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1st December 2010 Archive

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  • Free software repository brought down in hack attack

    Got root?

    The main source-code repository for the Free Software Foundation has been taken down following an attack that compromised some of the website's account passwords and may have gained unfettered administrative access. The SQL-injection attacks on GNU Savannah exploited holes in Savane, the open-source software hosting application …

    Security 1 Dec 2010, 01:55

  • Interpol issues arrest notice for Wikileaks' Julian Assange

    'Sex crimes' cited

    Interpol has issued a Red Notice for the arrest of Julian Assange for suspected sex crimes just two days after his Wikileaks website began publishing some 250,000 highly embarrassing diplomatic cables. The worldwide wanted poster, which claims Assange's photo wasn't available, says an arrest warrant has been issued by the …

    Law 1 Dec 2010, 02:13

  • HDS sells 'more BlueArc than BlueArc'

    Four-year deal comes up trumps

    According to a person who should know, Hitachi Data Systems is now selling more BlueArc systems than BlueArc itself. HDS sells its BlueArc-sourced high-performance NAS (Network-attached Storage) products through its channel, and has done for four years. HDS's channel has little overlap with BlueArc's own channel, we're told, …

    Blocks and Files 1 Dec 2010, 06:00

  • HP ramps Superdome 2 shipments

    Big iron rebound can't match ProLiant bounce

    Hewlett-Packard wants to remind everyone that it's still in the high-end server business. It wants you to know that since its blade-ish Superdome machines shipped at the beginning of the fall, sales are ramping up in line with competitive RISC/Unix iron from IBM and Oracle/Fujitsu. HP's PR machine, looking for something good …

    Channel Register 1 Dec 2010, 06:04

  • We probe the Google anti-trust probe. Vigorously

    Analysis Schmidt's mighty tool can penetrate any market he likes

    Google says it hides the inner workings of its search engine because it doesn't want websites and advertisers gaming the thing. But what's to stop Google from gaming its own search engine? That's the issue at the heart of the European Commission's investigation into Google's search and ad practices, formally announced Tuesday …

    Music and Media 1 Dec 2010, 06:26

  • Gear4 UnityRemote

    Review Got an iPhone or iPod? You'll pay £100 for a remote

    Universal remote controls always sound like a good idea – one handy little remote to control all the digital gadgets cluttering up your front room – but they never quite seem to live up to the hype. The cheaper ones tend to be a finger-tangling clutter of buttons, while the more expensive models, such as Logitech’s touchscreen …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 07:00

  • Incendiary MacBook blamed in house conflag inferno suit

    Bonfire of the vanities

    Apple's oft-derided MagSafe power adapter is being blamed for a fire in a Connecticut home, and the insurance company that paid for the resulting damage is suing Apple to recover its payout. The Great Northern Insurance Company has filed suit in the US District Court in that New England state to recover payments "in excess of …

    Music and Media 1 Dec 2010, 07:00

  • Apple patents glasses-free, multi-viewer 3D

    Full autostereoscopic satisfaction for fanbois

    Apple has been granted a patent for a projection system that can enable multiple viewers to simultaneously view 3D images without the need for those dorky 3D glasses. The patent, succinctly entitled "Three-dimensional display system," is fiendishly complex, but its goal is simple: to provide "highly effective, practical, …

    Music and Media 1 Dec 2010, 08:00

  • Forget Xmas: Get set for the octocore v Bulldozer DEATHMATCH

    Chinese dark horse eyed nervously by bookies

    The great wheel of semiconductor life continues to turn. 'Tis the season to start gearing up for the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. The ISSCC event is the second event of each new year, following the Consumer Electronics Show, where new PC processors and sundry other computing gadgets are brought …

    Servers 1 Dec 2010, 10:00

  • DDoS attack, sex warrant won't stop Assange's leaky discharge

    Latest Wikileaks: Pope caught short during forest ramble

    The main Wikileaks site hosting US diplomatic cables has been downed, again, by an apparent denial of service attack. Various Wikileak mirror sites are available and the "revelations" continue to dominate the news. According to Wikileaks's Twitter feed the attack peaked at over 10 gigabits a second - about three times greater …

