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18th October 2010 Archive

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  • Oracle: no license for Android's Harmony friend

    But a lifelong Java deal for IBM?

    Oracle will never grant a license to Project Harmony, the open source Java implementation. Oracle told a closed meeting of Java's leaders from major companies and organizations that such a move would damage the future of Java, according to a source close to Java's governing body. The meeting took place in Bonn, Germany, …

    Developer 18 Oct 2010, 03:57

  • WTF is... DLNA?

    A cure for media playback blues - or will it just have you seeing red?

    DVD and Blu-ray Disc players, internet radios, sound systems and projectors, TV set-top boxes and the TVs themselves have traditionally been a motley crew, arguing among themselves in so far as they communicate at all, about who should do what and to whom. The noble aim of the DLNA - the Digital Living Network Alliance - is to …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 07:00

  • Microsoft steers OEMs away from putting Phone 7 on Tablets

    Cynical fee-preserving move may backfire on Redmond

    Microsoft is usually decisive. There is a saying in contact sports such as American football and rugby – it doesn‘t matter if you make a wrong decision, if you commit to it and do it hard enough, you can make it into the right decision. It works for business too. Decisiveness – even when based on poorly thought-out decisions …

    Mobile 18 Oct 2010, 07:00

  • Benoit Mandelbrot, father of fractals, dies at 85

    An interdimensional explorer

    Benoit Mandelbrot, the father of fractals, died on October 14 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the age of 85. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, according to an obituary in the New York Times. Mandelbrot fled Poland ahead of Nazi occupation when he was 11 and moved with his family to Paris. He studied at the Ecole …

    Science 18 Oct 2010, 07:47

  • EMC in Isilon 'takeover talks'

    Let's scale out together

    EMC is in exclusive talks to buy Isilon, according to the New York Post. The NY Post is not the usual place to go for financial scoops, but the report sounds sensible. Such a purchase would fill a hole in EMC's product line-up, the EMC that sponsors the annual IDC reports about the gazillions of bytes of information being …

    Storage 18 Oct 2010, 08:21

  • Iomega's flashy SSD clones your PC

    USB drive shifts from stick to 'slab'

    Iomega has a line of pocket-sized external flash storage devices using a USB 3.0 interconnect. Should we call them USB slab drives? "Stick" seems a little too small. The External SSD Flash Drive has a 1.8-inch form factor and comes in 64, 128 and 256GB capacities, all with built-in 256-bit encryption. We don't know if it is …

    Storage 18 Oct 2010, 09:10

  • Smartphones are on your network

    We show you how to cope with them

    Trying to avoid having to manage consumer mobile devices? You're wasting your time. Better to accept the inevitable - you're going to have to do it. Today at 3pm, our latest Regcast deals head-on with a problem that every sysadmin is going to have this year: managing those iPhones, iPads, Blackberrys and 'Droids, whether you …

    Tech Panel 18 Oct 2010, 09:19

  • Apple MacBook Air revamp snapped, posted on web

    Prototype points to new design with more ports

    Apple fans are eagerly anticipating Wednesday's Mac-centric company announcement, particularly since a few snaps of what are claimed to be internals of a prototype 13.3in MacBook Air popped up online this weekend. The snap, posted by Engadget, shows motherboard, four separate batteries, a bank of Flash chips - presumably the …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 09:41

  • The great Aussie firewall is back - and this time it's personal

    PM Gillard wants Oz law to treat the net like the telly

    Internet censorship in Australia is once more on a roll, with more online content than ever coming up for a ban. It seems the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, deciding that the great firewall was neither a political nor a technical issue, but a moral one. First off, according to a report this week in The Australian, the amount …

    Government 18 Oct 2010, 09:42

  • HP snaps up Meego boss

    Can webOS ever be as popular as Meego?

