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12th May 2010 Archive

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  • Intel: Social netizens conquering the earth

    1.8bn PC-addicted webbies online for 18.8 trillion minutes

    Even during the depths of the Meltdown, consumers kept buying PCs. And increasingly the "killer app" for desktop, notebook, and netbook users was social networking. Or as Tom Kilroy, head of Intel's sales and marketing, called the interactive internet craze Tuesday morning in his keynote presentation at the company's investors …

    Broadband 12 May 2010, 00:55

  • Yahoo! to open source floating Google-Amazon crossbreed

    Our cloud is your cloud

    Early next year, Yahoo! intends to open source its internal "cloud serving" platform, described as something halfway between Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud and Google's App Engine. Known simply as "Cloud" within the company, the platform is that piece of Yahoo! infrastructure that serves up its online applications. In short, …

    HPC 12 May 2010, 00:56

  • Scroogle scrapes back to life

    Google screws IE6

    Scroogle is back, once again serving up privacy-friendly Google search results, a day after a sudden change to google.com shut down the swashbuckling service. The not-for-profit Scroogle stopped working on Monday, when Mountain View removed the interface page - google.com/ie - where it was scraping search results. Speaking …

    Security 12 May 2010, 05:57

  • Cowon iAudio V5 HD media player

    Review PMP my ride...

    As regular readers will know, I have a fondness for Cowon PMPs. The combination of comprehensive codec support and excellent playback found in devices like the A3, S9 and O2 has convinced me that if top notch audio and video quality is your chief desire, Cowon is the place to spend your money. Cowon's iAudio V5: you want …

    Hardware 12 May 2010, 07:02

  • High Court rules software liability clause not 'reasonable'

    Supplier should have given more appropriate demo

    A software company's stipulation that customers could not take action against it for the poor performance of its software was unfair and could not be enforced, the High Court has said. The software company should have alerted its customer to problems with the product when demonstrating it and chosen more demonstrations for it …

    The Channel 12 May 2010, 07:02

  • Biz Linux needs Office license to run MS web apps

    And Office won't run on Linux

    If businesses want to run Microsoft Office's new web-based apps on Linux machines, they'll need a buy a full Office license for each user - even though the suite's desktop apps don't run on Linux. Reg regular Tim Anderson nailed this niggling detail here, after a conversation with the vice president of Microsoft's Office …

    Applications 12 May 2010, 07:07

  • Did LibCon alliance bring down O2 network?

    Updated There's not an app for that

    O2 suffered a widespread voice and data network outage last night just before 8pm. Irritated customers filled O2's customer forums, with some reporting that their contract phones weren't working while pay-as-you-go handsets were still working. Many complained that O2's website has no network map showing current problems. …

    Mobile 12 May 2010, 08:03

  • Iomega sneaks Avamar onto ix12 array

    Unannounced feature

    Iomega is showing its new ix12 unified storage array at EMC World and it has an Avamar agent loaded on it. Stephen Foskett, a consultant attending the event, saw the Avamar logo on the ix12's screen when attending a demo and found out that EMC's Avamar group had not yet qualified the ix12 agent as a valid client. Avamar is …

    Storage 12 May 2010, 08:22

  • The impact of virtualisation on securing systems

    Workshop Real solutions to a tricky problem

    Virtualisation has become an established trend in the x86 server market and is moving into the desktop and notebook space too. It's a great tool for providing flexibility, recoverability and consolidation. But virtualisation also brings challenges, and security is certainly one of them. Personal or financial data that should be …

    Security that Fits 12 May 2010, 08:38

  • NSA head confirmed as chief of US cyber command

    Cry havoc, and unleash the .mil dogs of war

    The US government, after some delay, has formally confirmed in post the head of its now-forming military Cyber Command. Keith B Alexander, head of the NSA, has been promoted to four-star general* and will now head the new cyber forces as well as his current agency. The Cyber Command will be based alongside the NSA, perhaps the …

    Security 12 May 2010, 08:49

  • Herschel 'scope peers into 'truly empty' space hole

    None more black

    The Herschel Space Observatory has spotted a gaping hole in space - a "truly empty" void which appears to have be formed by jets of gas from nascent stars. The European Space Agency's infrared 'scope spotted the anomaly in a bright reflective cloud of gas dubbed NGC 1999. In visible wavelengths, the hole appears naturally …

    Science 12 May 2010, 09:04

  • Swiss watch auctioned for £3.76m

    Very expensive Patek Philippe collectible

    A private Swiss museum has stumped a cool 6.26m Swiss francs (£3.76m) for a "unique" Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph watch, which now has the honour of being the most expensive yellow gold watch ever to sell at auction. According to Christie's, the 1943-44 timepiece (pictured) features "an avant-garde case design …

    Hardware 12 May 2010, 09:26

  • Suffering from IT innovation constipation?