    Entertainment 1 Dec 2010, 10:20

  • LG to cut greenhouse gas output by 4kg per handset

    Green Tech Sulphur Hexafluoride emissions axed

    LG is to use "eco-magnesium" in future mobile phones, ending the emission of some very nasty greenhouse gases in the process. Eco-magnesium is an alloy of the metal. LG said that "practically no" sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) is released during its production - not the case with the magnesium alloy LG is currently using. "The …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 10:32

  • Compellent bolts on first VMWare SRM disaster parachute

    Brings you in to soft touchdown even if wings come off

    Compellent is bundling VMware's Site Recovery Manager with its arrays to provide better disaster recovery in virtualised server shops. It will be the first VMware partner to do so. VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager, to give it its full name, uses SAN-based replication to move virtual machines (VMs) and their datasets …

    Virtualization 1 Dec 2010, 10:40

  • Avatar tops Sky Xmas 3D bill

    Three-dimensional Crimble

    Sky would like you to know that it will be broadcasting Avatar in 3D on Christmas Eve - the first time in the world that the blockbuster will be shown on telly in stereoscopic format. Those of us without 3D TVs can watch the film in two dimensions - in which it's no less enjoyable, we have to say - on Sky's standard-defintion …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 10:48

  • Cuffed Oz bank Trojan perp aiming to bleach his hat

    Slave Hacker gunning for tin star once out of cooler

    A South Australian hacker who admits using banking Trojan malware to infect more than 2,300 computers and steal personal information wants to go from poacher to gamekeeper once his legal problems are behind him. Anthony Scott Harrison, 20, also admitted modifying unspecified Trojan software before selling it on to other cyber- …

    Crime 1 Dec 2010, 11:00

  • Green light red face

    Project management Portfolio management decisions better than tossing coin

    Each year the credibility of project portfolio management (PPM) as a means of prioritising projects appears to grow. At its simplest PPM gives a central portfolio management office (PMO) a complete view of all projects under consideration and their status, and the power to decide whether to invest or divest in them. The PMO …

    Project Management 1 Dec 2010, 11:00

  • Dell rings up spin-screen Duo at £449

    Netbook-cum-tablet priced up

    Dell hasn't yet said how much it'll ask for its netbook-cum-tablet Inspiron Duo over here, but it's offering Arqiva employees them for £449 a pop, we hear. Arqiva is the company that owns the UK's terrestrial TV and radio transmitter network. Employees who take up Dell on its offer will get a JBL docking station freebie. …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 11:05

  • Coffers swell as Sage squeezes more juice from flat revenue

    North American supremo supplanted by French chief

    Shares in small biz accountancy provider Sage are up over four per cent this morning after the company announced a return to growth. Sage said revenues were flat compared to last year but profits were up 20 per cent. For the full year Sage made £1,435m compared to £1,439.3m in 2009; this is effectively unchanged once currency …

    Channel Register 1 Dec 2010, 11:40

  • Chinese telecoms giant furiously scrubs links to Phorm

    Ad firm courts major router makers on comeback trail

    Huawei, the giant Chinese telecoms manufacturer, has deleted claims on its own website and by its staff that it is involved in a partnership with Phorm. Nonetheless, the pair are working together, and Phorm is also integrating its behavioural advertising technology with Cisco routing gear as it courts ISPs outside the UK. On …

    Networks 1 Dec 2010, 12:00

  • TomTom Go Live 1005 satnav

    Review Routefinder General

    TomTom's Go Live 1000 series of high-end PNDs debuted in September in 4.3in form but the recently arrived 1005 model is the first TomTom to break the 5in barrier. In common with the lesser 1000 series models, the 1005 also has a capacitive touchscreen – Fluid Touch in TomTom speak – redesigned map and UI graphics, a revised menu …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 12:00

  • LG kicks off work on quantum dot TV

    OLED? Old hat. QLED is where it's at

    LG is to co-operate in the development of quantum dot-derived LED TV displays capable of generating "brighter, richer colours" while consuming a fraction of the energy of today's LEDs. The South Korean giant said it will work with QD Vision, the US developer of the electroluminescent quantum dot LED - aka QLEDs. The two will …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 12:00

