10th November 2010 Archive
Browse by publication date, or search the site.
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Dell sells Android dream to corporate types
KACE Konference Windows? We do that too...
One-time Windows stalwart Michael Dell has made the case for making and managing mobile devices running Android and OSi in the enterprise. Speaking at the KACE Konference in San Francisco, California, Dell embraced devices running Google's rival to Microsoft's Windows: Android. With a grin, Dell produced Dell mobile after …
Software 10 Nov 01:09
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Facebook engineer bashes Google for Gmail block
When hypocrisies collide
A Facebook engineer has publicly chastised Google for snipping Facebook's access to the Gmail Contacts API, accusing the search giant of data-hoarding hypocrisy. But in doing so, he unloads more than a little hypocrisy of his own. "Openness doesn't mean being open when its convenient for you," Mike Vernal, a member of the …
Music and Media 10 Nov 01:29
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AMD: Opterons to hit 20 cores by 2012
To Bulldoze a Sandy Bridge
Advanced Micro Devices can't beat Intel's wafer-baking process in the ongoing x64 server chip war, so it's going to fight with the weapons it has: higher core counts and better bang for the buck — or watt. That was the message delivered by Don Newell, the new chief technology officer for AMD's server-chip business when …
Servers 10 Nov 01:45
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iPhones make calls without permission, researcher warns
Easier to beg for forgiveness...
Apple's iOS is vulnerable to web-based attacks that force third-party apps to make phone calls and carry out other sensitive operations without first warning the user, a security researcher has warned. Researcher Nitesh Dhanjani shows here how the planting of a simple iframe on a webpage can force the Safari browser to open …
Security 10 Nov 03:00
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Platform revamps grid control tools
'GPUs, I am your master'
Grid computing pioneer Platform Computing is taking the wraps off an updated and more integrated edition of its cluster management tools for small and mid-sized clusters, days ahead of the SC10 supercomputing conference in New Orleans. Platform HPC 2.1 is based on the Load Sharing Facility workload scheduler that first came to …
Servers 10 Nov 04:00
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Apache threatens Oracle with Java exit
'Respect' and 'desire' rejected
Apache has hit Oracle with an ultimatum: grant its independent implementation of Java a license or it will quit Java's governing body. The Apache Software Foundation, father of the web's number-one server and a leader of popular open-source Java, will finish its relationship with the Java Community Process (JCP) if its rights …
Developer 10 Nov 04:55
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Hotmail always-on crypto breaks Microsoft's own apps
Redmond's answer to Firesheep not ready for prime time
For the first time in its 13-year history, Microsoft's Hotmail comes with the ability to protect email sessions with secure sockets layer encryption from start to finish. It's the same always-on encryption Google Mail has offered for more than two years. And it comes with some pretty extreme limitations – namely the inability …
Enterprise Security 10 Nov 05:00
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Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect games release schedule
Titles for you to Kinect with
Microsoft and other publishers already have many titles out, with more to come. Here's the current list of Kinect-specific and Kinect-compatible games heading to the shops. Out now Publisher Crossboard 7 Konami Dance Central MTV Games Dance Evolution Konami Dance Paradise Universal Fighters …
reghardware 10 Nov 07:04
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Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect FAQ
Your questions answered
Kinect, Microsoft's controller-free gaming system for Xbox 360, hits the shelves today. Unsure what it's all about? Read on... What is it? Kinect is a controller-free "entertainment experience" for Xbox 360 that uses a webcam-style peripheral to detect movement, spoken commands, and presented objects and images. Unlike Kinect …
reghardware 10 Nov 07:06
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Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect Video Gallery
Video See it in action
We gave Microsoft's Kinect a bash to see just how reactive it was - and how daft we looked waving our arms around to control the on-screen action. Take a look and see what it's like to use in a real living room... Can't see the videos? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com More Kinect on Reg Hardware Kinect …
reghardware 10 Nov 07:08
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Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect
Review Motion carried
Every Christmas it seems a must-have toy or gadget splits people into the haves and have-nots. Only this year things are slightly different. Little Johnny might be overjoyed to find Santa has left a shiny new Xbox 360 Kinect under the tree, but imagine his heartache when he realises his living room isn't large enough for his …
reghardware 10 Nov 07:10
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Ofcom follows America into the White Space
What he said, only with a British accent
Ofcom is consulting on white space in order to decide exactly how closely we'll be following the database model recently approved by the FCC. It also appears to be dropping any notion of the UK going its own way. That means no frequency sensing; a client-hub architecture; and private companies hosting databases of available …
Wireless 10 Nov 08:45
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iPhone 4: the best built smartphone...
