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19th August 2010 Archive

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  • Head App Store plod punts farts 'n' wiz

    Another Jobsian embarrassment

    The director of Apple's App Store appears to be a tasteless boor with a penchant for bestial flatulence and extended periods of exuberant wee-wee. According to a Wednesday Wired report, the head of the App Store has dropped his own load of infantile scatology into what Wired, tongue in gagging cheek, describes as the "vast, …

    Mobile 19 Aug 04:43

  • Iranian activists deface UK genetics website

    1953 and all that

    The UK's Human Genetics Commission website was hit by politically-motivated hackers on Tuesday, who defaced the site with a protest marking a Western plot to overthrow a post-WWII democratically elected leader in Iran. Dr Mohammed Mossadegh nationalised Iran's petroleum industry before a plot backed by the UK and the US led to …

    Security 19 Aug 05:02

  • RIM, Juniper, and VMware on Oracle's Borg 14 list

    Post-Sun blockbuster deals foretold

    What connects Research in Motion, VMware and Juniper Networks? They're on a list of 14 companies Larry Ellison's M&A behemoth Oracle could Borg next, according to Software Advice - a company that claims to match software buyers to the right products. Crazy thinking? The 14 companies do, after all, lie just outside of Oracle's …

    Financial News 19 Aug 06:02

  • Group Test: smartphone satnav apps

    Product Round-up We look at all the options

    Unless you spend serious time behind the wheel of your car and regularly need to drive to places you have never been before and couldn't locate on a map if your life depended on it, a satnav application for your mobile phone may well be all the guidance assistance you will ever need. Apart from being cheaper than a standalone …

    reghardware 19 Aug 07:02

  • US gov proves ISPs lie about bandwidth

    Pope? Catholic. Bear? In woods

    If you're an average US broadband user, you've had internet access for 10 years, spend about an hour a day online at home, and are enjoying far less of the bandwidth your service provider promises you. These unsurprising stats come from a new report from the Federal Communications Commission entitled (equally unsurprisingly in …

    Networks 19 Aug 07:02

  • DiData claims strong trading in interim results

    Final numbers count down to NTT borging

    Dimension Data reported a "strong trading performance" for its third quarter, which should reassure its soon-to-be parent NTT. The South African-spawned, London-listed distie said turnover in constant currency was up 22 per cent for the period ending June 30, albeit against a relatively weak quarter last year. It highlighted a …

    Channel Register 19 Aug 08:16

  • HP board cooked Hurd's goose before settlement

    Sources say...

    The drip, drip of spin from HP continues with sources telling the media that HP's board of directors had decided to ditch chief exec Mark Hurd before he reached a private agreement with Jodie Fisher over sexual harassment allegations. These latest claims are in opposition to claims earlier this week that the board felt snubbed …

    Financial News 19 Aug 08:59

  • Boffins turn to Wii tech for speech-loss therapy

    Communicate again, using gestures

    Researchers at London's City University are to try out motion control gaming hardware - Nintendo's Wii Remote, Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PlayStation Move - to see if the technology can help stroke victims cheaply and easily regain the power to communicate. One of the likely outcomes of a stroke is aphasia, effectively the …

    reghardware 19 Aug 09:03

  • Samsung to roll out USB 3.0 portable HDDs

    Superspeed incoming

    Samsung's S2 line of portable external hard drives will gain a new member this month, one with a USB 3.0 interface. The S2 Portable 3.0 will arrive in 320GB and 640GB capacities, each with a 7200rpm drive to maximise the data transfer rate over the new bus. Superspeed USB is capable of a throughput of up to 5Gb/s, though …

    reghardware 19 Aug 09:23

  • Facebook broadcasts your location in meat space

    Where are you, bitch?

