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9th November 2010 Archive

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  • Storage smackdown: EMC and NetApp go head-to-head

    Converged IT stack ding-dong

    The race is on: EMC has announced a Vblock for VMware View on the same day that news broke of NetApp, Cisco and VMware's FlexPod for VMware. Now we'll see which Cisco and VMware partner, EMC or NetApp, can develop integrated specific system application and hardware stacks faster. Both EMC and NetApp are partnering Cisco and …

    Storage 9 Nov 00:00

  • NetApp Revs up ONTAP software

    Sysadmins get more thrust and better control

    NetApp has updated its Data ONTAP array operating system to v8.01, introducing data movement, compression, a new management facility and software licensing changes. DataMotion for Volumes enables sysadmins to move data volumes non-destructively, while the volume is being accessed, across multiple NetApp storage systems or …

    Storage 9 Nov 03:00

  • SIA forecasts semi sales stall in 2012

    IC Insights: 'don't be a bummer'

    We haven't even gotten through 2010 and the prognosticators in the semiconductor racket are already polishing their hafnium-doped silicon dioxide balls to reckon what the future will hold chip revenues in the next two years. The Semiconductor Industry Association, which provides a monthly snapshot of global chip sales, put out …

    PCs & Chips 9 Nov 03:38

  • The forgotten, fat generation of Mac Portables

    This Old Box Long before the Air, there was Lord Lard Ass

    One of Apple's oddest machines just turned 21, meaning that here in California we can now legally buy it a pint and raise a toast — if not to its success, at least to its good intentions. The year was 1989, when Apple still had "Computer" in its name (click to enlarge) No, we're not talking about the failed binocular-style …

    Music and Media 9 Nov 04:00

  • Hacker unshackles Kinect from Xbox

    Microsoft not amused

    An amateur hacker claims to have freed Microsoft's Kinect from the Xbox, a feat that allows him to control the the just-released motion-tracking game device from his Windows PC. The claim was documented in two videos released over the weekend by a member of the Natural User Interface Group. In one, Kinect's motorized-tilt is …

    Security 9 Nov 05:00

  • NetApp heads in same direction. Only faster

    Array into the future

    Like Mercedes spending €10m (£8.6m) to develop a new C-class that looks pretty much like the old one, NetApp is making a large announcement about the fact that its arrays can do more of the same, only faster and more simply. NetApp wants to head faster into the cloud and virtualised data centres and has revved its mid-range …

    Storage 9 Nov 06:00

  • Kingston Technology DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 32GB

    Review SuperSpeed storage on your keyring

    The DataTraveler Ultimate is the a natural progression in Kingston’s pocketable USB flash drive range. Featuring SuperSpeed USB 3.0 support devices are available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities. For something likely to live on a keyring, the Ultimate has an impressive performance, which, according to Kingston Technology, will …

    reghardware 9 Nov 08:00

  • VKernel does Hyper-V bean counting

    Virtual machines cost real dollars — and now you'll pay

    Capacity-management tools provider VKernal, working with Microsoft, has fashioned a chargeback tool that is being revealed to the world Tuesday at Redmond's TechEd Europe conference in Berlin. CIOs love virtual machines because they help them run efficient infrastructure, but CFOs are learning to love them because — thanks to …

    Virtualization 9 Nov 08:00

  • Multi-coring FAS6200 processors

    What's the secret sauce

    NetApp is being coy about the processors in its FAS6200 arrays, saying only that the 6280 can have 24 cores. However, we have been given a view of the core sauce from someone who should know. The FAS6210 has two 4-core E5520 (2.26GHz) processors per controller, meaning 16 cores in a high-availability mode. These would be ' …

    Blocks and Files 9 Nov 08:53

  • Steelie Neelie calls for 'every vehicle digital'

    Glorious EU networked/electric car future foreseen

    Famous Eurocrat "Steelie" Neelie Kroes has called on the EU's car and ICT industries to make "every vehicle digital" and thereby keep the bloc competitive on the world stage. Kroes, who nowadays rejoices in the title European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda, gave it as the Commission's view that digital tech …

    Government 9 Nov 09:47

  • French go after Google for brand grab

    We say Non!