...but also the one most likely to slip from your hands
Looking for the most reliable smartphone? You'll want the iPhone 4 then. Keen to avoid the handset most prone to accidental damage? Steer clear of the... er... iPhone 4. SquareTrade, a US provider of extra warranty cover, tracks such details, and last night revealed that, according to the claims made against its warranties, …
reghardware 10 Nov 09:57
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Survey scammers take aim at Call of Duty
Do you prefer a) shooting people b) not shooting people
Fraudsters have exploited excitement over this week's launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops as a theme for online scams. Supposed cracks for the eagerly awaited first-person shooter actually take gamers through a variety of shonky online surveys, warns GFI Security researcher Chris Boyd. The surveys falsely offer iPads and …
Crime 10 Nov 10:09
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Pay rises all round for Googlers
But bonuses moving into salaries
All Google staff are getting a $1,000 bonus for incidental Christmas expenses and can look forward to a ten per cent pay rise next year. On top of the ten per cent hike, from 1 January, Googlers can also expect a rise equivalent to their target bonus for the year, plus an additional "merit increase", Business Insider reports …
Financial News 10 Nov 10:10
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Death of netbook exaggerated, says researcher
Down, but not out
Don't write off the netbook just yet, market watcher IDC has advised. Yes, the gadget has taken a blow from tablets like the Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab, but it's not a mortal one. Growth will continue, the researcher reckons, but at a "somewhat slower pace". So, it says, some 38.7m netbooks will ship this year - 10.3 …
reghardware 10 Nov 10:22
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Ofcom clears way for iPhone apps for TV voting
Numbers just too much for X Factor fans
Ofcom has cleared the way for iPhone voting applications for TV. Voting through specially-formatted text messages, or calls to sequential numbers, could soon be a thing of the past as the regulator has finally clarified the rules on applications that allow one to vote, and pay, though an application installed on the phone. …
Mobile 10 Nov 10:23
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We7 morphs into Last.fm-style radio
A lot less like Spotify, see
British music service We7 is shifting emphasis to personalised radio-style streaming, which means lower royalty costs… and fewer comparisons with upstart Spotify. We7 says it will keep the on-demand streaming component, but put more emphasis on the sort of features offered by Last.fm and Pandora. There's another advantage: …
Music and Media 10 Nov 10:35
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Outlook preview pane-shatter bug fix stars in November Patch Tuesday
'Giant pool of potential victims'
Microsoft's light sprinkling of just three bulletins as part of its November Patch Tuesday contains a patch to address a critical hole that is particularly ripe for exploitation. The single "critical" update in the batch (MS10-087) affects Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010, which both currently contain a handy mechanism to push …
Enterprise Security 10 Nov 10:42
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Commissioner plays poker with Google
Comment 21 days to sign on the dotted line... or cop to being evil™
The Information Commissioner has been widely condemned by privacy activists for his perceived inaction with respect to Google. Although he concluded that it was likely that there was a significant breach of the Data Protection Act when Google Street View cars collected Wi-Fi data as part of their street mapping exercises, he …
Law 10 Nov 11:00
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LaCie SuperSpeeds designer hard drive
Starck trek
LaCie has upgraded its Philippe Starck-designed metal-cased external hard drive to add USB 3.0 to the spec. Fortunately, you won't have to pay a penny extra for the SuperSpeed connectivity, at least as far as the drive itself goes. LaCie wants 90 quid for the 500GB drive - exactly what it charges for the USB 2.0 version - …
reghardware 10 Nov 11:08
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Microsoft waves Frand at Motorola
Asks court to set 'fair' patent rates
Microsoft has filed suit against Motorola, not for patent infringement but for refusing to license patents on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" (Frand) terms like it promised. Microsoft is suing Motorola, claiming that the licensing terms Motorola is demanding exist "for the purpose of extracting unreasonable royalties …
Mobile 10 Nov 11:10
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Government abandons benefit-cheat lie detectors
They do work, honest!