    Ari Jaaksi, who until so recently was running Nokia's Meego project, has been recruited by HP to bring some of that Meego magic to its own webOS. Ari Jaaksi left Nokia early this month for what were described at the time as "personal reasons". We can only assume those personal reasons included not being shackled to a sinking …

    Mobile 18 Oct 2010, 09:45

  • HTC outs Gratia low-cost Android smartphone

    All the basics on a budget?

    HTC will bring its latest Android smartphone, the Gratia, to the UK next month. Introducing the handset this morning, HTC's announcement revealed only that the handset will run Android 2.2 and incorporate an autofocus 5Mp camera. It'll will come in a choice of colours: black, white and "forest green". Judging from its 10cm …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 09:57

  • No legal privilege for accountants, says Court of Appeal

    Prudential doesn't want to hand over tax advice of PwC, but it's too bad

    The right to keep correspondence and documents relating to legal advice secret does not exist when the person giving the advice is an accountant, the Court of Appeal has ruled. Legal professional privilege (LPP) is the right of a person or company to communicate with their lawyer in secret. Even in a trial that communication …

    Small Biz 18 Oct 2010, 10:04

  • ID fraud costs UK £2.7bn a year

    Victims can spend up to 200 hours undoing damage

    Identity fraud affects 1.8 million Britons every year, costing £2.7bn in the process, researcher claimed today. A study by the National Fraud Authority - published on Monday at the start of identity fraud prevention week - found that fraudsters gain by more than £1,000 from every stolen identity. Stolen credentials are used to …

    ID 18 Oct 2010, 10:23

  • PARIS looking 50/50 for Saturday launch

    Vulture 1 pilot jets in from US as skies threaten rain

    The Paper Aircraft Released Into Space team is nervously eyeing the skies ahead of Saturday's planned launch. According to the latest predictions, it's not looking too promising, with a good chance of rain and cloud over the weekend. Of course, conditions today are absolutely perfect here in the Iberian peninsula, and are set …

    PARIS 18 Oct 2010, 10:24

  • Nokia heralds Symbian^3 with C7 smartphone

    Place your order now, firm suggests

    Nokia is now allowing its fans to place advance orders for its upcoming C7 capacitive touchscreen smartphone. The handset goes on sale direct from Nokia next week, but there's only a further seven days' wait if you want to buy one from someone else. Not that much need, then, to order early, we'd say. If you do, it's £389, …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 10:43

  • Pentagon: Wikileaks file-dump didn't reveal anything important

    Standing by for next lot, think they know what's in it

    It was revealed over the weekend that in the judgement of US defence secretary Robert Gates, the much-hyped Wikileaks dump earlier this year of military files regarding the war in Afghanistan did not compromise "any sensitive intelligence sources and methods", though it had endangered the lives of US troops and Afghans …

    Government 18 Oct 2010, 10:50

  • iPad tethering does disappearing trick

    Now you see it, now it's billable

    The last iOS beta for iPad had tethering, but that feature appears to have vanished, prompting speculation that it will fall under the control of the network operator. The new version of iOS 4 is due out next month, bringing the multitasking and folders already available on the iPhone to the iPad. Beta versions have been …

    Mobile 18 Oct 2010, 10:53

  • Facebook gets poked in latest privacy gaffe

    'No personal details were used. But we're changing our tech anyway... bitch'

    Facebook’s privacy rules aren’t as watertight as the company would have its users believe, after the Wall Street Journal uncovered that some of the social network’s most popular apps have siphoned off personal information to ad firms and internet tracking outfits. According to the report, many Facebook apps have transmitted …

    ID 18 Oct 2010, 11:28

  • Dual-dock iPad design gets official EU thumbs-up

    Two-port look chosen for the iPad 2?