    A flurry of French advertisers have written an open letter objecting to Google's practice of putting brand names up for auction. The statement, sent to newswires, said: "Google has crossed a line by taking the initiative this summer to launch a service that allows anyone to buy brand names as keywords to generate advertising …

    Law 9 Nov 10:07

  • E Ink unwraps colour e-paper reader

    Triton to sink tablets?

    E Ink has demo'd Triton - its technology to enable colour e-book readers. Triton is capable of presenting "thousands of colours", E Ink said, and it claimed they would be viewable in sunlight. Like other E Ink e-paper technologies, Triton is "low power" - not that E Ink provided figures, mind. Source: PCWatch E Ink showed …

    reghardware 9 Nov 10:22

  • Treasury asks for advice on eMoney

    Who'd want to be a banker these days?

    The UK Treasury is consulting on the whos and hows of electronic money, and opening the door for network operators who'd prefer to think of themselves as banks. The consultation asks how the Treasury should regulate companies who issue electronic representations of cash, and what guarantees such companies should be required to …

    Government 9 Nov 10:28

  • Vodafone flogs stake in Japanese carrier for £3.1bn

    Needs cash to chip at debt

    Vodafone is to sell its non-controlling stake in the Japanese carrier Softbank for £3.1bn, it announced today. It follows the disposal of its 3.2 per cent interest in China Mobile in September. The cash from both sales will be used to pay down debts and placate investors with share buybacks. The group said it will now focus …

    Mobile 9 Nov 10:31

  • Tracking website eyeballs SpyEye

    Security researcher plays Trojan peekaboo

    A website designed to track the control system of the SpyEye crimeware Trojan has been established. The site, spyeyetracker.abuse.ch*, was set up by Swiss security researcher Roman Hüssy, and modelled on his successful Zeustracker website. The latter site, which was established in early 2009, has helped security researchers to …

    Crime 9 Nov 10:44

  • Disaster recovery blurs into high availability (or other way round?)

    Workshop It's a virtualisation thing

    IT managers use two terms when talking about systems availability. These are: High Availability or “HA”, for keeping systems running without any form of unplanned down time; and Disaster Recovery or “DR”, for ensuring that systems are rapidly returned to operation if they fail. Some confusion has developed between these terms …

    Server Management 9 Nov 11:00

  • Oracle enlists private dick to sniff out HP boss

    Larry Ellison stalks Leo Apotheker, says report

    Oracle has reportedly recruited private investigators to locate Hewlett-Packard boss Leo Apotheker. According to a Reuters report that cited an anonymous source, Oracle is hoping get former SAP chief Apotheker to provide testimony in a court case in which Larry Ellison’s company is claiming $4bn in damages for software theft …

    Financial News 9 Nov 11:04

  • Oz docs prescribed iPads by Premier

    Vote me back in, and I'll hand 'em out, says state chief

    Australian state Victoria is to hand out iPads to all the doctors it employs in its hospital - if the state's Premier is re-elected on 27 November. A desperate bid by incumbent Premier John Brumby to tempt medicos with shiny new toys? Not so, says Brumby. Giving doctors an iPad each will cost Au$12m (£7.6m), his Labor Party …

    reghardware 9 Nov 11:20

  • HMRC spent £765m through Aspire last year

    Just under half of supplier budget spent on IT outsourcing deal

    HM Revenue and Customs spent 44 per cent of its 2009-10 supplier budget through its IT outsourcing deal led by Capgemini. New figures released to Kable by the tax-collection agency through Freedom of Information show that its spending was dominated by two outsourced deals – Aspire for IT and Mapeley Steps. Mapeley Steps is a …

    Channel Register 9 Nov 11:36

  • Opera Mobile pops up on Android

    But the fat lady ain't singing yet

    Opera Mobile is now available for Android, providing an alternative for Android users who are finding Opera Mini too mini and Google's pre-installed option too chocolately. The Java-based Opera Mini has been available on Android for a while, and offers a very comparable experience to the newly available Opera Mobile, though …

    Mobile 9 Nov 11:45

  • Glacier boffins rubbish IPCC apocalypse claims

    Shock UN doom prophecy 'does not pass closer examination'

    Glacier and climate boffins have issued a stinging poohpooh to recent alarmist pronouncements on climate-change-driven glacier melt - in particular from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “In the last few years numbers have been named that do not pass a closer examination,“ says glaciologist and …

    Environment 9 Nov 11:46

  • Did UK.gov break the law with its child database?