The government has abandoned plans to use a telephone-based lie detector to catch benefits fiddlers, following criticism by scientists that the technology is no more reliable than tossing a coin. Analysis of "Voice Risk Analysis" (VRA) software did not conclude it is effective, the Department of Work and Pensions said. "The …
Government 10 Nov 11:37
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NEC intros Android
tablet'cloud communicator'LifeTouch untouchable?
NEC has taken the wraps off its entry into the Android tablet - sorry, "cloud communicator" - arena. Said gadget is branded the LifeTouch, and it goes on sale at the end of the month. NEC said it is aiming the "cloud communicator" - don't mention the T word - at big business, but since it also lists "electronic books, home …
reghardware 10 Nov 11:41
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Fujitsu signs gravy train agreement
No sign of the little guys getting a chance
Fujitsu has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Coalition government. The reseller, which has several massive government contracts, said the agreement was reached following discussions with cuts minister Francis Maude at the Cabinet Office. Maude is looking for savings across the board. Fujitsu's Chief Executive for …
Channel Register 10 Nov 11:42
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Ofcom fails comms test
How much is that watchdog in the window?
A report by the National Audit Office found Ofcom could be providing value for money, but could do a better job of actually demonstrating what it is doing. The NAO believes Ofcom is doing more with less and has saved about £23m over the last five years since it was formed. It spends about £122m a year - which is 27 per cent …
Mobile 10 Nov 11:48
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Spectrum refarming: What's it got to do with you?
Dropping 1200MHz will change your life
One way or another UK network operators will deploy 3G technologies at 2G frequencies. But will running HSDPA at 900MHz change the way you talk? Ofcom has issued its recommendations and soon UK networks will be able to deploy 3G technology at frequencies that already blanket most of the country. This practice is known as …
Mobile 10 Nov 11:50
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O2 offers Xboxes instead of phone upgrades
Cellular Kinection
O2 has become a games shop. The one-time mobile phone specialist said today it will allow its subscribers to upgrade to an Xbox 360 and Kinect add-on instead of a new phone. Pay-monthly customers can take the Xbox upgrade if they cough up £190. That nets them a 250GB console, Kinect and a choice of either Dance Central, …
reghardware 10 Nov 11:54
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How not to do Project Management
Project management Not so much a recipe for disaster, more a five-course menu
When you are taken on for a project management role, or allocated to lead a project, it is easy to assume that key people in the organisation know and understand your role, and that you understand all the problems. Big mistake. Here are five fatal assumptions that you can make about what you do, and what they think about it. 1 …
Project Management 10 Nov 11:57
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Google it: Ask.com gives up ghost on search market
Dear Jeeves, when did I lose my algorithmic mojo?