    Use Preparation H-P

    If you are pushing and pushing the IT department and nothing is happening, then Hewlett-Packard's Enterprise Business - the IT services and hardware half of the company that's not PCs and printers - has just the prescription for you. Spend money with HP on lots of amorphous services and very solid and shiny new hardware. To …

    Management 12 May 2010, 09:34

  • Dell upgrades tough netbook

    Top-of-the-line Atom on board

    Dell has upgraded its 'take the rough'n'tumble' Latitude 2100 netbook, upping the machine's model number to 2110 and giving it a top-of-the-range Atom CPU. The processor in question is the 1.83GHz N470, and it's accompanied by 1GB of 800MHz DDR 2 memory and either a 16GB SSD or a 160GB HDD, depending on which model you pick …

    Laptops 12 May 2010, 09:43

  • Office and Mail bugs star in May Patch Tuesday update

    Devil in the detail

    Microsoft released just two updates on Tuesday as part of a light patch Tuesday, especially in comparison with April's 11 bulletins. May's batch contains a fix (MS10-030) for a critical vulnerability in Windows Outlook Express, Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail. Left unchecked, the vulnerability created a mechanism for remote …

    Security 12 May 2010, 09:54

  • Sharp claims mobile 3D, HD cam 'first'

    Grabs stereoscopic images at 720p

    Sharp has claimed an industry first: a wee camera module capable of grabbing stereoscopic 3D images at 1280 x 720p HD resolution. The best bit: it's for mobile phones. We say phones, but they'd be fairly chunky ones. The Sharp 3D module is small, but not as compact as a regular phone camera. Sharp didn't provide much in the …

    Hardware 12 May 2010, 10:03

  • Brit consumers shun the iPad - for now

    What's it for?

    The iPad won't be mass market in the UK, according to a market research firm which took to the streets to see what British consumers think about Apple's tablet. Then comes its qualifier - "at least not yet". Researcher Simpson Carpenter teed up four qualitative groups with an iPad. Participants admired the iPad's "cool", but …

    Tablets 12 May 2010, 10:07

  • Sony flavours Walkman line with MGS

    Metal Gear Solid model incoming

    Sony is preparing a limited edition of its "wearable" Walkman music player, the W252, to celebrate the release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The latest title in Konami's popular franchise runs on the PlayStation Portable and is due to go on sale next month. The limited edition W252 has cammo styling Ditto the MGS- …

    Hardware 12 May 2010, 10:42

  • Software piracy rates fall

    Broken Cameron's Britain - even the pirates are skint

    Software piracy rates have stayed static in the UK and fallen in many countries around the world despite the recession. The Business Software Alliance - the big vendors' lobby group - said despite an expectation that economic hardship would increase the number of dodgy copies of software in use in fact rates fell in 54 …

    The Channel 12 May 2010, 10:59

  • Biometric passport 2.0 scrapped alongside ID cards, NIR

    But will they take Identity out of IPS, or just change the name?

    Second-generation biometric passports will be scrapped alongside ID cards and the National Identity Register by the new Tory-LibDem government, probably as part of a merger between the LibDem Freedom Bill, and the Great Repeal Bill advocated by some sections of the Tory party. It isn't as yet entirely clear what will be in this …

    Government 12 May 2010, 11:01

  • Osborne to 'get Britain working' - except for ID contractors

    Georgie-Wan and Yoda fly into Treasury

    George Osborne arrived at 11 Downing St today with little more than Vince Cable and stack of good wishes from business lobbyists to help him grapple with the UK’s enormous economic problems. Osborne was quickly confirmed as Chancellor once David Cameron visited Buckingham Palace yesterday to kiss hands with the Queen in the …