    Facebook piled into the mobile stalking space yesterday, with its Places service which enables users to reveal where they are in meat space with a tap of a finger. The service, which is initially rolling out on iPhones in the US, adds a button to the Facebook mobile application allowing a user to "check in" to his current …

    Mobile 19 Aug 09:43

  • One in five workers still clinging to IE6

    Widespread use of geriatric browser helps hackers

    Microsoft's IE6 web browser remains widely used in the enterprise, despite its many performance and security problems. One in five enterprise workers continue to use the nine-year-old web browser, even after the high-profile Operation Aurora attacks against organisations running the browser. Last month, in response to a …

    Applications 19 Aug 09:48

  • Tosh builds mega dense hard drive - but can't read it yet

    We're halfway there...

    Toshiba has announced a breakthrough in extending disk drive capacity - sort of. It can build a platter holding four times more data bits, but it can't read it. The company has been developing bit-patterned media (BPM), a technique to make smaller collections of the grains used to record the magnetic charge for each bit and …

    Storage 19 Aug 10:06

  • Treasury loony-magnet voting starts

    Privatise the hunt for Raoul Moat?

    The Treasury's Spending Challenge website now allows the public to vote on savings ideas - from the thousands suggested by members of the public. There are 44,000 ideas on the site and you can register and vote on them until 31 August. A Treasury spokeswoman said that the 63,000 responses collected confidentially from civil …

    Government 19 Aug 10:10

  • BBC dumps Gulf oil spill on Middlesbrough

    Also drops Luftwaffe bomb on Croydon

    In case you've ever wondered just how far a Mars rover might have wandered if it had set out from your front door, or indeed the exact area covered by the Chernobyl radiation cloud, if that ill-fated nuclear facility had been built at your mum's house, then look no further than BBC Dimensions. Auntie's "experimental prototype …

    Bootnotes 19 Aug 10:42

  • Office for Mac steps closer to Windows version of software

    Microsoft adds Sparklines, photo edit features

    Microsoft will slot photo editing into its Mac version of Office and add mini charts to the software giant’s Excel application. Office for Mac 2011 should be released in October this year, according to Microsoft’s roadmap. Redmond said in a video posted on its Office for Mac website yesterday that the company would give Apple …

    Applications 19 Aug 11:08

  • More choosing maths A-Level

    Pics of cute teen girls jumping around go here please

    A-Level results released this morning show that Maths and Further Maths continue to attract more entries. There were 4,526 more entries for Mathematics than the previous year, up 6.2 per cent to a total of 77,001, and 1,209 more entries for Further Maths - an increase of 11.5 per cent to 11,682. Biology, Chemistry and Physics …

    Physics 19 Aug 11:09

  • Second live test of US raygun jumbo delayed by glitch

    Nork-bust blast cannon now set for Saturday sky-fry

    The United States' radical jumbo jet mounted ICBM-blasting laser cannon was set for its most ambitious test yet last night, in which it would have fried a missile in flight from more than 100 miles off. However technical hitches have delayed the test until the weekend. The trial was announced by the US defence department in a …

    Physics 19 Aug 11:15

  • Smartphone boom drives media multi-tasking

    Ofcom unloads industry infoskip today

    The communications regulator Ofcom has released its annual megadump of industry statistics and factoids, and is highlighting that we're using the internet more and using multiple communications services at the same time more often too. Multi-tasking, where users might make a phone call while surfing the net, for example, now …

    Government 19 Aug 11:19

  • Orange mobile data chucks punters

    Disconnections plague network

    Orange UK users are reporting that the mobile data service is dropping connections and refusing to let some customers onto the internet at all. The problems started yesterday afternoon, with users unable to connect over 2G or 3G networks. Last night it looked as though the operator had managed to slap a fix together, but this …

    Data Networking 19 Aug 11:23

  • Exiting workers more likely to steal data than stationery

    Sod your stapler

    Many workers have confessed they would be prepared to swipe data from their ex-employers when they changed jobs. An online poll of 1,594 full and part-time workers and contractors in the US and UK found that around a quarter (29 per cent in the US and 23 per cent in the UK) would steal customer lists and other sensitive data …

    Enterprise Security 19 Aug 11:26

  • Lane Fox launches review of Directgov

    What say you, the public?