Ask.com has quit the internet search biz and is laying off around 130 engineers. It will no longer attempt to compete with Google’s might and will instead fix its efforts on finding answers to questions via search requests. Ask.com, which is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, is cutting back its total workforce of about 400 people …
Music and Media 10 Nov 12:08
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Lovefilm to hit PS3 today
Nuff said
Lovefilm's movie streaming service will go live on the Sony PS3 today. The service will get its own place in the PS3's XMB menu, suggesting that a local firmware upgrade - 3.5.1? - is in the offing. Streamed movies are free to punters who've signed up for Lovefilm's unlimited DVD subscription packages priced at £6 or up. ®
reghardware 10 Nov 12:10
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IP Wireless enlists ST-Ericsson to design in mobile TV
If you embedded it, they will watch
ST-Ericsson will be creating chips incorporating technology from IP Wireless, in the hope that pushing the tech into the silicon will get broadcast TV into the empty wavelengths. The deal will see ST-Ericsson designing chip sets with an IP Wireless IMB stack built in, enabling manufacturers to add broadcast TV reception to …
Mobile 10 Nov 12:17
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UK.gov closes wiretap loopholes after Phorm row
Race to avoid millions in fines
The Home Office is scrambling to close loopholes in wiretapping law, revealed by the Phorm affair, ahead of a potentially costly court case against the European Commission. It is proposing new powers that would punish even unintentional illegal interception by communications providers. Officials in Brussels are suing the …
Telecoms 10 Nov 12:49
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ASA rules 'Bare T*Ts Project' ad offensive
Viewers of adult channels have a right to be offended
The ASA has ruled that an ad for a smutty premium rate phone service breached taste guidelines after it was broadcast on a sex channel at 6.40am. The ASA recounts that the ad on the Tease Me 2 channel featured mock documentary footage titled The Bare Tits Project, and stated "In 2009 4 students went out to make a naughty …
Music and Media 10 Nov 12:53
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Disk drive industry appoints roadmap reading committee
Tearing along the HAMR road
In just three months the hard disk drive industry has put flesh on the bones of its Storage Technology Alliance and pretty much decided on HAMR as the way forward, judging by WD and Xyratex pronouncements. The hard disk drive industry trade body IDEMA (International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association) has set up …
Storage 10 Nov 13:03
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Reg reader stitches PARIS right up
Beautiful composite image of spaaaaace...
A tip of the hat this afternoon to reader Jon Grove, who was so impressed by our Paper Aircraft Released Into Space high-altitude snaps that he decided to get down and dirty with some hot PARIS images. Jon explains: "I used PaintshopPro, copied a bunch of your pictures into different layers, scaled and rotated and positioned …
PARIS 10 Nov 13:06
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Lincs authority lets schools decide on Pagan lessons
Witch is nice
If you’re looking to improve your child's chanting skills or enhance their moon dancing, Lincolnshire may soon be the place to go – as the county decided this week to let individual schools decide on the teaching of pagan doctrine. At present, some six world religions are studied in that County’s schools. According to the …
Bootnotes 10 Nov 13:23
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Falklands hero Marine: Save the Harrier, scrap the Tornado
Useless pricey bomber risks pilots' lives in A'stan
A Marine general famous as the leader of Britain's heroic commandos and paras during the Falklands War – joined by some retired admirals – has written an open letter to the nation arguing that Prime Minister Cameron's recent decision to scrap the UK's force of Harrier jumpjets and preserve the RAF Tornado bomber fleet was a huge …
Government 10 Nov 13:35
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Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect Launch Games
Review We rate the first six titles
Kinect Adventures Bundled with the hardware, Kinect Adventures is a compilation of minigames intended to introduce players to Kinect's distinct brand of motion-controlled gaming. It's a title developed with the whole family in mind, where children and parents can compete against each other on a level playing field. But, like …
reghardware 10 Nov 13:41
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Plastic Logic rolling in government roubles
Russian money, but still no product
E-Reader prototyper Plastic Logic has hooked in some Russian cash to continue operations, and will be opening a Russian factory to start the manufacture of something or other. We don't know exactly what that factory will be making, or how much money the Russian tax-payer is investing. Plastic Logic officially gave up on the …
Mobile 10 Nov 14:05
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MS freebie anti-virus scanner auto-downloads provoke more anger
Promoting security monoculture is baaad, m'kay?
