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6th October 2010 Archive

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  • Google spits back at Oracle's Android suit

    Your honor, we're more open

    Google has responded to Oracle's lawsuit over the use of Java in Android, claiming that the mobile OS does not violate Oracle's patents – while accusing Ellison and company of a certain Java open source hypocrisy. In August, Oracle filed a complaint in federal court alleging that Google deliberately infringed various Java- …

    Developer 6 Oct 2010, 04:26

  • Man ordered to pay Facebook $1bn

    Attack of the penis-enlargment ads

    A Canadian man has been ordered to pay Facebook $1bn Canadian for a barrage of more than four million penis-enlargement ads he posted on user walls in 2008. That same year, a California court ordered Adam Guerbuez to pay the social networking site $873m for hacking into members' accounts and sending “sexually explicit messages …

    Security 6 Oct 2010, 04:35

  • IBM floats Notes for Microsoft Exchange wobblers

    License bait

    IBM has shot back in the escalating war with Microsoft, offering email and collaboration in the cloud. Big Blue has unveiled a hosted groupware service based on a multi-tenant version of its Domino server, along with pricing that matches cuts made by Microsoft in its Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) suite a year …

    The Channel 6 Oct 2010, 04:43

  • Computacenter wins bus contract

    £14m for desktops

    Computacenter has won a £14m contract to supply desktop support and PC supply at 650 offices and bus stations run by FirstGroup. Bus company FirstGroup has 5,500 computer users. It runs 8,500 buses and four franchise train services. The five-year contract will include running a central help desk, sourcing hardware. …

    The Channel 6 Oct 2010, 06:00

  • HP ramps up containerized data centers

    Punching holes in the factory wall

    HP has been dabbling in containerized data centers since the summer of 2008, and is now taking the idea seriously enough to punch a few holes in the walls of its Houston PC and server factory and create an assembly line dedicated to pumping out its Performance Optimized Datacenters — aka PODs. The PODs are based on standard 20 …

    Servers 6 Oct 2010, 06:00

  • ScaleMP, IBM bond to fluff x64 systems

    How come the li'l one is yet to be et?

    Starting Tuesday, middleware-maker ScaleMP's Versatile SMP Foundation software is certified to run on IBM's System x3850 X5 servers — and that makes Big Blue the Cupertino, California company's best friend. It is a wonder that ScaleMP, whose middleware glues multiple x64 systems together into fatter shared memory systems, has …

    HPC 6 Oct 2010, 06:00

  • Amazon Kindle 3 e-book reader

    Review Mobile library downsized and overhauled

    Even a blind man in a dark room can see what the problem is with eBook readers has been – the cost. Every eBook reader review Reg Hardware has run has been followed by dozens of comments all along the lines of: Nice idea, but how much? Amazon's Kindle 3: e-book gets new cover Now Amazon has bitten the bullet and released a …

    Tablets 6 Oct 2010, 07:00

  • Cryptome vows to pursue those who breached site

    'We will burn the hacker's ass for that'

    Cryptome.org was breached over the weekend after miscreants took control of an email account used to manage the a whistle-blowing website, which predates Wikileaks by a decade. Cryptome founder John Young said on Tuesday that he planned to pursue those responsible for the hack, and he suggested his computer system may also …

    Security 6 Oct 2010, 08:00

  • DiData buys Kiwi dealer

    Reseller snaps up Axon without revealing price tag

    South African distie Dimension Data is paying an undisclosed amount for a New Zealand services company Integral Axon Computer Systems. The privately-held Kiwi firm claims assets of NZ$ 37,964,699 (£18m), is one of only five Large Account Microsoft-approved resellers in the country and the only tier one IBM dealer. The deal …

    The Channel 6 Oct 2010, 08:51

  • Youth jailed for not handing over encryption password

    Second ever sentence for RIPA offence

    A 19-year old from Lancashire has been sentenced to 16 weeks in a young offenders institution for refusing to give police the password to an encrypted file on his computer. Oliver Drage, from Naze Lane, Freckleton, Lancashire was arrested in May as part of an investigation into child sexual abuse images. His computer was …