    Digital champion Martha Lane Fox is leading an online review aimed at improving the government's central web portal. The review will remain open until 3 September 2010 and invites the views of the public on four main areas. Firstly, how should the government achieve the objectives of using Directgov to publish new information …

    Government 19 Aug 12:02

  • Intel snaps up McAfee in $7.68bn deal

    Surprise security snaffle

    Intel has bought information security specialist McAfee in a surprise deal valued at $7.68bn. The chip maker has offered $48 a share in cash for the anti-virus firm, a 62 per cent premium of McAfee's Wednesday closing price of $29.93 a share. Shares in McAfee leapt 58 per cent on the news while Intel's stock dipped. Both …

    Enterprise Security 19 Aug 13:09

  • ECJ ruling puts VAT on salary sacrifice schemes

    Could cost biz £150m

    Drugs giant Astra Zeneca should pay VAT on retail vouchers given to staff that form part of a salary sacrifice scheme, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said. The ruling could derail some similar schemes. Salary sacrifice schemes operate by allowing employees to receive vouchers or benefits instead of part of their …

    Small Biz 19 Aug 13:23

  • Fusion-io gets Dell in a flash

    Round Rock shipping ioDrives

    Start-up Fusion-io has snagged Dell as an OEM for its ioDrive PCIe flash card accelerators. Dell, via Michael Dell, is an investor in Fusion-io, a Salt Lake City-based startup, and now joins HP and IBM as an OEM for its products. The ioDrive technology provides a slug of flash memory for use by servers which accelerates …

    Storage 19 Aug 13:27

  • PA school district avoids charges over webcam spy scandal

    No criminal intent in teen peek unpleasantness

    Philadelphia school administrators involved in a webcam spying episode will escape criminal prosecution, federal authorities have decided. A high school in the Lower Merion School District of suburban Philadelphia used laptop cameras outfitted with LanRev theft tracking software to monitor students. The unorthodox use of the …

    Law 19 Aug 13:52

  • Acer Android tablet release date wobbles

    Can Google get Android 3.0 out by Xmas?

    Acer's expected Android-based tablet will come to challenge the iPad in Q1 2011 rather than Q4 2010, it has been alleged. Notebook industry sources cited by DigiTimes made the claim, adding that the reason for the delay - if delay it truly is; we're not so sure - is Acer's decision to wait for Android 3.0. Well Acer might …

    reghardware 19 Aug 13:56

  • Facebook Places - why, and why not

    Opinion How to avoid being physically poked

    Facebook has added a My Location button, initially just to the iPhone client. But why would you want everyone to know where you are, and how can you prevent that happening? Facebook now wants to know where you are, or at least where you'd like people to think you are, and expects your friends to shop you if you don't bother …

    Mobile 19 Aug 13:57

  • Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light

    Review Reinvented and revitalised

    Whether you regard her as female icon or sexual fantasy, and whatever your thoughts on the Tomb Raider franchise itself, you have to hand it to Lara Croft. Let me throw you a few pointers Videogame's greatest femme celebre, Lara smashed through gaming's glass ceiling to become global cultural phenomenon, making millions in …

    reghardware 19 Aug 14:05

  • Lenovo celebrates 5th quarter of growth

    Better than the rest

    Lenovo's financial results for its first quarter ended 30 June 2010 show it has grown faster than any of the other top manufacturers. The company's PC sales grew 48.1 per cent compared to the industry average of 20.9 per cent. Lenovo now claims 10.2 per cent of the world PC market. Lenovo made sales of $5.1bn and a pre-tax …

    PCs & Chips 19 Aug 14:17

  • HP hires headhunter to replace Hurd

    New top flack appointed

    Flummoxed IT giant Hewlett-Packard has hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart to help it quickly and quietly find a new chief executive officer, after Mark Hurd resigned amid a sex and expense reporting scandal on 6 August. The headhunting firm was established in 1956 and is a privately held partnership with expertise in …