    The next iPad will indeed sport two dock connectors - one on the short side of the device, the other on the long edge - if recently published application for European design protection is anything to go by. The design was registered with the European Union trademarks registrar on 14 July this year, but only published late last …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 11:35

  • Gov axes £35bn Severn Barrage tide-energy scheme

    Shadow minister laments loss of '100s of Green jobs'

    Controversial plans by the former government to build a massive tidal-power barrage across the Severn estuary have been scrapped. Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, announcing the decision this morning, said the scheme's costs were "excessive". In theory the door remains open for private business to build a tidal-power scheme of …

    Environment 18 Oct 2010, 11:36

  • 'Condom in my Whopper' man pulls case

    CCTV shows staff did not dish up rubber-and-sauce burger

    A Vermont man has dropped a lawsuit he filed which claimed he had bitten into a Burger King Whopper and found himself chewing an unwrapped condom. Van Miguel Hartless said he bought the Southwestern Whopper from a Burger King in Rutland, Vermont, in 2007. Instead of succulent meat, crispy lettuce and tangy southwestern sauce …

    Bootnotes 18 Oct 2010, 11:47

  • Notorious Anonymous hacktivists launch fresh attacks

    Latest counter-offensive after TorrentReactor and other TT sites attacked

    Hacktivists from the loosely-banded Anonymous took out the UK Intellectual Property Office and a Portuguese music industry website over the weekend during the latest phase of an ongoing campaign against the entertainment industry. The ipo.gov.uk and acapor.pt were both rendered inaccessible by floods of spurious traffic in the …

    Crime 18 Oct 2010, 12:14

  • Opera, Oracle and Qualcomm join WAC ranks

    32 more members dig in against Apple/Google/RIM hegemony

    The Wireless Application Community, operators' last weapon against third-party app stores, has signed up another 32 members, including some familiar names. Most of the new members are network operators, which shouldn't be a surprise as the WAC is supposed to be operator driven, but it seems that 11 of them were waiting before …

    Mobile 18 Oct 2010, 12:41

  • EU pushes gov spending gravy train online

    Brussels wants standardised e-procurement

    The EU has potentially granted millions of pine trees a stay of execution by launching a consultation on e-procurement for public sector goods and services. EU spending, together with that of national and local governments and administrations, is of course one of the biggest gravy trains on the planet. The prospect of …

    Channel Register 18 Oct 2010, 13:08

  • Sly new tactic sneaks hackers past security dogs

    Updated Advanced evasion techniques can bypass network security, warn experts

    A new hacking technique creates a mechanism for hackers to smuggle attacks past security defences, such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems. So-called advanced evasion techniques (AET) are capable of bypassing network security defences, according to net appliance security firm Stonesoft, which was the first to …

    Enterprise Security 18 Oct 2010, 13:38

  • Powermat iPhone 4 wireless charging kit

    Review Cutting the cord

    Powermat, the best-known purveyor of wireless charging systems, missed a chance by not getting its iPhone 4 inductive charging pack out sooner than it has. Antennagate highlighted the benefits of wrapping the newest iPhone in a case, and Powermate might have sold a fair few units on the back of it. Powermat's iPhone 4 bundle …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 13:53

  • Legal P2P venture fails

    Singers wouldn't join the Choruss

    Choruss, the ambitious attempt to bring legal music file-sharing to US colleges and into the home with the backing of the major labels, has stumbled. "I blew it," founder Jim Griffin now admits. Choruss began as a skunkworks project within Warner Music to turn file sharing into a paid-for service. It was devised in response to …

    Music and Media 18 Oct 2010, 14:16

  • Carphone Warehouse slashes Samsung Galaxy Tab price

    Under £500 by all of a penny

    Carphone Warehouse has updated its Samsung Galaxy Tab sales page with a price: £530 without a data contract, or £500 if you take out a tenner-a-month data deal with Talk Mobile. That's certainly less than the £600 Amazon.co.uk wants - marked down from an £800 RRP, the site states - for the 7in Android 2.2-based, 3G-enabled …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 14:22