    Law 6 Oct 2010, 09:12

  • Field Service Engineers and their needs

    Workshop Keeping the remote workers working

    It is clear that keeping remote workers operating effectively is usually a completely different challenge to those of office based workers. One particular sub-group amongst such remote workers is that of “field service engineers”, a category with very specific requirements of their IT equipment, tools and support needs. As …

    Desktop Management 6 Oct 2010, 09:16

  • Samsung hails Galaxy Tab charity donation plan

    Spend £600, we'll give a tenner

    Samsung is generously giving 1.67 per cent of the retail price of every Galaxy Tab Android tablet sold through Phones4U to help fight breast cancer. Buy the £600 gadget from now until the end of November and Samsung will give a tenner to charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer. It's an excellent cause to support - breast cancer is …

    Tablets 6 Oct 2010, 09:19

  • Penis pill spam shrinks

    Spamit! Affiliate shuts up shop

    Penis pill spam dramatically shrunk over the weekend after a notorious spam affiliate brought down the shutters on its own operation. Spamit, a mainstay of the so-called Canadian Pharmacy business, announced its intention to shut up shop last week, saying that increased attention on its business had made it impossible to carry …

    Security 6 Oct 2010, 09:24

  • Official exposes govt IT overlaps

    Central govt's suspension of IT projects shows identical projects underway

    A Cabinet Office official has said the moratorium on central government IT projects has revealed a number of overlapping projects across departments. Bernard Quinn, deputy director and channels lead for the digital delivery team at the Cabinet Office, said that as well as identical IT projects being carried out, marketing …

    Government 6 Oct 2010, 09:30

  • Google sticks goggles on the iPhone

    Fanboys get to squint at product logos too

    Google is rolling out its Goggles product as part of an update to its iPhone suite, taking iPhone users right up to the bleeding edge of what even Google can achieve. We say "bleeding edge" advisedly, as Google Goggles is a very ambitious attempt to trigger internet searches based on photographs, and one that (in our …

    Phones 6 Oct 2010, 09:39

  • Next Palm smartphone out early 2011, says HP

    WebOS 2.0 on board?

    New Palm smartphones will arrive early next year, HP has revealed. "You will see us coming early next year with new phones," Senior HP Eric Cador said in Barcelona today. Cador didn't provide any other details - he was talking more about HP's $1.2bn acquisition of Palm than the new subsidiary's products. But he did stress …

    Phones 6 Oct 2010, 09:54

  • Voice-routing call fingerprint system fights 'vishing'

    'Actually, I don't think my bank has a Lagos call centre'

    Security researchers in the States say they have developed a cunning new method of "fingerprinting" voice calls that could offer a route to trustworthy caller ID and a barrier against so-called "vishing" or voice phishing. The tool is called PinDr0p, and works by analysing the various characteristic noise artifacts left in …

    Security 6 Oct 2010, 10:05

  • 3PAR CEO to run HP StorageWorks

    Roadmap changes afoot?

    It's not quite out with the old and in with the new, but it is pretty close. David Scott, outgoing CEO of acquired 3PAR, is to run HP's entire StorageWorks business. Scott becomes an SVP and general manager, and reports to HP Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking head David Donatelli. Yesterday, in an HP announcement …

    Storage 6 Oct 2010, 10:13

  • Apple TV costs 40 quid to make

    Profit-tastic, apparently

    All the bits inside the second-gen Apple TV - and the cost of Asian labour to put them all together - cost a total of $64 (£40), market watcher iSuppli has claimed, leaving Apple $35 to spend on software development, marketing and a little left over for profit. The priciest part is the $16.55 "applications processor" that …

    Hardware 6 Oct 2010, 10:45

  • Apple censors shut down BitTorrent app client

    Developer slipped by iTunes app storekeepers by not mentioning the protocol

    Apple has removed a previously approved BitTorrent client from the iTunes app store - though even the developer admits it only got approved 'cos it didn't mention the protocol. IS Drive slipped by the Apple censors by making no reference to BitTorrent, connecting instead to the ImageShack service, which provides server-based …

    Mobile 6 Oct 2010, 10:47

  • Yahoo! pulls! on! Dapper! suit! to! chase! Google! display! ad! tail!

