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2nd November 2010 Archive

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  • ViewSonic tablet defies death by Steve Jobs

    Seven inches can't satisfy Apple boss

    ViewSonic made it official on Monday: their seven-inch ViewPad tablet will arrive in the US before the end of the year — despite the fact that Steve Jobs says seven-inchers are "dead on arrival." "I think in this case he may be a little afraid of this category," ViewSonic marketing honcho Adam Hanin told Laptop, "And he's …

    Mobile 2 Nov 01:00

  • Ruskie teacher fired for objection to Microsoft Office

    Education directorate 'defies Kremlin over Linux'

    A Russian school teacher says he was forced to quit his job because he complained that the Moscow school system requires students to use Microsoft Office. Vladimir Sorokin – a computer science teacher and deputy director at School No. 572 in southeastern Moscow – tells the Moscow Times that officials asked for his resignation …

    Software 2 Nov 02:00

  • Child porn victims seek multimillion-dollar payouts

    One victim. One photo. $3.68 million

    In December 2008, Virginia-based deputy sheriff Arthur Weston Staples III received a visit at home from police investigating claims he had traded child pornography images online. The former Vietnam vet, who had no previous offenses, was eventually sentenced to more than 17 years in prison after investigators found 400 to 600 …

    ID 2 Nov 04:00

  • Dell skunkworks brews ARM server future

    Cortex A9. LAMP stack. Eye of newt

    The ARM RISC processor owns the smartphone and handheld market that is starting to rival the traditional desktop and laptop PC in terms of functionality, and there is a very good chance that the chip will soon start making its way into the server racket. Not from the bottom up, like the x86/x64 chips did, but from an oblique …

    Servers 2 Nov 05:00

  • Adobe closes Flash-based Flex to outsiders

    Difficulty managing contribs blamed

    Adobe's open source development process for the Flex SDK – the library and tools for building Flash and AIR applications – has hit a roadblock. Flex SDK product manager Deepa Subramaniam last week told MAX the public repository will be closed and patches will no longer be accepted from the community. The change applies to the …

    Developer 2 Nov 06:00

  • Facebook developers exiled for selling user IDs to brokers

    Data broker comes clean

    Facebook is taking action against developers who flouted company rules by selling unique user IDs to a data broker. The unnamed developers, which numbered fewer than 12, won't have access to Facebook communication channels for six months, Facebook platform engineer Mike Vernal said on Friday. They also will be required to …

    ID 2 Nov 06:00

  • Storage startup busts object location barrier

    Scality's Ring cycle: One Ring to find them all

    File system trees are inefficient and slow when locating files in a filespace occupied by billions of files and folders. Storing the data as objects in a flat storage space is becoming a recommended alternative. But, as soon as you go for object storage to defeat this file system tree traverse problem, you face a fresh problem: …

    Storage 2 Nov 07:00

  • iLuv iMM747 iPad speaker dock

    Review Desktop audio

    There are more speaker systems available for the iPod and iPhone than I can count, but the iPad has missed out on all the fun so far because, of course, it’s far too big to fit into a docking system designed for its smaller brethren. iLuv's iMM747: jumbo dock? I’ve heard rumours of a couple of iPad speaker systems that are …

    reghardware 2 Nov 08:00

  • Overland Storage reboots with product and tech drive

    Loads of 'cool, exciting' products on the way

    Why do people leave a successful startup and, rather than join another startup, join a mature and almost failed tape storage vendor – one that's escaped Nasdaq delisting by the skin of its teeth, twice, and has a share price determined to show that gravity exerts a downward force? We met Jillian Mansolf at SNW Europe 2010 in …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 08:30

  • Bank slapped for beating up small biz

    Regulator tells it to be reasonable

    The Aussie competition regulator has slammed Macquarie Bank for suing hundreds of small businesses caught up in a series of apparent telco-bundling frauds. The bank had been a big financier of various firms which offer businesses bundled deals - sign up to a telecoms deal and get a free TV or laptop. But in many cases people …

    Small Biz 2 Nov 09:42

  • Hitachi GST SSD image sighted

    Blurry image posted on website

    Hitachi GST has posted an image on its website of the solid state drive (SSD) it is developing with Intel. You make make out part numbers if you peer closely enough, but not much else. The company says it will make the drive available in the second half of 2010, giving it a month and half, setting Christmas aside, to do so. It …