    Analysis Whitehall promises answers on specs of binned ContactPoint

    Did the Department of Education (DoE) – or Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), as it was then known – knowingly break the law in its establishment of the ContactPoint database? The instant answer is: we don’t know. However, a history of excuses, delay and avoidance of awkward questions is starting to mount up. If the …

    Government 9 Nov 11:50

  • Samsung NF210 dual-core netbook

    Review Quirky design, state-of-the-art Atom CPU

    Netbooks, irrespective of manufacturer, are based on a very well-defined set of specifications. How, then, do those manufacturers seek to separate their offerings from the herd? If you're Samsung, you come up with a quirky, curvy case design. Samsung's NF210: matte display and latest Atom CPU on board I'm not just …

    reghardware 9 Nov 12:00

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops

    Review Go nuts in 'Nam

    The 1960s: the decade of peace, love and rock'n'roll. The decade of LSD and flower power, colour television and manned space exploration. 'Knife to meet you; to meet you, knife' Only that's not how Captain Alex Mason remembers them. Under interrogation and drugged up to his eyeballs with sodium pentathol, he's recalling an …

    reghardware 9 Nov 12:08

  • NHS website stops whingers clogging up the surgeries

    100 million visitors can't be wrong

    People using the NHS website to diagnose themselves are saving the organisation millions of pounds in unnecessary doctors' appointments. NHS Choices received 100 million visitors last year according to its annual report. About 19 million people looked at the site for information on swine 'flu and 40,000 left comments about …

    Government 9 Nov 12:18

  • Firesheep developer poohpoohs mitigation tools

    Woolly thinking on cookie-jacker-slapping

    The developer of the Firesheep cookie-jacking plug-in has dismissed supposed easy-fix countermeasures as worse than useless. Eric Butler released the Firefox extension last month in order to illustrate the risk posed by the failure of many sites to encrypt session cookies used to authenticate their users, even if they might …

    Enterprise Security 9 Nov 12:34

  • Facebook beats Google's block

    Upload your contacts... bitch

    Facebook has found a workaround to Google's refusal to let new Facebookers easily upload their contact lists from Gmail to Zuckerberg's monster social network. Google said last week it would stop Facebook accessing the Gmail API unless Facebook provided similar access to Google's services. When you first sign up to Facebook …

    Music and Media 9 Nov 12:42

  • Two-faced world spends billions on climate help, fossil fuel

    Comment Not by the same people though...

    The International Energy Agency tells us that the world is entirely cocked. For while we're spending tens of billions ($50bn by its estimate) in subsidising renewables and low carbon energy installations to beat climate change we are also, at the same time, spending $500bn in subsidising the use of fossil fuels to cause climate …

    Environment 9 Nov 12:52

  • Terracotta dumps Big Java's garbage problem

    BigMemory for useless heaps

    The challenge of garbage collection is almost as old as Java itself. Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) store programs' objects in a heap that is cleared from time to time to free up memory. The process was inserted so that programmers did not have to manually program the need to free up allocated memory. It provides an automated, …

    Servers 9 Nov 13:01

  • Virtualization for small business: Where's the pay-off?

    Webcast Too big, too expensive, too painful – or just fine?

    Does Virtualization pay off for small business? Small and medium-sized businesses are virtualizing their servers, but at a much slower rate than larger enterprises. Some are put off by the high licensing costs, some can't spare the time to do it, some don't know how to. If you're in one of these categories, join us on …

    Virtualization 9 Nov 13:18

  • Stormy Peters jumps GNOME ship for Mozilla

    As one door opens, another door opens...

