting, vulnerability has been confirmed in SharePoint Server 2007 and is likely also present in …

    Security 29 Apr 2010, 18:23

  • SCO: jurors too busy Facebooking to rule on Unix claim

    Fresh trial, or overrule - hey, we're easy, says SCO

    SCO Group wants a judge to overrule a jury that found it doesn’t own Unix. Or it wants a fresh trial. Either, really, as long as SCO gets the result it wants. The company’s filed papers with a US court saying the jury hearing its case over whether SCO owned the Unix copyright, and that found for Novell last month, was either …

    Operating Systems 29 Apr 2010, 19:04

  • Apple's mobile ad pacts pegged at $1m (or more)

    'A hefty sum,' grumbles ad exec

    If you want to participate in Apple's new mobile iAd program, you'll need to pony up some serious coin. According to a The Wall Street Journal report citing information from ad executives. A "person familiar with the matter" tells the paper that a first-round buy-in fee could be as high as $10m for the few select ad mongers …

    Mobile 29 Apr 2010, 19:45

  • Google personal suggest bug exposed user web history

    Data hole plugged after impersonated keystroke attack

    Google has restored its "personalized" search suggestions after purging the tool of a critical vulnerability that allowed attackers to steal a user's web history. Personalized search suggestions were disabled on March 1, and they didn't return until April 20. Ordinarily, Google adds these personalized keyword suggestions to …

    Security 29 Apr 2010, 19:46

  • Sony sued for dropping Linux from PS3

    Console downgrade 'unfair and deceptive'

    A PlayStation 3 owner has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Sony that accuses the console maker downgrading millions of devices by removing their ability to run Linux. The lawsuit takes aim at Sony's highly controversial move last month to disable "other OS" support from older PlayStation 3 consoles. The decision …

    Software 29 Apr 2010, 21:03

  • IBM's Unix poaching slows in Q1

    HP vague, Oracle mum on competitive wins

    IBM wants you to know about its competitive wins against HP and Oracle (formerly Sun Microsystems) shops, and Oracle doesn't want you to know much of anything. IBM's goal is reasonable, considering that they want to to put their best face forward after announcing their first-quarter results. Sales of Big Blue's Power Systems …

    Servers 29 Apr 2010, 22:10

  • Palin email jury reaches verdicts on 3 of 4 counts

    Still deadlocked on one

    The jury deciding the fate of the man accused of breaching Sarah Palin's Yahoo Mail account has reached a verdict on three of the charges filed against him but can't come to a decision about the fourth, according to news reports. In a note to US District Judge Thomas W. Phillips, jurors wrote: "Some of us feel not all jurors …

    Security 29 Apr 2010, 22:58