    Storage 2 Nov 09:56

  • Sophos debuts freebie anti-virus scanner for Macs

    Updated Sweat trickles down fanboi foreheads

    Sophos released a free of charge Mac anti-virus product for consumers on Tuesday in a bid to highlight the growing security risk against the platform and to shake fanbois out of their complacency. The business-focused internet security firm is making Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Mac available for download at no charge - …

    Malware 2 Nov 10:08

  • Asda prices up Elonex 7in Android tablet

    Yours for £97

    If you fancy a cheap - 2GB of storage, resistive touchscreen, poor battery life - Chinese Android-based 7in tablet, Asda has begun selling the Elonex e-Touch. Yours for 97 quid - plus a fiver more if you want it delivered - the gadget has a Micro SD card slot for more storage and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi for network connectivity. It …

    reghardware 2 Nov 10:19

  • Strange, blobaceous 'alien pod' lifeform found in Virginian lake

    Authoritative boffins: 'It's a UFO all right'

    Baffled passers-by have discovered a large, bizarre, blob-like lifeform floating in an artificial lake in Virginia. As there appeared no way in which the slow-moving, four-foot "mysterious blob" could have got into the lake naturally, the thing's discoverers - theorising that it must have come from above - have dubbed it the " …

    Biology 2 Nov 10:19

  • All hail Barbie Stalker Girl!

    'It's moviemaking from a Barbie doll's point of view - literally!'

    I am the father of four daughters, aged 23-10, and have learnt a thing or two over the years about Barbie dolls. The most salient thing is the "generational split" within my family - the two older girls owned Barbies and played with Barbies - the two younger junked the hand-me downs and never played with dolls. Of any kind. Ever …

    reghardware 2 Nov 10:20

  • Gov may restrict unfair dismissal claim rights

    Lord Young hopes this will boost employment figures

    The Government's new advisor on small businesses could recommend an increase in the length of time employees have to work before being allowed to bring unfair dismissal claims. Employees can currently take unfair dismissal claims against employers once they have been in their jobs for a year. The Government's newly appointed …

    Small Biz 2 Nov 10:25

  • Prism provides Bocada's backup vision

    Release 2 is faster and better

    Backup may be broken, as FalconStor and others argue, but it's still out there, being used every day, and has to be used as best it can. Bocada's release 2 of its Prism backup reporting tool helps large enterprises do just that. There are around 500 large enterprises using Bocada's reporting tools to manage more than 300,000 …

    Storage 2 Nov 10:28

  • Maude put squeeze on suppliers, says Watmore

    Don Francis had to 'persuade' companies who wouldn't co-operate

    Cabinet office minister Francis Maude put pressure on suppliers who resisted initial efficiency negotiations, according to a senior civil servant. Ian Watmore, the chief operating officer of the Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), addressed the House of Commons Public Administration Committee on the issue on 28 …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 10:41

  • Geeks Guide 2... Being Geek

    GG2 Save 40% at Reg Books

    There will come a time as a software engineer when you realise that your career depends on much more than just code. Is it time to become a manager? Should you accept the offer to join that start-up? If this is you (or even if it’s not – because it will be) then welcome to and enjoy Michael Lopp’s guide to the software …

    Developer 2 Nov 11:00

  • Panasonic bags Avatar 3D BD exclusive

    You want Pandora in 3D, you buy our kit

    Want to see Avatar in its full three-dimensional glory on that 3D TV you're planning to buy yourself for Christmas? Better make sure it's a Panasonic set, then - and that you're going to purchase a Panasonic 3D BD player. The consumer electronics giant has the exclusive on the 3D BD version of the hit movie of the year until …

    Entertainment 2 Nov 11:02

  • Times celebrates disappearing readers

    Total's not to be sniffed at though

    The Times and The Sunday Times have given a limited peek behind their respective paywalls. News International said its websites have 105,000 paid-for subscribers, around half of whom are monthly subscribers. This figure includes subscribers to the site as well as those accessing it through iPad or Kindle apps. There are also …

    Music and Media 2 Nov 11:08

  • iPhone to tap NFC, rumours say

    More than just m-commerce, say insiders

    More rumours are doing the rounds that Apple has NFC plans for next year's iPhone, this time with the intention of bringing the iPhone even closer to Cupertino's desktop platform. Readers of El Reg might not be surprised by Cult Of Mac's news that Apple plans to embed Near Field Communications into the next iPhone, but …

