27th September 2010 Archive

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Keene USB FM Transmitter

Review Wireless music for 15 quid, surely not?

While we’re all being encouraged adopt to DAB and dump our FM radios, these sonic stalwarts from the analogue era may well get a second wind, at least if the likes of Keene’s USB FM Transmitter catch on. Keene's USB FM Transmitter: for the wireless, not Wi-Fi What the Keene USB FM Transmitter offers is more akin to a Wi-Fi …

reghardware 27 Sep 07:00
Coders tip Google Android for eclipse of the Steve

Jobsian OS less future proof

Seventy-two per cent of developers believe that Google's Android is "best positioned to power a large number and variety of connected devices in the future," whereas only 25 per cent favor Apple's iOS, according to a new study. Appcelerator – the outfit whose Titanium dev kit was recently freed from the threat of Jobsian …

Developer 27 Sep 07:00
Customers paying more and putting up with mobes for longer

Shiny toys meet recession

Mobile phones are lasting Americans more than 20 months these days, which is good as the average bill has risen to $78 a month, according to JD Power. Those facts may be related, as longer contracts are used to subsidise more expensive handsets. That forces users to be content with what they've got for 17 per cent longer than …

Mobile 27 Sep 08:15
Apple escapes competition charges

Ends 'country of origin' restrictions

The European Commission has ended its competition investigation into Apple because it is happy with changes to developer licenses and on cross-border repairs of handsets. European Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said he was satisfied with Apple's changes to rules for developers and changes to policies on repairs for …

Government 27 Sep 08:21
WTF worm makes Twitterers declare goat lust

You want my brother, he's much bigger

Another malicious worm hit Twitter over the weekend, days after the micro-blogging site reached near-meltdown from a technically similar attack. This time around the danger came from clicking links contained in micro-blogging messages beginning "WTF [URL]". Last week's more serious onMouseOver problem struck when users moved …

Malware 27 Sep 08:26
Quick and dirty file-clustering-for-idiots

Sysadmin blog DFSR is safe for work

DFSR was one of Server 2003 R2’s hidden gems. It is more robust in Server 2008 R2, but the fundamentals haven’t changed. You mostly use it for collecting data from shares on branch sites to a centralized site for backups. Alternately, it is a method of providing centrally published information to branches. That’s what the …

Server Mgmt Blog 27 Sep 09:24
Google ordered to pay out for automated defamation

Search suggestion libels Frenchman

Google has been ordered to pay €5,000 to a Frenchman who claimed he was libelled by automatic suggestions on Google's home page. The man, who has not been named, said anyone searching for his name on google.fr was presented with suggestions including "rapist:, "rape" and "prison", according to Le Monde. The court found Google …

Law 27 Sep 09:26
Kindle users finally get to pay for games

Actually... game, singular, but it's a start

Kindle users bored of the latest bonkbuster can now run up a game of scrabble on their e-ink screens, once they've shelled out $5 for the privilege. In January Amazon announced a Kindle software development kit, and put a call out for applications to turn its e-book reader into a tablet platform. Since then we've seen a couple …

Mobile 27 Sep 09:33
Raising the roof on the shingled write problem

Read and write track width asymmetry

Shingled writing has a serious problem: writes take more time than current disk writes, probably ruling out enterprise use unless complex flash memory technology is used. The problem stems from the layout of heavily overlapped tracks in shingled write recording (SWR) and the direction of writes. Together they mean that a …

Storage 27 Sep 10:06
Facial recognition tech could hit plod smartphones

Oz think tank ogles prisoners

Ever have that feeling that you’ve seen a face before, but just can’t place it? Is it someone you knew in high school, or someone you saw featured on TV as a crazed serial killer? This won’t be a problem in the future, thanks to the folks at Australian think tank NICTA – with assistance from GPUs. In the “Enabling Large-Scale …

HPC Blog 27 Sep 10:09
Sony launches net content streamer in Blighty

Bravia Internet TV in a box

Sony has introduced a set-top box that will present the same Bravia Internet TV and DLNA media sharing features built into its latest tellies and Blu-ray players on other screens. The SMP-N100's content feeds are accessed through Sony's XMB user interface, which allows you to call up the likes of Lovefilm, BBC iPlayer, Demand …

reghardware 27 Sep 10:17
National Grid blames BT for gas explosion

Concrete chamber stressed gas pipe

National Grid is blaming dodgy building work by BT for a gas explosion in Shrewsbury that injured 12 people, according to a report. The BBC said it has seen legal correspondence from National Grid's solicitors that names the cause of a crack in a gas main at a town centre junction as a concrete "chamber", constructed on top by …