  • Hezbollah sting bust sees first phone-unlock DMCA conviction

    Mass terrorist jailbreaking not same as fanboi freedom

    A Philadelphia federal court has accepted a guilty plea from one Mohamad Majed, who admitted breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in unlocking thousands of phones for resale. The phones were locked to TracFone, a virtual operator in the US which specialises in pre-paid connections and heavily-subsidised handsets. …

    Mobile 1 Dec 2010, 12:15

  • HP dumps Microsoft's Vail Home Server 'to focus on webOS'

    'Drive feature kill just a coincidence' insists Redmond

    HP has ditched Microsoft’s Windows Home Server operating system, codenamed ‘Vail’, just days after the software giant killed a popular feature in the product. However, Microsoft insists that HP’s decision to retire its MediaSmart Server line, which includes Windows Home Server in the line-up, had nothing to do with Microsoft’s …

    Operating Systems 1 Dec 2010, 12:30

  • Winamp plug-in backdoor wide open to viral penetration

    But plugged firmly in latest release

    Winamp media player users need to update their software following the discovery of multiple security holes, some of which provide a means to distribute malware via booby-trapped media files. Version 5.6 of the software for Windows fixes a critical integer overflow vulnerability in the the "in_nsv.dll" plug-in library that …

    Security 1 Dec 2010, 12:45

  • Motorola tugs itself to bits in mobo-go-solo schism pact

    You wanna piece a me?

    Motorola will be splitting into two companies on 4 January, with existing shareholders getting a piece of the handset manufacturer, and the radio specialist, in exchange for their holding. The two companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, will start trading on 4 January, with owners of Motorola shares getting one …

    Mobile 1 Dec 2010, 12:57

  • Airport face-scan gate unilaterally imprisons traveller

    Manchester robo-guards on 4-day Portuguese IT backup

    The watchdog for the UK Border Agency says that facial recognition checks at Manchester Airport are being undermined by unreliable IT. The independent chief inspector of the UK Border Agency found that during one week between 18 and 24 April 2010, the gates at Manchester airport's terminal 1 broke down five times. Four were …

    Public Sector 1 Dec 2010, 13:13

  • Why does information management matter?

    Webcast How to do it better

    All areas of your business are expected to be responsible for making informed decisions and delivering on their targets. The trouble is, the growth in data can make it overwhelmingly difficult to find the right information to support the decision. Naturally, this challenge rests with the IT Department and its ability to sift …

    Tech Panel 1 Dec 2010, 13:16

  • Virgin unwraps three-tuner über set-top

    Tivo box out this month, revamped early next

    Virgin Media's much-anticipated Tivo box will begin shipping "mid-December", the cableco said today, despite the fact that its own website has the arrival date down as "early 2011". Eh? The box out in the middle of this month will contain three tuners, but one of them won't work until Virgin releases a software update, which …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 13:17

  • Facebook figures suggest WinPho 7 user base still small

    OS' users not social - or just not many in number?

    Some interesting statistical jiggery-pokery hints that Windows Phone 7 isn't proving popular. Microsoft makes a big deal out of the new smartphone OS' social networking support, so website WMPoweruser visited All Facebook to try and glean some usage data. Following the sites example and checking out the Windows Phone monthly …

    reghardware 1 Dec 2010, 13:25

  • Yahoo! wonks! brace! for! lay-offs!