    Mobile 2 Nov 11:11

  • Seagate squirts out rectal cleaning spray

    Makes grab for low-hanging fruit

    If you go down to the Amazon woods today you can be sure of a big surprise: Seagate seems to have taken an unexpected product direction. The product contains borax, helonius, kreosotum and platina  and gets rid of certain kinds of irritations in a homeopathetic manner, allegedly. There are companion products which can be …

    Bootnotes 2 Nov 11:33

  • Google to release own-brand Chrome OS netbook

    Acer, HP too

    Expect to see the appearance of netbooks running Google's Chrome OS later this month, the first of them coming from the online advertising giant itself. Acer and HP will have similar machines out in December. So say moles from within Taiwan's electronics industry by way of local newssite DigiTimes. The machines come more …

    reghardware 2 Nov 11:35

  • Radioactive Litvinenko poison trails now much easier to detect

    Bouncing-bomb lab unveils cunning long-range Geiger counter

    Topflight British government boffins say they have at last cracked the knotty problem of cleanup following Alexander Litvinenko style radioactive-poison murders or similar incidents in which radiological contaminants are spread about the place. In the case of Litvinenko, the dying Russian - having been poisoned with the …

    Physics 2 Nov 11:47

  • Big Blue boosted by big bank deal

    Beats off HCL to secure Ireland deal

    IBM has won a contract to supply IT services to the Bank of Ireland, services previously supplied by HP. The five-year contract covers IT infrastructure and is the result of exclusive negotiations, due diligence and work with regulators since July. IBM will take responsibility for desktop machines, servers, mainframes, local …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 11:48

  • Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

    Review Bantha poodoo?

    There's something magical about Star Wars, but it's not what you might think. It's not the simple yarn of good versus evil spun against a backdrop of galactic war. Nor is it the juxtaposition of blasters and hyperspace with, to quote Han Solo, “hokey religions and ancient weapons". Careful not to strike back For me, the …

    reghardware 2 Nov 11:50

  • Rocks, hard places and Congo minerals

    Is your mobile phone fueling a vicious civil war?

    What should we be doing about these conflict minerals from the Congo, eh? Even MPs are raising Questions in the House on the topic. It's certainly true that some of the violence in Eastern Congo has been associated with access to minerals. What's a lot less certain is which way around the causality goes: is it people being …

    Government 2 Nov 12:00

  • Android kernel leaks like a colander

    359 defects, 88 high risk

    Security analysts at Coverity reckon the Android kernel is riddled with security holes, though they still rate it as twice as good as most open-source projects. Taking the source code from the HTC Incredible, Coverity found .47 defects per 1,000 lines of code, compared with an industry average of 1 per 1,000. That totalled 359 …

    Mobile 2 Nov 12:07

  • Apple shrinks Mac Mini price

    Diminutive desktop now cheaper

    Apple has knocked 50 quid off the price of the Mac Mini. The diminutive desktop Mac - it's just 197 x 197 x 36mm - was, at launch, priced at £649. That bought you a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1067MHz DDR 3 memory, a 320GB 5400rpm Sata hard drive, 8x multi-format DVD writer and Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics integrated …

    reghardware 2 Nov 12:10

  • Microsoft tweaks Hotmail interface to read Gmail accounts

    Now, if only the damn thing would work

    Microsoft has caved in to customers who prefer to use Google’s Gmail rather than the software vendor’s Hotmail offering, by making Mountain View’s online email available via its own web portal. In the latest in a series of hit-and-mostly-miss tweaks to Hotmail, Redmond said yesterday that it was rolling out tech that lets …

    Applications 2 Nov 12:16

  • Spending cuts force police IT merger

    Five forces to share services

    Cash-strapped police in the East Midlands will merge IT services in an effort to protect front line spending. Five forces - Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and Northamptonshire - have agreed to work together to see what savings can be made. Each force currently runs its own staff administration …