    Government 12 May 2010, 11:15

  • Mozilla boss John Lilly quits outfit for venture capital role

    Goes after foxy start-ups

    Mozilla’s CEO John Lilly is leaving the open source browser maker after five years. He confirmed yesterday that he would move on to a venture partner role at Greylock Partners later this year. In the meantime he will stay on at Mozilla as CEO until the outfit finds a successor. Lilly added that he intended to continue to have …

    Software 12 May 2010, 11:17

  • Come to Swindon - and play Human Pac-Man

    Pill popping, ghost gulping figurehead

    Saturday 22 May is the 30th anniversary* of Pac-Man, the seminal arcade video game from Namco Games, and the Museum of Computing at Swindon has cooked up three events to celebrate. Weirdest - or most imaginative - is the "Human Pac-Man", played in a maze constructed for the occasion in Swindon town centre's Wharf Green. Says …

    Games 12 May 2010, 11:21

  • Scots killer posted Bebo updates from behind bars

    Used smuggled mobe to threaten victims

    A killer has been caught posting updates on his life behind bars onto a social networking site. John Graham, 24, uploaded photos taken in Edinburgh's Saughton Prison to his profile on Bebo as well as updating his status profile to "on tour at Her Majesty's hotels". Graham was convicted of murdering neighbour Thomas Hart, 51, …

    Law 12 May 2010, 11:25

  • Toshiba shows off widescreen Pro notebooks

    Updated 15-17in Satellites

    Toshiba revamped its consumer-oriented Satellite-branded laptop line last month, and now it has introduced almost identical models bearing the Satellite Pro moniker. The company today announced the C650, L650 and L670, and they're essentially the consumer models upgraded with Windows 7 Pro. Toshiba's Satellite Pro L650: 15- …

    Laptops 12 May 2010, 11:30

  • Alan Wake

    Review Strong on atmospherics

    It’s the dead of night, and you’re driving along a deserted and gloomy mountain pass with only the low drone of your engine for company. Out of the corner of your eye you spot a rickety old timber shack at the side of the road. You pull over and the engine goes quiet. All around you, a dark, insidious mist gathers, creeping …

    Games 12 May 2010, 11:42

  • ZeusRAM is STEC's next SSD

    PCI product coming

    STEC is developing a ZeusRAM non-volatile cache product and a PCIe-connected solid state drive (SSD). Zeus is STEC's product line for enterprise-class solid state drives (SSD) and the current ZeusIOPS SSD product is used by EMC, IBM, and many others. Spotted at EMC World, ZeusRAM comes with a standard 8GB of RAM capacity and …

    Storage 12 May 2010, 11:47

  • Latest iPhone 4G leak reveals A4 CPU

    Another prototype slips out

    Apple's ARM-based A4 processor, the CPU that powers the iPad, will also power the next iPhone. Some bright spark in Vietnam managed to get hold of a prototype of the upcoming handset and not only took snaps of the machine from all angles, but took the blighter to bits. Source: Taoviet The phone's circuit board clearly …

    Phones 12 May 2010, 12:00

  • Trident, nuke energy looking poorly under LibCons

    Updated Bet on sub-cruise nukes, power station delays

    Details on the new Conservative/Liberal coalition government are now emerging, as are those of the policy deal struck between the allied parties. On first look, it would appear that the replacement of the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system like-for-like and the planned new generation of nuclear power stations have been thrown …

    Government 12 May 2010, 12:02

  • Exam board deletes C and PHP from CompSci A-levels

    C ya

    A-level computer science students will no longer be taught C, C# or PHP from next year following a decision to withdraw the languages by the largest exam board. Schools teaching the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance's (AQA) COMP1 syllabus have been asked to use one of its other approved languages - Java, Pascal/Delphi, …

    Developer 12 May 2010, 12:03

  • Salesforce extends 'sympathy' to Microsoft on Office launch

    Cloud vendor goes on elephant crusade

    A senior EMEA director at Salesforce.com has claimed Microsoft Office "sucks productivity" just as the software giant gears up for the launch of its latest version this afternoon. Tim Barker declared that Salesforce has no intention of moving into the productivity suite crowd currently occupied by Microsoft. Barker, who is …

    Applications 12 May 2010, 12:13

  • Find out all about Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010

    From the horse's mouth, so to speak

    Today at 3pm BST Microsoft is running an online virtual seminar on ever so nearly-launched Office 2010 and SharePoint. It's called The Future of Productivity and The Register is the exclusive media partner. Here's the drill: two main strands - business related keynotes and nearly 30 on-demand techie sessions and online case …

    Applications 12 May 2010, 12:24

  • Acer Timeline X 4820TG

    Review 12-hour battery life – oh, really?