Telecoms 27 Sep 10:21
Anti-piracy lawyers' email database leaked after hack

Backup torrented

Hackers have uploaded a leaked database of emails from anti-piracy law firm ACS:Law onto P2P networks and websites. ACS:Law was among a handful of entertainment industry-affiliated organisations to endure denial of service attacks by the denizens of 4Chan last week. A loose-knit collective of members of the notorious message …

Enterprise Security 27 Sep 10:30
Three links phones to Facebook for free

Well, some of it

Three is to offer its customers free access to Facebook, allowing them to connect to the social network without paying a penny in data transfer charges. For now, at least. Three did mention right at the bottom of its announcement today that free access will be provided for "at least one full year". Maybe it'll start charging a …

reghardware 27 Sep 10:33
Vodafone throws cash at Cricket betting and loyalty card apps

Clicks compo results are in

Vodafone has awarded £100,000 to Cardmobili, with Roulette Cricket getting £50,000, as the most innovative mobile startups identified by the operator's Clicks competition. Roulette Cricket is a British effort, and involves betting toy money on the direction of the next boundary strike in a live game of cricket, while being …

Mobile 27 Sep 10:58
Vulcan seeks further £400k refuel

XH558 hits stormy financial weather - again

The restored Avro Vulcan XH558 yesterday took to the skies on what could be its last flight. The V-bomber lifted off from Coventry Airport as part of an airshow in support of Help for Heroes, but unless the Vulcan To The Sky Trust raises £400k by the end of October, it'll be permanently grounded. This latest round of XH558 …

Bootnotes 27 Sep 11:07
Microsoft adopts invisible mobile pitch

The phone you won't have to fish out of the toilet

Microsoft will pitch Windows Phone 7 as the handset you don't use all the time, highlighting how people disappear into their current handsets and miss out on the real world. Redmond is already spending a lot of money promoting Windows Phone 7, which is expected to launch in a month or so, and now it has an angle too - …

Mobile 27 Sep 11:13
Sharp outs little'n'large e-mag tablets

One for home, one for the road

Sharp has introduced 'Galapagos' - its 10.8in iPad-alike media tablet. The Japanese giant has also come up with a 5.5in junior version of the product. The bigger model sports a 1366 x 800 widescreen resolution display and it incorporates 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, but Sharp hasn't really said any more than that about the gadget's spec …

reghardware 27 Sep 11:20
Nuclear merchant ships could open up Arctic routes for real

British shipping biz poised to make a killing?

British business interests are suggesting that it may be time to revive the idea of nuclear-powered commercial shipping. Media reports to the contrary, the Arctic is not yet open to normal merchant ships - but it might be opened up by nuclear ones, which would also offer zero emissions and freedom from high oil prices. A …

Science 27 Sep 11:25
Apple sprays Web2.0 aftershave on Ping

That pongs a bit, grandpa

Apple has updated its fenced-off social network Ping service in iTunes, after users grumbled that it wasn’t accessible via the music player. "iTunes 10.0.1 makes it easier to share your favorite music with your friends on Ping," said Apple. “You can now Like or Post about music right from your iTunes library." Ping has so far …

Applications 27 Sep 11:29
Segway philanthropist found dead

Man behind Hesco Bastion

Jimi Heselden, the multi-millionaire behind Hesco Bastion, who bought Segway Inc, was found dead on Sunday, next to one of the scooters Heselden, a major donor to UK charities, bought the firm on Christmas Eve last year. The 62-year old was found dead in the River Wharfe beside one of the two-wheeled scooters at 11.40am on …

Financial News 27 Sep 11:32
Zeus botnets' Achilles' Heel makes infiltration easy

C&C hijacking comes to the unwashed masses

A security researcher has discovered a potentially crippling vulnerability in one of the most widely used botnet toolkits, a finding that makes it easy for blackhats and whitehats alike to take control of huge networks of infected PCs. The flaw in the Zeus crimeware kit makes it trivial to hijack the C&C, or command and control …

Malware 27 Sep 12:00
Christian group declares jct 9 on M25 cursed

Vigil cleanses area of unholy cassette recordings

A group of Christian evangelicals has declared junction 9 of the M25 "hexed" and is staging regular prayer meetings to cleanse the benighted interchange. According to the Surrey Advertiser, Gerald Coates of the Pioneer Engage Church in Leatherhead has attributed a rash of accidents and footbridge suicides around the junction …

Bootnotes 27 Sep 12:06
HP gooses Integrity server virt with PA-RISC emulation

Lots of goodies in HP-UX 11i v3 Update 7

Hewlett-Packard is getting serious about getting customers to move off those vintage HP 9000 boxes, based on its final generation of home-grown PA-RISC processors, and onto shiny new Itanium-based Integrity blade servers. With the launch of HP-UX 11i v3 Update 7 today, HP's flagship operating system will be able to run compiled …

Servers 27 Sep 12:09
US Navy says electric jet-flinger tech looking good

Just in time to save the Royal Navy - or just too late?