    Policing 2 Nov 12:28

  • Channel 4 rents videos

    Govt-owned broadcaster takes on iTunes

    Channel 4 has begun streaming movies for money. The service is tagged with the government-owned broadcaster's Film 4 brand. Film 4 On Demand offers flicks that can be rented for between 50p and £4, for up to 30 days, though you'll only have 48 hours to finish watching a movie once you've started. The content comes from …

    reghardware 2 Nov 12:32

  • Hitachi GST flash drives already in sample stage

    Reg reader finds top-tier customer FAQ that sheds light on schedule

    A Reg reader pointed us to a Hitachi GST Solid State Drive (SSD) FAQ, which cast more light on the company's SSD intentions and schedule, which is more advanced than we thought. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) are documents created by suppliers to answer, you guessed it, frequently asked questions about their products and …

    Storage 2 Nov 12:34

  • Canadian teen charged with school board hack

    Young hacker faces trial in juvenile court

    A 15-year-old who allegedly broke into a school board website before exposing the passwords of 27,000 fellow schoolchildren has been charged with computer hacking offences. The unnamed Ontario youngster from the Thames Valley area had earlier claimed that he had only carried out the hack to expose the board's weak security. …

    Crime 2 Nov 12:35

  • Wales loses 'dot-cum' domain to tax haven

    Easy cym, easy go

    The organisation behind a bid to give the Welsh their very own top-level internet domain has been forced to rethink its plans after a rule change made its first-choice domain verboten. DotCYM had planned to apply to ICANN next year for ".cym", pronounced "dot-cum", to represent Welsh people, language and culture globally. But …

    Telecoms 2 Nov 12:49

  • Commission to revise rules on rivals' agreements

    Uniform standards mean stronger competition, says EU body

    The European Commission will revise its rules on agreements between competitors to help companies to agree on technical standards, it has said. The move is designed to help encourage cross-border trade in digital goods and services. Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said that an EU digital single market could only …

    Government 2 Nov 13:00

  • Shuttle Discovery set for final liftoff tomorrow at 7:52pm

    Veteran ship lifted Hubble, 246 people in 26-year career

    Space Shuttle Discovery, which had originally been meant to lift off yesterday, will now depart on its final flight tomorrow following last-minute repairs. Last chance to see Space Transportation System mission 133 (STS-133, the official NASA name for Discovery's last flight) will now blast off from Cape Canaveral at 3:52pm …

    Space 2 Nov 13:07

  • Bye-bye Business Systems Group, hello Advanced 365

    BSG rebrand complete

    Business Systems Group Ltd has now been rebranded Advanced 365 Ltd following its purchase in 2009. Advanced Computer Software Group plc now has three divisions: Advanced Business Solutions Advanced Health & Care Advanced 365 (Managed Services) BSG, bought by Advanced for £15.5m in 2009, makes up the majority of the managed …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 13:13

  • Oracle drops $1bn on Art Technology Group buyout

    Hopes to set tills ringing online

    Oracle has elbowed its way into the e-commerce software marketplace, having acquired Art Technology Group (ATG) Inc for around $1bn in cash this morning. ATG investors will get $6 a share, said Oracle, and the buyout is subject to the usual regulatory and stockholder approvals. “This acquisition builds upon our dedication to …

    Applications 2 Nov 13:16

  • Creative turns to tablets for big-screen PMPs

    Resistive touchscreens, WTF?

    Creative is to bring a pair of Android tablets to market next month. One is a seven-incher, the other a 10in machine with 480 x 800 and 600 x 1024 resolutions, respectively. Both are called the ZiiO and - fail? - both use clunky resistive touchscreen tech. They come bundled with a stylus. The two run Android 2.1, linked to …

    reghardware 2 Nov 13:26

  • Cops cuff nappy-wearing man who demanded sweets with menaces

    Might've needed changing not charging

    A man was facing disorderly conduct charges yesterday after after swearing at trick-or-treating kids while wearing nothing but a very large nappy. Joseph DiVanna, 47, from Florida, launched a series of tirades against trick-or-treaters and their adult chaperones in West Ocean City on Sunday. When not swearing he apparently …

    Bootnotes 2 Nov 14:01

  • Nokia N8 smartphone

    Review Semi-evolved Symbian?