    Servers 19 Aug 14:23

  • Polaroid preps 3D-ready sunglasses

    Out of the sun into the cinema

    Polaroid signed a licensing deal with 3D technology company RealD last month, but it's taken until now for World+Dog to take any notice. We're not at all surprised, since the idea behind the partnership, that Polaroid will offer "premium" 3D glasses for cinema usage, is bonkers. Cinema-supplied 3D specs are cheap, especially …

    reghardware 19 Aug 14:54

  • Orange coughs to data network failure

    Woe goes on with no sign of a fix, nothing on website

    Orange UK has admitted that its data network is having all kinds of trouble, and that the problem is ongoing with no scheduled fix. The problems started yesterday with users being unable to connect to data services, though voice continues to work OK. Early this morning the problem remitted slightly, but by the time people …

    Mobile 19 Aug 15:08

  • Single downloads big deal for UK comms industry

    Mobile broadband growth area too

    The decline in music industry revenues slowed to 0.8 per cent this year due to buoyant single sales and increased non-physical digital music consumption, according to media and telecoms regulator Ofcom. Reporting research that will further fuel the debate about the effect of copyright-infringing file sharing on the music …

    Music and Media 19 Aug 15:40

  • Accurate web-app performance tests proposed

    W3C steps beyond the browser

    The W3C is planning a set of tests for developers to easily and accurately measure the performance of web applications. The group has announced formation of the Web Performance Working Group, which it said will deliver user agents and APIs to measure performance of web applications in mobile and desktop browsers and in "non- …

    Software 19 Aug 17:41

  • Opera: Firefox tab sets? We've had 'em for years

    They have candy. We have trees

    Mozilla recently unveiled a fresh Firefox interface designed to better organize open tabs, and as this "Tab Sets" prototype — née Tab Candy — works its way into the Firefox 4 beta, Opera would like you to know that it's been offering something similar for ages. "There has been a lot of focus on grouping of tabs in browsers …

    Applications 19 Aug 17:50

  • Linux kernel purged of five-year-old root access bug

    'Just go update already'

    The Linux kernel has finally been purged of a privilege-escalation vulnerability that for at least half a decade allowed untrusted local users to gain unfettered rights to the operating system's most secure locations. Maintainers of the central Linux component issued a patch last week that killed the bug, which allowed …

    Enterprise Security 19 Aug 18:49

  • Unhackable PS3 finally jailbroken, video claims

    We'll see...

    An Australian seller of videogame modchips claims Sony's PlayStation 3 console has been jailbroken by a hack that allows users to run backup and home-brewed copies of games — not to mention titles that have been pirated. OzModChips.com posted three videos on YouTube that purport to show a fully current version of the console …

    Security 19 Aug 21:21

  • Fear as motivator: why Intel acquired McAfee

    Analysis Beyond 'WTF?'

    Intel and McAfee made a surprise announcement early Thursday that the chip megamaker plans to acquire the security-software giant in a $7.68bn all-cash deal, and across the technical and financial communities, the response was a nearly unanimous "WTF?" But during a webcast conference with reporters and analysts, Intel CEO …

    Financial News 19 Aug 22:29

  • HP rings up Hurd's final quarter

    Farewell profit leap

    Mark Hurd, the ousted president, chief executive officer, and chairman of IT giant Hewlett-Packard, turned in a decent final quarter. In the quarter ended July 31 – only a week before Hurd was shown the door for becoming embroiled in a sexual harassment lawsuit with a consultant that was hired to be a greeter at HP events and …

    Financial News 19 Aug 23:31

  • Dell rides enterprise to 22% revenue jump

    But margins shrink

    Dell revenues climbed 22 per cent to $15.5bn in the quarter ending July 30, thanks largely to increased demand among corporate customers. Commercial business revenue increased 28 per cent to $12.7bn during the company's fiscal 2011 second quarter, and servers, storage and services revenue jumped 43 per cent to $4.3bn. This …

    PCs & Chips 19 Aug 23:36