Panda Security has joined with Trend Micro in attacking Microsoft for offering its Security Essentials freebie security scanner as an automatic download. Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) has been available for more than a year, but it only began offering the software via its software update mechanism last month. The …
Enterprise Security 10 Nov 14:07
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High Court to probe Digital Economy Act
Updated BT and TalkTalk granted judicial review
Senior judges are to review the Digital Economy Act following a complaint from BT and TalkTalk that it was rushed through Parliament before the election. The pair's application for a judicial review, filed at the High Court in July, was granted today. The review is likely to at least delay the Act's anti-unlawful filesharing …
Telecoms 10 Nov 14:21
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Hitachi refrigerates rack rears
Nearly no fans? Cool
Hitachi is mounting refrigerators on the rear doors of racks to suck out heat at a much lower cost. The Hitachi Data Centre Solutions Group idea, announced at yesterday's Datacenter Dynamics conference in London, is to treat a rack as a quasi-refrigerated cabinet and have its heat turn refrigerator liquid into a gas. Air is …
Servers 10 Nov 14:56
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'Tis the season... for another gov IP review
Coalition goes with the traditional FT journo for chairman pick too
Tradition is very important at the New Coalition Academy. Last week the Government announced a review of intellectual property "to make it fit for the digital age" - five years after the last review to make intellectual property fit for the digital age. The previous government commissioned former Financial Times journalist …
Music and Media 10 Nov 15:04
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Watchdog lauds better phone contract refund terms
Improved options if your coverage is poor
The UK's major mobile phone retailers have pledged to make it easier for punters to cancel contracts if there's poor network coverage, independent advisory body the Communications Consumer Panel (CCP) said today. The CCP has been lobbying networks and the retailers that sell their airtime contracts to provide a standard policy …
reghardware 10 Nov 15:50
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Psychic Octopus rates iPad, PS3 Move for Xmas success
Gadget win predictions are for suckers
When it comes to deep-sea creatures, psychic powers appear to run in the family. Mystical mollusc Ollie the Octopus has followed in the tenticle-steps of his world famous cousin, Paul, and made some telepathic predictions of his own. Ollie says Samsung's Galaxy Tab, dubbed "the iPad Killer" by some, actually has no chance of …
reghardware 10 Nov 15:58
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AVG snaps up DroidSecurity
Spread a little cellular safeness
AVG, the security firm best known to its freebie security scanner software for consumers, has announced plans to buy mobile security firm DroidSecurity. The deal, announced Wednesday, is valued at up to $9.4m. DroidSecurity specialises in providing security software for smartphones, tablets and other devices running Google’s …
Malware 10 Nov 16:04
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iPhones go on gobbling mobile sales
Apple gives BlackBerry bum's rush
Punters picked up 417 million mobile phones in the third quarter of 2010 - a 35 per cent jump on the same three months of 2009. Smartphones accounted for 19.3 per cent of total sales - up 96 per cent on the same period of 2009 pushed by two relative newcomers to the market. Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at …
Mobile 10 Nov 16:15
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US opts out of carbon trading
Selfish meanies - or foresighted economics?
Are market solutions, long touted as having a key role in combating global warming, on the way out? Or is news last week of the upcoming closure of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) a sign that "cap and trade" is an idea whose time has passed? At issue is the question of how to encourage companies to reduce carbon emissions, …
Environment 10 Nov 16:24
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Panasas claims PAS 12 is fastest parallel storage system ever
Rack 'em up
Panasas is claiming that its PAS 12 kit announced today is the fastest parallel storage system you can get. The privately-owned company sells parallel access file storage arrays into high-performance computing (HPC)-like markets in the energy, government, academic, finance, pharmaceutical, aeronautic and other markets to do …
Storage 10 Nov 16:43
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STINKY GREEN DWARF FROM SPACE - sensation at NASA
'It jumped at me like a big fat emerald' sobs bowled-over boffin
NASA boffins have left followers of the space news reeling today, saying they have discovered an intriguing extra-solar object described as being both "big, fat" and "a dwarf". The big dwarf - again varyingly described as "brown" or alternatively "green" - also "stinks pretty badly". Rare jumping emerald FOUND IN SPACE We …
Space 10 Nov 17:02
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Google alerts users to Facebook contacts 'trap'
High and mighty gets sly and fighty