    The N8 is Nokia’s first handset to use the revamped Symbian^3, and is a beautifully designed, high specification touchscreen phone. Compared to the Nokia X6 and the N97 – its touchscreen predecessors that I have reviewed – the N8 is considerably more responsive. On many occasions in the recent past, Nokia has not provided …

    reghardware 2 Nov 14:13

  • Info Commissioner admits 'It's going to be tough'

    Improving FoI compliance - with extreme prejudice

    Information commissioner Christopher Graham says his organisation has sent out a 'shock wave' to improve FoI compliance. Admittedly the weather forecast is poor, but thunder, lightning and torrential rain accompanies GC's interview with the information commissioner at his Wilmslow offices. "Welcome to the north-west," says …

    Government 2 Nov 14:22

  • Dell to make cloud computing acquisition

    Reuters says it will happen today

    Reuters reports that Michael Dell will announce a cloud computing acquisition later today. Dell is also going to build up a tablet computer product line, spreading out from the 7-inch and 5-inch Streaks launched in September. Michael Dell was speaking at an event in Hong Kong. Dell lost out to HP in a bidding battle for 3PAR …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 14:48

  • Force10 cranks rack and core switches to 40GbE

    There's no such thing as too much bandwidth

    Force10 Networks said back in the spring that it wanted to be in the pole position as the Ethernet switch racket ratcheted up to 40 gigabits per second. On Tuesday, the company makes good on that promise. The new top-of-rack and core Ethernet switches buzzing along at 40GbE speeds should make bandwidth-constrained and latency- …

    Data Networking 2 Nov 15:00

  • Ofcom to TalkTalk, Tiscali: Stop over-billing

    Or get fined

    Telecoms regulator Ofcom has told TalkTalk and Tiscali UK to stop charging customers for services they have not received, or face a fine. Which seems fair. Ofcom said it had received over 1,000 complaints this year from punters who've been billed for services they had already cancelled. The regulator has sent both firms a …

    Telecoms 2 Nov 15:09

  • Competitors seek killer application for Bluetooth Low Energy

    Still managing to live without a wireless barbecue?

    A wireless barbecue, a helmet that tells onlookers how hard you hit your head and a bicycle speedometer - makes one wonder how we survived without Bluetooth Low Energy. Those are three of the nine finalists in the Bluetooth Innovation World Cup, which this year is searching for a killer application that will make everyone dash …

    Wireless 2 Nov 15:14

  • EU taxpayer to fund Symbian

    €22m pledged to embed Epoc in the cloud

    The European Commission has thrown Symbian a lifeline, with €22m of fresh investment for new embedded work, including €11m of taxpayers' money. You've heard of a "Song For Europe". Well, Symbian has been anointed (quite literally) "The Embedded Operating System for Europe", or "Symbeose". Funding will be matched with similar …

    Government 2 Nov 15:22

  • iPad app access for US secret surveillance cloud system

    1990s: UNIX. 2000s: Windows. 2010s: Fondle-slab

    Latest news on the iPad front: an app has been developed for the costly, much-hyped fondle-slab allowing users to access top-secret video and imagery from petabyte-scale databases holding the harvest from the USA's huge clandestine surveillance apparatus. This we hear from global arms and aerospace behemoth Boeing, which has …

    Servers 2 Nov 15:27

  • UK nuke station denies Stuxnet shutdown

    No worms here, EDF insists

    A British nuclear power station suffering an "unplanned outage" has categorically denied any link to the sophisticated Stuxnet worm. One of two reactors at Heysham 1, owned by French energy giant EDF, was taken offline yesterday. Parts of the site are run by Siemens S7 systems, prompting suggestions the sophisticated worm is …

    Crime 2 Nov 15:42

  • Computacenter veteran boss in surprise departure

    New opportunities after 17 years for MD Walsh

    Simon Walsh, a 17-year veteran of Computacenter, and currently a managing director, is leaving the reseller giant after Christmas. Mike Norris remains chief executive of the company, a job he's had since 1994. The firm has another managing director, Chris Webb - but he deals with the services side of the business. The company …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 16:00

  • The Register Primer on Enterprise Virtualization

    Reg reader study

    Here's the score, a seven-pager on enterprise virtualization, inspired by an online survey of 301 IT Pros. Most are already engaged in virtualization projects and all were Reg readers to a man (or woman) - yes it was our online survey. Based on the study's findings, we produced this editorially independent Register primer, …

    Virtualization 2 Nov 16:00

  • Google seems to classify self as potentially malign

    Blogspot bother evokes inadvertent homepage self-hate

    Casual observers may have concluded that Google has defined a portion of its own search page as potentially malign this morning. In reality, the warning that users visiting a particular page might become exposed to drive-by download attacks involves blogspot.com. Blogspot was caught serving content from a hacker-controlled …

    Enterprise Security 2 Nov 16:02

  • OOo contributors make a dash for LibreOffice

    Not enough ‘to continue working as we always did’

    More than 30 OpenOffice.org contributors are preparing to break free of Oracle’s code base in favour of LibreOffice. Last month the OOo project revealed a massive rejig that ended Oracle’s dominant control of the code, with the group of developers declaring themselves independent of Larry Ellison’s company. The OOo project …

    Applications 2 Nov 16:38

  • Fedora gets nips and tucks with 14 release

    Where in the world is RHEL 6?