The US Navy's plan to fit its next aircraft carrier with electromagnetic mass-driver catapults instead of steam launchers is reportedly on track, with shore trials using test weights a success. The progress of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), the first of its kind, is of interest to the Royal Navy as it could …

Science 27 Sep 12:32
Wikileaks' Assange to reenter the fray

Embattled leaker to face Times man

Julian Assange will step back onto the public stage this week with an appearance in London. Wikileaks' spokesman and de facto leader is scheduled to speak on Thursday at City University. He will debate the rights and wrongs of the whistleblowing site's release of tens of thousands of frontline intelligence reports from …

Government 27 Sep 12:47
Toshiba Satellite A660 16in laptop

Review Symmetry, we've heard of it

Fitting a widescreen display into a laptop is all well and good, but it poses a problem: what do you do with all the empty space around the keyboard, now that the machines are so much bigger from one side to the other? Toshiba's Satellite A660-15T: looks only a mother could love? The original solution was to place a speaker …

reghardware 27 Sep 13:00
Hitachi flashes updated top end VSP

Promises ultra coolness

Behold VSP: Hitachi has updated its USP-V enterprise storage array to produce the Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) claiming it is a single platform for managing block, file and content data. Hitachi claims the VSP delivers the best performance and capacity levels combined with the lowest power and lower cooling requirements. …

Storage 27 Sep 13:17
ZeuS attacks mobiles in bank SMS bypass scam

Flicks two fingers to two factor authentication

Security researchers have warned that cybercrooks might be able to compromise online bank accounts even in cases where banks use SMS messages to authorise transactions. The approach relies on first compromising a targeted user's computer using a variant of the ZeuS banking Trojan before infecting the same user's smartphone. …

Enterprise Security 27 Sep 13:34
HP purges Cisco gear from data centers

The edge goes next

Hewlett-Packard announced this morning - and will no doubt be bragging tomorrow to Wall Street - that it no longer has Cisco Systems' core switches and routers in its own data centers and is now using its own 3Com and ProCurve products. The latest shots in the ongoing server-networking war between HP and Cisco came ahead of HP' …

Data Networking 27 Sep 13:55
Welsh hospitals to allow mobile use

A mere 20 months after the English

The Welsh Health Minister has said that Welsh hospitals should permit mobile phone use, which makes sense as England has allowed them since January 2009. That was when the Department of Health recommended that mobile phones be permitted in English hospitals, but Wales has spent an additional 20 months coming to the same …

Mobile 27 Sep 14:07
UN appoints alien liaison boffin

'I for one would like to welcome...'

The head of the UN's Office for Outer Space Affairs is poised to become first point of contact for extraterrestrials. Astrophysicist Mazlan Othman, 58, is concerned that we simply don't have a proper welcome mat ready to unroll when ET finally gets in touch - something she feels is ever more likely as we scour the skies for …

Space 27 Sep 14:13
Windows Phone 7 launch dates leak

Event invites fuel rumours

Amazon's German division has posted a page for LG's upcoming Windows Phone 7 offering, the Optimus 7, and given us a few sparse details about the device. The handset, also known as the E900, will have a 3.5in touchscreen, a 5Mp camera and a GPS pick-up. It will cost €499 (£424) to buy, undoubtedly SIM-free. More will surely …

reghardware 27 Sep 14:29
The 500 year archive

The stained glass windows of Auch

Prepare to be amazed. It is the year 1514 and you are resident in a town in south west France where you might work as a carpenter. Your house and your work room has no electricity, no running water, and no glass in the windows. You cannot read and write beyond the marks you use on wood in your work. There are no books in your …

Blocks and Files 27 Sep 14:39
HP slaps P9500 label on HDS' VSP array

Oh, it's smaller than I expected....

HP has announced the P95000, its OEM version of Hitachi's VSP replacement for its top-end USP-V array. Yet the P9500 is smaller than HP's shipping version of HDS' predecessor, the USP-V. The XP24000 is HP's version of the USP-V high-end array, The P9500 is based on the latest development of that technology announced today as …

Channel Register 27 Sep 14:49
Nutter repairmen scale 1,768ft TV mast

Vid Suffer from vertigo? Don't click here

Those of who you who get a bit wobbly at the top of a stepladder are strongly advised to look away now, because here's a helmetcam vid of just how you get to work when your office is at the top of a 1,768ft TV mast: This vertigo-inducing footage went viral recently after appearing on TheOnLineEngineer.org, and suffice it …