    Bartz knots purple bow tie

    Yahoo! bought display advertising outfit Dapper yesterday for an undisclosed sum. The web portal, which is headed up by Carol Bartz, perhaps responded to Google’s buyout of Invite Media in June by acquiring a display ad company of its own. After all, the company’s Right Media ad house has recently seen its market share fall …

    Financial News 6 Oct 2010, 10:48

  • Little Chef in 'I ♥ Charlie' t-shirt outrage

    Coke-crazed students snap up Bolivian marching apparel

    Roadside foodmonger Little Chef has fallen foul of the Sun for punting an "I ♥ Charlie" t-shirt which is apparently doing a roaring trade with students with a penchant for marching with Bolivians. The shirt is, of course, intended to celebrate the chain's culinary mascot, but as the Sun helpfully points out, "the name is also …

    Bootnotes 6 Oct 2010, 10:50

  • PARIS unveils impressive box

    Main payload container ready for lift-off

    It's all go down at the Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) headquarters ahead of our planned 23 October launch. Earlier this week we wrapped the construction of the main payload box, which contains the vital Vulture 1 aircraft release mechanism, cameras, GPS tracker and radio beacon. There's more on the successful …

    SPB 6 Oct 2010, 11:00

  • McCanns join CEOP quango row

    Home Office stands firm

    Theresa May is sticking to her plan to merge the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) into a larger law enforcement agency, despite further protests from Kate and Gerry McCann. The couple's intervention follows the resignation of CEOP chief executive Jim Gamble, who quit after the Home Secetary made it clear …

    Law 6 Oct 2010, 11:03

  • Samsung shows Wave II smartphone

    Updated Bada on board

    Samsung's second-gen Wave smartphone - set to feature the next release of the South Korean giant's Bada OS - will arrive in Europe in November. The Wave II - aka the GT-S8530 - will come with Bada 1.2 and a 3.7in "enhanced TFT" touchscreen to view it on. Samsung also touted the Wave II's social network support and app …

    Phones 6 Oct 2010, 11:12

  • The Curse of Wikipedia strikes Norman Wisdom

    Graun, Mirror fall for bogus factoids

    The obituaries for Norman Wisdom have again highlighted lazy journalists' reliance on Wikipedia. This time, bogus information inserted by a drive-by prankster was upheld by a Wikipedia Administrator - and reprinted by newspapers including The Guardian and The Mirror. Both papers yesterday told us that the late comic actor had …

    Media 6 Oct 2010, 11:13

  • WAC wiki creates Waikiki

    It asks developers to comment on draft APIs

    The Wireless Application Community has published draft specifications for WAC widgets, and is seeking comment from the developer community it so desperately needs to attract. The specifications are very clearly marked as being draft, with dire warnings against building phones based on the spec, but the idea of the Waikiki is …

    Mobile 6 Oct 2010, 11:34

  • UK energy industry mugs customers

    £32 billion? That'll do nicely

    The future for UK energy may be smart technology, but the economics behind that decision are decidedly unsmart. Or possibly very very cunning, depending on whether or not you credit the beancounters at Ofgem with a degree of subtlety. On the surface, this week’s story (pdf) on Ofgems smart grid plan was straightforward: in …

    Science 6 Oct 2010, 11:41

  • Ex-General Electric boss unleashes bile on HP board

    'Big mouth' Larry not the only CEO to bitch and moan

    Oracle's Larry Ellison isn’t the only CEO mouthing off at Hewlett-Packard’s decision to hire Leo Apotheker as the company’s replacement for disgraced former boss Mark Hurd. Now Jack Welch, the ex-chief of General Electric, is sticking the boot in, too. According to the Wall Street Journal, Welch said in New York yesterday at …