    The Fedora Project, the open source community that creates the Linux variant that eventually becomes Red Hat's commercial-grade Enterprise Linux distro, has kicked out the "Laughlin" Fedora 14 release. Jared Smith, who took over as Fedora Project Leader in June, has one notch on his belt now. You can see the release notes for …

    Operating Systems 2 Nov 16:41

  • ZTE calls foul over senators' 'xenophobic' letter

    Protectionism by any other name...

    ZTE, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, has cried foul over a letter sent to the FCC by four US senators which suggests that Chinese companies should not be trusted with US contracts. The letter, which comes from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, names Huawei and ZTE as Chinese companies from …

    Data Networking 2 Nov 16:44

  • Dell gets SaaSy with Boomi buy

    Whomi?

    Computer maker Dell has purchased Software-as-a-Service outfit Boomi for an undisclosed sum. Boomi focuses on the integration side of a business with its cloud-based software that boosts customers that handily includes Salesforce.com as well as financial and marketing companies. Dell said Boomi, which is based in Philadelphia …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 16:45

  • Google defies Turkey, reinstates Atatürk insult videos

    Update YouTube un-ban in doubt

    Google has reinstated the Atatürk-insulting videos that caused the Turkey's 30-month YouTube ban, setting up yet another run-in with local authorities just days after a Turkish court lifted the ban. Late last week, at the request of the semi-independent Turkish Internet Board, a German company used Google's automatic copyright …

    Music and Media 2 Nov 16:49

  • SAP agrees to pay Oracle $120m over 'industrial espionage'

    TomorrowNow and TomorrowNow and TomorrowNow

    SAP has agreed to pay Oracle $120m in connection with the intellectual property lawsuit Oracle filed against its rival over what Larry Ellison calls "industrial espionage." On Monday, the two companies filed a joint stipulation in a Northern California federal court that would see SAP pay Ellison and company $120m for "past …

    Applications 2 Nov 18:25

  • Web 2.0 sites rated on FireSheep sidejacking risk

    Who's wearing the dunce cap?

    An online services security report card shows the extent to which popular web services are exposing users to account hijacking, especially in open WiFi network environments. The risk has been understood in security circles for years but remained underreported prior to last week's release of an account hijacking tool called …

    ID 2 Nov 18:58

  • Twitter slips ads into user tweet streams

    What a Hoot

    Twitter is now slipping ads directly into user "tweet streams," those personal "timelines" of mini-messages that have so captivated certain portions of the world population. On Monday, the company announced that it is now including "promoted tweets" – aka paid advertisements – in the timelines of those using HootSuite, a third …

    Music and Media 2 Nov 19:50

  • Hackers tap SCADA vuln search engine

    'Shodan' pinpoints shoddy industrial controls

    A search engine that indexes servers and other internet devices is helping hackers to find industrial control systems that are vulnerable to tampering, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team has warned. The year-old site known as Shodan makes it easy to locate internet-facing SCADA, or supervisory control and data acquisition …

    Security 2 Nov 20:44

  • Airport screeners go for the groin

    Security theater pat-down cock-up

    US airline security staff have introduced a new pat-down technique that might be familiar to folks who request "extras" in a massage parlour. Punters — i.e., passengers and civil liberties groups — are far from ecstatic over these new moves, variously describing them as "horribly invasive" and "humiliating". Passengers who …

    ID 2 Nov 22:34

  • Google's $8.5 million Buzz settlement a go

    Gmailers told they get nada

    Google announced that it has received preliminary approval for its $8.5 million settlement of a class action brought against Google Buzz, the Gmail add-on that tried to turn the company's online email service into a social networking tool. The settlement received preliminary approval from federal district court Judge James …

    Applications 2 Nov 23:09