  • More sensitive Wii Remote out on 5 November

    Nintendo revamps remote

    Nintendo's revamped Wii Remote, this one with the old Motion Plus add-on built in, will go on sale in the UK on 5 November. Available in four colours - white, black, pink and blue - the Wii Remote Plus, as the new accessory is named, has the same physical dimensions as the old Wii Remote. All compatible peripherals can be …

    reghardware 18 Oct 2010, 14:34

  • Dell's DCS is a big shiny server star

    Server-maker is bigger than IBM, and maybe the Googlefactory

    For the past several years - and some of them not particularly good ones - Dell's Data Center Services (DCS) bespoke iron-making forge down in Round Rock, Texas, has been a particularly bright spot in the company's enterprise business. Although it serves only a handful of very demanding hyperscale data center customers, the …

    Servers 18 Oct 2010, 15:03

  • UK promises 'transformative' cyber security programme

    Colonel's whoopsie suggests that = 'crib from the Yanks'

    The Coalition government sought today to suggest that the savings package for the national-security sector is all part of a joined-up plan or strategy, which will feature a 'transformative' cyber security force or capability of some type. This was done by issuing a document today entitled A Strong Britain in an Age of …

    Government 18 Oct 2010, 15:25

  • Google ties search appliance to the clouds

    How to query heaven and earth

    Google has updated its corporate search appliances so that they can search not only data stored behind a company's firewall but also data housed on various online services, including Mountain View's own Google Docs and Googles Sites. The latest incarnation of the Google Search Appliance — version 6.8 — includes a tool that …

    Servers 18 Oct 2010, 18:10

  • Wily founder returns with cloud management

    SaaS harness

    Four years after selling his Wily Technologies to enterprise giant Computer Associates for $375m, Lew Cirne is back with an apps management service that individuals can afford. Lew Cirne's New Relic has announced that you can now monitor and manage PHP and .NET applications at a price that undercuts what Wily and CA could …

    Software 18 Oct 2010, 18:52

  • Apple squashes unauthorized MacBook battery maker

    HyperMac powered off

    Apple's legal team has succeeded in forcing the only company to offer external MacBook batteries and chargers — HyperMac, a division of China's Sanho Digital Electronics — to cease selling said products. "As part of our ongoing comprehensive licensing negotiations with Apple regarding a wide array of technologies and issues," …

    Music and Media 18 Oct 2010, 20:44

  • Apple posts $20bn+ quarter

    Jobs 'blown away'

    Apple blew past nearly all Wall Street moneymen's most optimist predictions when it announced Monday that it sucked up $20.34bn in revenues during its most recent quarter. "We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings — both all-time records for Apple," said CEO Steve Jobs …

    Financial News 18 Oct 2010, 21:01

  • Wikileaks founder denied Swedish residency permit

    Scandinavian press freedom plan thwarted

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been denied in his bid for a Swedish residency permit, part of the Australian's effort to gain protection for the whistleblower site under Sweden's press freedom laws. On August 18, Assange applied to live and work in Sweden, where Wikileaks maintains some of its servers, and on Monday, his …

    ID 18 Oct 2010, 21:56

  • IBM hits $24bn target thanks to big iron

    Big Blue: less profitable than Apple

    People expecting some big and pleasant surprises out of Big Blue in its third quarter are probably going to be disappointed that IBM did exactly and precisely what it said it would do. Revenues were up 3 per cent to $24.3bn, and net income climbed 11.7 per cent to $3.6bn. To help generate some enthusiasm for IBM's share price …

    Financial News 18 Oct 2010, 23:01

  • Microsoft loses chief software architect Ray Ozzie

    Bill Gates replacement finished

    Bill Gates' replacement at Microsoft, Ray Ozzie, is leaving the company after just five years. Ozzie is stepping down as chief software architect - the jobs Gates last occupied - and will only remain with Microsoft to transition his teams and people to other groups. Ozzie joined Microsoft in 2005 and became chief software …

    Software 18 Oct 2010, 23:32