    Financial News 6 Oct 2010, 11:44

  • Close integration cannot stop at the HW/SW boundary

    Even if openness suffers

    Why doesn't HP's Converged Infrastructure (CI) include system software? HP says it does: according to the IT giant you can have any hypervisor you want, any operating system you want, any database or any other middleware you want. So what am I talking about? HP's CI could stand for Close Integration if we are talking about …

    Storage 6 Oct 2010, 11:59

  • Sony Ericsson Zylo

    Review A Walkman phone by any other name

    The world + dog may be knocking out smartphones like there's no tomorrow but that's not to say the feature phones is dead and buried. The Zylo handset from Sony Ericsson would, once upon a time, have had a W code to show it sat in the Walkman range, but the days of simple delineation between music (Walkman) and camera (Cybershot …

    Phones 6 Oct 2010, 12:00

  • Security threats for mobile users

    On Demand How to find them and stop them

    If you've got security in your remit and an increasingly mobile work force, then we could have just the tonic for your day job, a webcast discussing just these challenges. Our old friend Jon Collins, from Freeform Dynamics, is fronting the affair, and he's joined by Ian Moyse from Webroot. The pair of them rattle through some …

    Tech Panel 6 Oct 2010, 12:00

  • Man enraged by sagging pants pops cap in teen's ass

    Meanwhile, Florida man denies knowledge of butt crack

    A Memphis man driven to distraction by the low-riding pants of two youths is facing aggravated assault charges after popping a cap into one of the exposed asses in question. Kenneth E Bonds had become incensed by the clothing of a pair of teenagers he spotted walking through his neighbourhood. The teens were sporting …

    Bootnotes 6 Oct 2010, 12:38

  • Hitachi shows 1600 x 1200 panel for 7in tablets

    302ppi touchscreen, anyone?

    Much of the coverage of Japan's Ceatec consumer electronics show has centred on Android tablets and Toshiba's glasses-free 3D TV line. But here's what caught our eye while perusing local newssite Impress' show highlights write-up. It's Hitachi's 6.6in tablet-oriented LCD panel that incorporates in-plane switching (IPS) …

    Tablets 6 Oct 2010, 12:45

  • Navy Carriers: We want two or no votes for you, Tories

    Comment No frigate on Caribbean drugs patrol? Imagine my concern

    Tomorrow, the new National Security Council meets to decide just what the future armed forces of the United Kingdom will have in terms of people and machines - how many regiments, tanks, guns, jets, choppers, ships and submarines, and of what type. As at most meetings where major issues will be decided in a short space of time …

    Government 6 Oct 2010, 13:25

  • AMD says it is definitely, really not for sale

    But what were you thinking of offering, Oracle?

    Maybe Larry Ellison's killing of Opteron-based servers from Oracle's Sun Fire x64 server lineup earlier this year was a love touch instead of a bitchslap for Advanced Micro Devices? Two weeks go, as Ellison ended a securities analyst meeting in the wake of its OpenWorld extravaganza, the company's co-founder and chief …

    The Channel 6 Oct 2010, 13:43

  • ICO wants clearer definition of 'personal' data

    Wording of the Data Protection Act creates legal mess

    A definition at the heart of the UK's Data Protection Act (DPA) is unclear, creating legal confusion that undermines the whole law, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said. The ICO enforces the DPA, advising businesses on how to stay in line with the privacy-protecting law and investigating complaints about …

    Law 6 Oct 2010, 14:17

  • Nokia's anti-capitalist RPG heads for console

    Be Swampy without leaving the sofa

    "Conspiracy for Good", Nokia's live-action role-playing, crusty activist fantasy, may be heading for your living room - according to one of the executives involved. Speaking at the MIPCOM games conference, Brian Seth Hurst, CEO of the Opportunity Management Company, told attendees that "we're moving on now to a television …