Bootnotes 27 Sep 14:50
Fibre broadband is good for you, Conroy tells Aussies

Slams 'white elephant' remarks

If anyone thought for even a moment that Australia’s beleaguered communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, would be treading more lightly after an election in which his policies came in for strong criticism, especially on the proposed internet filter, think again! In the month or so since the Labor re-administration was re- …

Telecoms 27 Sep 15:18
IBM eats Blade Network for switches

Another $400m in 'research and development'

Sam Palmisano got out the Big Blue check book once again this morning and wrote out what was reportedly a $400m check to the owners of privately held Blade Network Technologies. For a company whose chief executive officer and chairman has slammed rival Hewlett-Packard over its inability to invest in its own innovation, IBM is …

Data Networking 27 Sep 15:24
Mystery lingers over stealthy Stuxnet infection

Analysis Cloak and dagger

The infamous Stuxnet worm infected 14,000 systems inside Iran, according to new estimates. The sophisticated and complex malware was tuned to infect supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that are used to control power plants and factories. Stuxnet was tuned to attack specific configurations of Siemens …

Enterprise Security 27 Sep 17:15
Feds want backdoors built into VoIP and email

Warn of investigations 'going dark'

Developers of email, instant-messaging and voice-over-internet-protocol applications would be forced to redesign their services so their contents can be intercepted by law enforcement agents armed with legal wiretap orders under federal legislation reported on Monday by The New York Times. The legislation would, among other …

Law 27 Sep 19:06
US mainstream media is Apple's bee-atch

And hope outpaces fear (barely)

A year-long survey has shown that Apple is the mainstream media's darling, and that coverage of the glories of the digital wonderland edged out stories about its seamy underbelly. "[Apple] attracted more coverage from the mainstream press than any other technology company — and the bulk of it was positive," concludes a study …

Music and Media 27 Sep 20:07
Unity 3 debuts (sans Jobsian code spectre)

New freedom. New version

Three weeks after it was freed from the spectre of Steve Jobs' infamous code translation ban, Unity has unveiled the long-awaited third version of its cross-platform 3D game development kit. Among other things, Unity 3 offers a, well, unified editor, letting you deploy applications to any supported platform — including the web …

Developer 27 Sep 20:15
Prosecutor resigns over sexting spree to crime victim

'Hot, young nymph' wasn't amused

A Wisconsin prosecutor who faced forced removal from office for sending sexually charged text messages to crime victims and suspects will resign instead. Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz had previously refused to quit following revelations he sent one crime victim 30 racy text messages over three days that among …

Crime 27 Sep 20:31
Microsoft surrenders Live Spaces future to WordPress

A thousands points of light going out

Microsoft's killing another me-too Web 2.0 service, sinking its fledgling Live Spaces blog network and shifting 30 million users to WordPress. The director of Windows Live product management Dharmesh Mehta revealed Live Spaces' execution order during a gushing partner announcement with WordPress' parent Automatic on Monday …

Music and Media 27 Sep 20:32
Orange sells infrastructure nuageux based on Vblocks

Another telecom gets clouds in its eyes

Orange Business Services, the hosting and network operations arm of France Telecom that operates in 172 countries, has caught the cloud bug and has teamed up with the triumvirate (well, duo if you want to be honest) behind the Acadia partnership — Cisco Systems, EMC, and VMware — to launch a line of private clouds it wants to …

Virtualization 27 Sep 20:48
RIM unveils The ~~BlackPad~~ BlackBerry PlayBook

BlackBerry Devcon Hey, Steve. It runs Flash

Update: This story has been updated with additional information from RIM's DevCon keynote. Research in Motion — maker of the BlackBerry — has unveiled an Apple-battling tablet version of its email-friendly handheld. They call it the BlackPad BlackBerry PlayBook. And as rumors indicated, it's based on a new operating system …

Mobile 27 Sep 21:01
Microsoft to issue emergency patch for ASP.Net vuln

Muzzling 'padding oracle' for good

Microsoft will release an emergency patch on Tuesday that plugs a security hole in a variety of its web developer tools that has been under active attack for more than a week. The vulnerability in ASP.Net applications allows attackers to decrypt password files, cookies, and other sensitive data that is supposed to remain …

Enterprise Security 27 Sep 22:50
IBM Goes 'GPU-riffic' with new blade

GTC Video Blog GPU goodness — not just for HPC anymore

IBM made big news on the first day of last week's GPU Technology Conference by announcing that it'll roll out an Nvidia Fermi–based expansion blade. While it's not formally announced yet (the plan is to do so in Q4), IBM had one at the show and walked me through it for the video below. It isn't a standalone server; it's a …

HPC Blog 27 Sep 23:31