Google is now telling anyone stupid enough to import Gmail contacts into Facebook to reconsider such a foolish move because it’s a “trap”. The two companies have been angrily shaking handbags at each other over the past few days in a public protest over who has the best data mine on the interwebs. Just yesterday, a Facebook …
Music and Media 10 Nov 17:05
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Unity 3D game kit opens digital tool store
Where devs can share with devs
Unity Technologies has added a "digital asset store" to its cross-platform games development kit, offering a marketplace where developers can buy, sell, and trade digital doohickies, including script libraries, 3D models, workflows, and tutorials. The store was opened this morning at the company's fourth annual developer …
Developer 10 Nov 17:28
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Rethinking the iPhone
The Swiss Army knife of telephony
When I asked my friend Quentin recently how he liked his new iPhone, he said it was great, except as a telephone. He was right, and as a devoted iPhoner since its introduction, this made me think. My carrier’s coverage (AT&T) is lousy, the 3G connection is slow/patchy and AT&T is expensive, on average $82 a month. I love the …
reghardware 10 Nov 17:30
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Harvard prof thumps Google for 'tiny' search ads label
Google's shock 'we serve ads' claim deconstructed
Google is now labeling its search ads as "ads" — not "sponsored links." On the surface, this seems an admirable change, but for Harvard professor and noted Google-watcher Ben Edelman, the new label may not adhere to the search-advertising guidelines laid down by the Federal Trade Commission. "When I evaluate disclosures, I …
Music and Media 10 Nov 19:28
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Mac OS X haunted by ghost of Jailbreakme bug
Browse-and-get-pwned vuln gathers cobwebs
Older versions of Mac OS X are susceptible to a variation of the critical Jailbreakme vulnerability, which left Macs and Apple iDevices wide open to malware attacks, a security firm has warned. According to Core Security, Apple has known about the bug in OS 10.5, aka Leopard, for two and a half months, but still hasn't fixed it …
Security 10 Nov 21:33
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Android bugs let attackers install malware without warning
No permissions necessary
Researchers have disclosed bugs in Google's Android mobile operating system that allow attackers to surreptitiously install malware on users' handsets. The most serious of the two flaws was poignantly demonstrated on Wednesday in a proof-of-concept app that was available in the Google-sanctioned Market. Disguised as an …
Malware 10 Nov 22:09
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AMD: Intel still 'scaring customers'
Scars remain despite year-old settlement
At AMD's 2010 Financial Analyst Day on Tuesday, a surprising amount of time was spent not just blowing AMD's product and planning horns, but instead in discussing — and outright dissing — its chief competitor: Intel. At the senior-exec level, talk centered around the $1.25bn settlement of the AMD-Intel dustup announced one …
PCs & Chips 10 Nov 22:09
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Firefox 4 'feature complete' beta debuts after Jager shot
Gets hard on Mac OS
Mozilla has released a seventh Firefox 4 beta, flipping the switch on the new JaegerMonkey Javascript engine extension, folding in additional hardware acceleration, and allowing developers to build plug-in-free 3D graphics via WebGL. "This means pages load faster, interactions with websites are snappier and the Web is just a …
Applications 10 Nov 22:54
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Apple ships Mac OS X 10.6.5 update
Mac Pro RAIDers rejoice
As world+dog rumored it would, Apple released its latest update to Mac OS X Snow Leopard on Wednesday: version 10.6.5. Enhancements include improved Microsoft Exchange reliability, a variety of performance and stability improvements, security fixes, a couple of Bluetooth tweaks, and — in answer to some Mac Pro owners' prayers …
Operating Systems 10 Nov 23:22
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Red Hat launches Enterprise Linux 6
Dudes, get RHEL
Wednesday's launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 was a kind of non-event event. If it's hard to make a server operating system announcement exciting, it is perhaps even more difficult to make it predictable, or almost boring. But that's what commercial Linux distributor Red Hat has tried to do for the last decade, and in its …
Operating Systems 10 Nov 23:25
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Google sacks Eric Schmidt memo leaker
The first rule of 10% Pay Raise Club is...
Google has fired the employee who leaked the Eric Schmidt memo announcing a 10 per cent pay raise for the company's entire staff, according to a report citing multiple anonymous sources. So, that pay raise isn't going to everyone after all. CNNMoney reports that within hours of the memo being leaked to Business Insider and …
Music and Media 10 Nov 23:27
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Oracle spreads blame for MySQL 'misperceptions'
Support is more expensive — and that's a 'fact'
Oracle has clarified the pricing and packaging for MySQL while pointing the finger at everybody else for getting the wrong idea in the first place. The giant has updated its MySQL product page to explain that MySQL's InnoDB storage engine will be included in all three paid editions of the open-source database. Banished from …
Applications 10 Nov 23:44