    Mobile 6 Oct 2010, 14:25

  • Keyboard-equipped iPad cases comes to Blighty

    Don't tell netbook buffs

    Looking for an iPad case that incorporates a real keyboard that'll talk to the tablet wirelessly? UK retailer Gearzap tells us it has just the thing. Enter the KeyCase iPad Folio Deluxe, a £59.95 leather case that comes complete with a fixed in Bluetooth "silicone" keyboard. That means it's proof against liquid spills and …

    Tablets 6 Oct 2010, 14:32

  • OLPC makes first-world tablet

    Non-profit partners Marvell on PC for western consumers

    One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has taken $5.6m from chip shop Marvell to create a tablet PC intended for western consumption, stepping somewhat away from its stated aim of "providing an affordable educational device for use in the developing world". The tablet, which will apparently be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics …

    Tablets 6 Oct 2010, 14:41

  • Miniskirted Brazilian is appealing...

    ...$24k damages for baying mob ordeal

    Geisy Arruda, the miniskirted student who was verbally abused by a baying mob at São Paulo's Universidade Bandeirante, aka Uniban, has been awarded R$40,000 ($23,860) damages against the seat of learning. Arruda turned up at college on 22 October last year sporting what fellow alumi considered inappropriately short attire. She …

    Bootnotes 6 Oct 2010, 14:51

  • Brasso Gadgetcare

    Txt Take Product reviews in 140 characters or less

    Brasso Gadgetcare Gadgetcare's flowery fragrance may have you longing for the whiff of the old Brasso ammonia OAP: Old age polisher? Pearl necklace optional Want our Txt Take on your gadget or accessory? Just send it in to Reg Hardware. Details here. ®

    Hardware 6 Oct 2010, 14:51

  • 20% of TVs to ship in 2015 will be 3D, says analyst

    We say almost all of them will

    Global shipments of 3D TVs will top 50 million units in 2015, market watcher ABI Research said today. We say it'll be a darn sight more than that - probably in the order of 200 million. No, we haven't been mysteriously converted to the 3D cause - quite the reverse. Reg Hardware is sceptical about 3D TV because we sense no …

    Hardware 6 Oct 2010, 15:20

  • Kiss frontman gives file-sharers tongue-lashing

    'Even the poop they poop out is the food I bought them'

    Kiss frontman Gene Simmons is a strict dad and it seems he has applied his “now school” approach to illegal file-sharers on the web, for whom he reserves zero mercy. Simmons gave his stark views of P2P pirates at the MIPCOM shindig in Cannes. "Make sure your brand is protected. Make sure there are no incursions. Be litigious …

    Media 6 Oct 2010, 15:25

  • Intel preps ARM-to-x86 porting tool for iOS apps

    Please bring your popular software to our platform

    Intel has said it is developing software to make it easier to port iOS applications to other mobile operating systems - in particular, MeeGo, the mobile OS favoured by the chip giant. Doug Fisher, Intel's senior software guy, didn't say when the utility will appear, IDG reports. In an interview with the news service, Fisher …

    Phones 6 Oct 2010, 15:41

  • Euro Council of Ministers wants Happy World

    Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was nice

    Although Google and Verizon's stitch-up rapprochement has spiked the issue of Net Neutrality in the USA, with the push for regulation stalling in Congress last week - somebody's forgotten to tell the EU's bureaucrats. The Council of Ministers - aka Council of the European Union - which normally busies itself with high-minded …

    Broadband 6 Oct 2010, 15:42

  • Opera targets unsmartphones with Mini ad exchange

    How to make money without a monopoly – or a sugar daddy

    Opera has launched its own mobile ad exchange, designed to serve ads on both smartphones and old school feature phones via its Opera Mini browser. These ads will appear on webpages, but they'll be optimized for Opera Mini, which uses proxy servers to compress and deliver ads to more than 66 million handests worldwide, …