    Stormy Peters is quitting her paid position as executive director at the GNOME Foundation in favour of a new job as Mozilla’s head of developer engagement. The FOSS advocate joined the GNOME Foundation in July 2008. She previously worked at OpenLogic as director of community and partner programmes, and before that headed up …

    Developer 9 Nov 13:21

  • Geeks Guide 2 HTML5

    GG2 Save 40 per cent on HTML 5 titles

    In this week’s Geeks Guide we will be looking at recent releases for HTML 5 that provide you with all the required knowledge on the latest version of the web development language. We now offer FREE UK delivery & same working day dispatch on all titles, as well as a 40 per cent discount on all books featured in GG2. HTML 5: Up …

    Site News 9 Nov 13:38

  • Amazon awards self slimmer slice of newspaper pie

    Doubles cut for publishers

    Amazon is reducing its cut on newspapers and magazines to 30 per cent, improving the margin considerably - though publishers will have to shoulder a share of the distribution costs first. The new split will see 70 per cent of the subscription price going to the publisher, which is something in the region of double what News …

    Mobile 9 Nov 13:40

  • Elon Musk vs NASA and the US rocket industry - ding ding!

    Seconds out for the space fight of the century

    The bell has gone for Round One in the epic bare-knuckle battle over the future of US manned space exploration, which is set to run for years and to devolve into a dirty fight indeed. Recycled Apollo ... or something new? Could be more than a NASA job's worth. Yesterday, NASA selected 13 companies for "potential contract …

    Space 9 Nov 13:48

  • Student Cluster Competition: The runners and riders

    SC10 Checking out the form book

    Eight university teams - six from the US, one from Russia and one from Taiwan descend on the SC10 supercomputing show in New Orleans next week to take part in the Student Cluster Competition (SCC). The students bring their own self-designed and built clusters to the show, re-assemble them, and race to complete a set of …

    SC 2011 9 Nov 14:30

  • Why Symbian failed: developers, developers, developers

    Andrew's Mailbag Extra Fear and loathing in active objects!

    The reasons why Apple succeeded in creating a smartphone market – with OEMs rushing to follow in its slipstream with Android – have now become conventional wisdom. Firstly, the iPhone was designed to be a mobile computer first, not a phone, and was optimised around a new, radical UI. It surprised people with its capabilities and …

    Mobile 9 Nov 14:34

  • Co-op cashier's breasts overcharged for fruit and veg

    Mortified employee receives HR support

    The Co-op in Jersey has launched an investigation into recent fruit and veg sales after it emerged that a customer had been overcharged by a sales assistant's breasts. A customer at the unnamed branch raised the alarm after she was charged almost £2 for a pepper that should have cost 79 pence, the Daily Mail reports. A …

    Bootnotes 9 Nov 14:47

  • 'One-trick pony' Zuckerberg yet to prove CEO worth

    Show me the money... bitch

    Mark Zuckerberg’s CEO abilities are glorified and the Facebook boydroid is yet to prove his worth, according to IT analyst house Forrester. George Colony wrote on his 'The Counterintuitive CEO' blog yesterday that Zuckerberg was “a one-trick pony – a leader who has expertly refined and polished one very, very big idea – …

    Financial News 9 Nov 14:48

  • Lenovo sub-notebook outed

    Lots of ports, odd design, autumnal colours

    Lenovo describes its IdeaPad U series as "head turning". More cruel pundits than us might add "stomach" to that, if leaked shots of the upcoming IdeaPad U260 are anything to go by. With your choice of colours set to orange or brown, and a design that manages to match a convex rear to a concave front, some will say there's …

    reghardware 9 Nov 15:12

  • Oil heir loses $6m in 'CIA-Opus-Dei' malware murder scam

    Pianoman got played for six years

    A pair of US conmen managed to swindle $6m from a jazz pianist through one of the strangest virus-related blackmail scams imaginable. The odd tale began after the great-grandson of an oil industry tycoon, jazz pianist Roger Davidson, brought his PC in for repair back in August 2004, believing it to be virus-laden. Computer …

    Crime 9 Nov 15:19

  • Marvell fires first shot in ARM-x64 server scrap

    Armada XP cruisers versus Xeon battleships

    Chip maker Marvell, which acquired the Xscale ARM RISC chip business from Intel in 2006, is now officially gunning for the chip giant in the market for low-powered, cloudy infrastructure servers. If there is such a market. At the ARM Techcon 2010 in Intel's hometown of Santa Clara, California, Marvell unveiled its quad-core …

    Servers 9 Nov 15:24

  • Counter-terror review to consider net jihadis

    Extremism filters back on agenda?