    A year ago Acer’s Aspire Timeline 4810T notched up a ground-breaking eight hours of battery life thanks to the careful use of low power Core 2 hardware. The new Acer Aspire Timeline X ups the ante with claims that it can deliver up to 12 hours from the optional nine-cell battery – the standard six-cell is another story. Ever …

    Laptops 12 May 2010, 12:25

  • Samsung confirms e-book reader's UK debut

    SNE-60 inbound

    Samsung will release its SNE-60 e-book reader in the "coming months", the consumer electronics giant said today. The SNE-60 first appeared earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as the E6. It has a 6in, 600 x 800, eight-level greyscale E Ink display and on-board Wi-Fi built into is 171 x 120 x 16mm, 315g …

    Tablets 12 May 2010, 12:36

  • Nokia reorganizes for second time in six months

    Former Sun software chief joins

    Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has announced his second reorganization in six months, indicating the intense pressure he is under to get the firm's smartphone strategy right. The new structure, effective from July 1, is heavily focused on tight integration between software and hardware, especially at the high end but also in …

    Mobile 12 May 2010, 13:06

  • Server-based zombies power souped-up DDoS assault

    I got 90 lines of problems

    Hackers have begun using compromised servers instead of client PCs to launch more powerful denial of service attacks. Hundreds of web servers are infected with a DoS application that transforms them into zombie drones, according to database security firm Imperva. These zombie servers are controlled using a simple web …

    Security 12 May 2010, 13:35

  • Identity & Passport Service in suicide bid?

    And the Border Agency doesn't look well...

    All is not well - as we suggested might be the case this morning - at the Identity and Passport Service. Matter of fact, it may have just killed itself. A sad little note posted today by IPS reads: "Both Parties that now form the new Government stated in their manifestos that they will cancel Identity Cards and the National …

    Government 12 May 2010, 13:59

  • US Navy's plane-hurling mass driver in tech hiccup

    Software blamed for electro-catapult backfire

    Radical plans by the US Navy to equip its next aircraft carrier with electromagnetic mass-drivers for launching aircraft instead of the traditional steam catapults have hit technical snags. The so-called Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, is now under development in a shore-based test facility at Lakehurst naval …

    Science 12 May 2010, 14:22

  • The Cameregg plan: Who got what?

    Cabinet coagulates, plans start to form

    The people have spoken – and party leaders Nick Clegg and David Cameron, henceforth to be known as Dick Clameron, have filled in the details. A document released this afternoon reveals what Lib Dems and Tories have been talking about for the last four days, and what our new coalition overlords have in store for us over the …

    Government 12 May 2010, 14:48

  • Outsourcing goes inside

    Indian prison offers offshoring services

    An Indian outsourcing firm is working with prison authorities to set up a 200 man unit to handle back office and data entry functions for businesses worldwide. Charlapally Central Jail near Hyderabad was chosen because 40 per cent of prisoners are well-educated. Lags will get the chance to learn some skills that might actually …

    The Channel 12 May 2010, 14:49

  • Lexar Echo ZE ultra-compact backup drive

    Review Backup you can just forget about?

    Solid-state storage specialist Lexar, aware that computer users tend not to be very good at maintaining regular backups of their data, has introduced a product line, called Echo, to take the task off users' shoulders. Lexar's Echo ZE: world's smallest backup drive? The big drag in backing up a computer, particularly if it's …

    Hardware 12 May 2010, 15:02

  • Biometric cash machine lands in Europe

    Touchy feely PIN-killer uses fingerprints

    A Polish bank has become the first in Europe to offer the use of biometrics instead of PINs at cash machines. Customers of BPS visiting one of its ATM in Warsaw have the option of using placing their fingerprints on readers, instead inputting a four digit code, to authorise withdrawals or other transactions following the …

    Security 12 May 2010, 15:44

  • MS hopes biz punters will guzzle Office 2010

    Elop engages with 'millennial generation'

    Microsoft has launched the business version of its Office 2010 productivity suite, alongside its all-important sidekick SharePoint 2010. Redmond, which typically launches its tech in waves, won’t make the consumer version of the software generally available until 15 June. The company’s biz division boss, Stephen Elop, kicked …