    Mobile 6 Oct 2010, 15:59

  • Adobe Reader purged of hole that was under attack

    22 other bugs also exterminated

    Adobe has patched 23 security vulnerabilities in its Reader document viewer, including one that criminals were exploiting to install malware on the PCs of unwitting victims. At least 18 of the other flaws also made it possible for attackers to remotely hijack users' PCs, Adobe said in an bulletin released on Tuesday. The patch …

    Security 6 Oct 2010, 18:14

  • Mozilla upsets net world order with Bing on Firefox

    Microsoft slips under Google sugar daddy

    The Firefox 4 search toolbar will offer Microsoft Bing as an alternative to Google, as Mozilla takes another step towards its traditional nemesis — and apparently hedges its bets against its traditional sugar daddy. As Mozilla announced this morning with a blog post, the latest English-language version of Mozilla's open source …

    Software 6 Oct 2010, 19:11

  • Citrix beefs up virtual computing

    Lots o' Xen tweaks. GoToMeeting video

    Citrix Systems is hosting its Synergy user conference in Berlin this week, and is using the occasion to roll out a slew of nips, tucks, and tweaks to its various Xen-derived virtualization products and GoTo services. Like everyone else in the world, it seems, Citrix is positioning itself to be the one-stop-shop for connecting …

    Virtualization 6 Oct 2010, 19:30

  • Hackers hijack internet voting system in Washington DC

    All your votes are belong to us

    An internet voting system designed to allow District of Columbia residents to cast absentee ballots has been put on hold after computer scientists exploited vulnerabilities that would have allowed them to rig elections and view secret data. The system, which was paid for in part by a $300,000 federal grant, was hijacked just 36 …

    Security 6 Oct 2010, 19:51

  • Logitech unveils first Google TV box

    $300 webtelevision ships this month

    Logitech has unveiled its Google TV settop box, a device designed to meld the web with your television. Dubbed Logitech Revue, the device will sell for $299.99, including a wireless keyboard controller, and it will be available in US stores before the end of the month. You can pre-order the device at Amazon.com, Logitech.com, …

    Media 6 Oct 2010, 20:08

  • Opensourcer targets Windows Phone 7 hopefuls

    Silverlight cash in

    An open-source database company hopes to strike it big with developers on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, officially launched next Monday. McObject has announced a one-time charge per developer of $395 with free distribution of its Perst .NET object-oriented database on consumer phones running Windows Phone 7. Usually, McObject …

    Developer 6 Oct 2010, 20:17

  • Facebook unveils changes to enhance privacy

    Groups: Now with more user control

    Facebook on Wednesday rolled out new features designed to make people feel more comfortable putting photos, videos, and other personal data online. In a blog post, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled an overhauled version of Facebook Groups that allows users to share certain content with select people, rather than with everyone …

    Security 6 Oct 2010, 20:57

  • Cisco jump-starts home 'telepresence'

    HD video calls made consumer friendly

    Cisco has announced a "tranformational" consumer-level videoconferencing system that it calls Cisco ūmi telepresence. "Ūmi telepresence is about you and me connecting in new ways, right in your living room," Cisco's emerging technologies group headman Martin De Beer told his audience of press and analysts at the system's roll- …

    Hardware 6 Oct 2010, 21:05

  • Motorola sues Apple over - what else? - patents

    'Dog fight' escalates

    Android stalwart Motorola has thrown a one-two punch at Apple, suing it in two US Federal Courts for patent infringement and filing a complaint against with the US International Trade Commission. "We had no choice but to file these complaints to halt Apple's continued infringement," Kirk Dailey, Motorola Mobility's corporate …

    Business 6 Oct 2010, 23:36

  • Android phone auto reverts jailbreaks

    T-Mobile firmware rollback squashes modders

    A new Android smartphone from T-Mobile ships with hardware that thwarts jailbreakers by automatically restoring modified devices to their original factory state. The HTC G2, which began shipping on Tuesday, reinstalls the original firmware when it is rebooted, much to the chagrin of would-be jailbreakers trying to root the …

    Mobile 6 Oct 2010, 23:40