    The government has today launched a review of its controversial "Prevent" counter-terrorism strategy, which includes measures to tackle extremist material online. The wide-ranging review could lead to greater censorship of the web. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said today: "I believe the Prevent programme isn't working as …

    Government 9 Nov 15:32

  • Reg hacks crawl from London to Brighton

    Cantankerous 1904 jalopy no match for PARIS team

    You might imagine that the Paper Aircraft Released Into Space team would be taking a well-deserved Caribbean beach break following their recent high-altitude triumph, but no sooner had the dust settled on PARIS than we were ready to face a new, and perhaps even more daunting challenge: the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. …

    Bootnotes 9 Nov 15:42

  • Oracle gets DoJ to dismiss some aspects of fraud case

    Court fight still incoming

    The US Department of Justice has agreed to let software giant Oracle off the hook on some - but not all - aspects of the fraud lawsuit it brought against Larry Ellison’s company earlier this year. Oracle was sued by the DoJ, which alleged the firm had massively overcharged the US government by “tens of millions of dollars” in …

    Channel Register 9 Nov 16:26

  • Microsoft unveils cloud-mounting SQL Server

    'New generation' of Visual Studio tools promised

    The next installment of Microsoft's SQL Server story starts Tuesday, with plans for easier-to-use programming apps for on-site servers and the cloudy SQL Azure. Microsoft is scheduled to make available for download the first preview of Denali, the code name for the next version of SQL Server, to subscribers on MSDN and TechNet …

    Developer 9 Nov 16:45

  • US Marine hover-jeep to get robotic hands-off controls

    'Good morning. All selections other than LZ CERTAIN DEATH are disabled'

    The well-known robotics department at Carnegie Mellon university - famed among other things for accomplishments in the field of self-driving cars and for giving the world the 600-tonne automated Godzilla truck - has now been selected to provide an autopilot system for a military flying-jeep project. The Marines raced each …

    Science 9 Nov 17:02

  • The autistic network: Web2.0 makes you dumb

    'One nation under a format', New York Review of Books pronounces

    If The Social Network dug the grave for Web 2.0, then here comes writer Zadie Smith to pile a lorryload of dirt on top. The movie is excellent, and it’s finally got the review it deserves. Writing in the New York Review of Books, Smith has a big helping hand from Jaron Lanier, who provides her with just the right illumination …

    Music and Media 9 Nov 17:29

  • ScaleMP shared memory clusters tuned for Xeon 7500s

    Upgrade for added juice

    If you bought ScaleMP's shared memory clustering software to create a virtual symmetric multiprocessing system out of machines using Intel's eight-core "Nehalem-EX" Xeon 7500 processors, you might want to think about upgrading to the new 3.5 release of vSMP Foundation, which ships today. The reason, says Shai Fultheim, the …

    HPC 9 Nov 18:26

  • AMD ships first Fusion processors

    CPU + GPU = APU (finally)

    AMD has — finally — shipped its first Fusion processors, years after they were first announced. Better late than never. "As of 4am Central Time, our facility in Singapore, our test and manufacturing facility, shipped the very first Fusion APUs — production units — to customers worldwide," AMD senior vice president and general …

    PCs & Chips 9 Nov 19:24

  • World's largest pilot union shuns full-body scanners

    Warning cites radiation risk

    The world's largest independent airline pilot association is warning its members to avoid security screening by full-body scanners out of concern the machines emit dangerous levels of radiation. The American Pilots Association, which represents about 12,000 pilots, is recommending members instead submit to new pat-down searches …

    Science 9 Nov 19:39

  • Google search rolls out 'instant' site previews

    Check-out-but-never-leave tech goes live

    Google has rolled out a new tool onto its web-dominating search engine that lets you preview sites before actually visting them. Using these "Instant Previews," netizens are "about 5% more likely to be satisfied with the results they click," according to Google tests. Such tests were spotted in the wild early last month. " …

    Music and Media 9 Nov 19:40

  • Quest gets some Bakbone for $55m

    Upright data protection

    Quest Software is buying Bakbone Software for $55m, getting the data-protection-software maker out of the hole it had dug itself into. Quest makes application-specific data protection software, such as LiteSpeed for MIcrosoft SQL Server and Oracle. Bakbone makes general data protection software under its NetVault brand. The …

    Storage 9 Nov 20:00