    The Channel 12 May 2010, 16:42

  • German net crippled by top level glitch

    Updated Die Intertuben sind verkrumpen

    Vast portions of the German internet were unavailable for more than an hour on Wednesday, after a snafu with the country's top level .de domain. According to DENIC, the German net authority, 13.6 million domains use .de. Some reports indicate that all of them were affected, though others say a smaller number experienced …

    Networks 12 May 2010, 17:32

  • Another suicide at Apple's Chinese supplier

    Foxconn revenues up

    Yet another employee of the world's largest electronics assembler - Foxconn, maker of products for Apple, HP, and others - has has killed herself. The Associated Press reports that the 24 year-old woman's death brings the total of suicidal Foxconn workers to eight for the year. Bloomberg puts the total at six. The Taipei Times …

    Business 12 May 2010, 18:37

  • Microsoft U-turns on WebKit extension for Mobile IE

    Goodwill turns bad

    The Microsoft team building Internet Explorer for Windows Phone 7 has U-turned on plans to add an extension from WebKit to their browser. The company will only offer a Microsoft-specific prefix to scale text using the next CSS in its mobile phone browser, and it won't add support for the -webkit-text-size-adjust CSS selector …

    Developer 12 May 2010, 19:35

  • Was Microsoft's Office 2010 worth killing Clippy?

    A real cash cow cloud app

    Microsoft Office earned $4.2 billion revenue in the first three months of 2010, only a little behind the Windows client at $4.4 billion, according to the company's most recent earnings release. The figures show the suite remains deeply embedded in the business world, despite the availability of free or much cheaper …

    Software 12 May 2010, 20:33

  • Citrix previews bare-metal virt

    New client, fresh server, embedded antivirus

    Citrix Systems shelled out $500m to buy XenSource and get its hands on the Xen open source hypervisor, and it looks like 2010 is shaping up to be the year that the Xen family of products starts to pay back some of that dough. This week, at the Synergy 2010 conference in San Francisco, where Citrix is holding court with …

    Virtualization 12 May 2010, 20:56

  • What can Google's tablet deliver?

    Bring on the clones

    Google is in cahoots with Verizon developing a tablet device, reports the WSJ. But with the world and his dog also developing copycat iPads, it's hard to see what Google in particular can bring to the market. The brutal lesson Apple has handed to the phone business is that unless you can deploy very high quality design …

    Tablets 12 May 2010, 21:01

  • Intel: best days are ahead for servers

    Xeons everywhere, virt no cause for alarm

    As it comes off yet another global recession, and with a severe freeze in IT spending starting to thaw, Intel's server-chip lineup is perhaps the best Chipzilla The Continuum has ever put into the field - including its much-delayed and much-maligned quad-core Itanium 9300s. What a difference seven years makes. Today, rival …

    Servers 12 May 2010, 21:07

  • IBM: 'We'll double profits by 2015'

    Big Green

    IBM expects to double its earnings per share by 2015. Today, IBM is hosting its annual briefing with Wall Street analysts, and this being one of the few times that Big Blue's president, chief executive officer, and chairman speaks, Sam Palmisano stole the show when he said that in the next five years, earnings would reach at …

    Financial News 12 May 2010, 21:22

  • Steam rushes from Valve onto Macs

    Hot cross platform game play

    The online gaming megaservice and gamers' community Steam has introduced Mac support, as it promised on Tuesday. The eponymous - and free - access app is now available for download from the Steam website. That's the good news. The bad news is that owners of older Macs need not apply. Steam will launch only on Intel-based Macs …

    Media 12 May 2010, 22:59

  • Cisco earnings beat the Street

    Crazy growth for new products

    Cisco might not be ready to call an end to the economic meltdown, but Wall Street is probably going to read it that way - despite words of caution from the networking giant's chairman and CEO, John Chambers. You can't blame Wall Street, and indeed investors and the rest of the IT industry, for trying to find some good news. …

    Financial News 12 May 2010, 23:05

  • 'Tamper evident' CPU warns of malicious backdoors

    Like shrink wrap for your microprocessor

    Scientists have devised a chip design to ensure microprocessors haven't been surreptitiously equipped with malicious backdoors that could be used to siphon sensitive information or receive instructions from adversaries. The on-chip engines at the heart of these "tamper evident microprocessors" are the computer equivalent of …

    Security 12 May 2010, 23:30