    Embattled punctuationtastic empire still has 14k bods

    Job cuts at Yahoo! are reportedly coming before the year is out, with about 650 lay-offs at the Carol Bartz-run firm expected to kick off on 13 December. Who me? It's mostly Blake Irving's staff facing the chop, say sources All Things Digital, which cited sources familiar with the situation, said Yahoo! is to axe about …

    Software 1 Dec 2010, 13:31

  • Hitachi kicks open Door 4 in the House of Spinning Platters

    Enter the Microwave Magnetic Dragon

    The post-perpendicular magnetic recording world in the land of spinning disks had three land masses; HAMR, BPM and Shingled Writing. Now there's a fourth; microwave magnetic recording (MMR). Hitachi, with its GST hard disk drive (HDD) subsidiary, has been working with Japan's NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology …

    Storage 1 Dec 2010, 13:43

  • People's Republic says it will purge self of illicit software

    Ownership of means of production now compulsory

    China is to clamp down on counterfeit software installed on local and central government computers over the next year. According to Beijing-endorsed news agency Xinhua, officials expect to complete an inspection of the software used by the country’s government departments and agencies by May 2011. They will conclude their …

    Public Sector 1 Dec 2010, 13:58

  • 97% of INTERNET NOW FULL UP, warn IPv4 shepherd boys

    'Honest, the wolf's chewing my trouser leg now' says Cerf

    Less than three per cent of IPv4 address space is still to be allocated, after two huge chunks were given to American and European ISPs. ARIN and RIPE, which administer IP addresses on either side of the Atlantic, each received two /8 address blocks in November. A fifth block went to their African equivalent. The moves leave …

    Networks 1 Dec 2010, 14:13

  • Russia beats off US, floods world with spam

    Bot spankings = Yanks down rankings

    Russia has eclipsed the USA as the main villain in global spam distribution, according to stats published by Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab on Wednesday. While Russia was top of the rogues, the USA fell from its customary heights to a lowly 18th place for October, the month covered by the latest reports. Kaspersky …

    Spam 1 Dec 2010, 14:31

  • BURNING LUST for SEXY BUSTY BLONDES - Science explains

    Marilyn Monroe babe race to replace today's drab ladies

    Women long for the classic Barbie figure with big boobs, long blonde hair and blue eyes because it makes men want to impregnate them, an evolutionary psychologist has proclaimed. London School of Economics reader Satoshi Kanazawa has successfully manipulated the more malleable and shameless news outlets into excitedly …

    Science 1 Dec 2010, 14:33

  • Feds pursue Russian, 23, behind ⅓ of ALL WORLD SPAM

    Badges pursue bot cowboy who mustered huge Mega-D herd

    FBI investigators have named a 23-year-old Russian as a prime suspect behind the operation of the infamous 500,000 Mega-D botnet, blamed for an estimated one in three spam emails prior to a take-down operation early last year. Oleg Nikolaenko, a 23-year-old Moscow resident, was accused of violating US anti-spam and fraud laws …

    Spam 1 Dec 2010, 14:55

  • German exec banged up in private-dick wiretap ring probe

    Deutsche Telekom's leaky 'spy affair' exposed

    A German court has jailed a former Deutsche Telekom manager for three-and-a-half years for his role in a spy ring based on bugged phone calls. The judge in Bonn's Regional Court noted that DT had made it easy for the manager to snoop on calls. Klaus Trzeschan was convicted of breaking privacy rules and improperly using funds …

    Telecoms 1 Dec 2010, 15:19

  • Bolivians still grimly browsing on Sony Ericsson phones

    Worldwide figures reveal crazy foreigners' mobe antics

    Canadians are in love with iOS devices, while Symbian stomps the opposition in Chad, and British affections are torn equally between Apple and RIM when it comes to smartphone platforms. The figures come from StatCounter, and are based on browsing habits rather than ownership - there are an awful lot of Symbian handsets that …

    Mobile 1 Dec 2010, 15:39

  • Quantum crypto hack smacked

    Implementation flaw only: 'perfect security' still coming

    A hack against systems running quantum key cryptography only worked because of implementation errors, according to new research. A paper published in September demonstrated how the avalanche photo-detectors as used in quantum cryptography rigs might be blinded, essentially causing equipment to malfunction without generating an …

    Security 1 Dec 2010, 16:25

  • IBM chips the laser light fantastic

    To exascale and beyond!

    Boffins at IBM have come up with a better way to embed laser communications onto processor and memory chips using plain vanilla CMOS manufacturing processes, paving the way for three-dimensional chips integrating hundreds of processors, their main memory, and on-chip optical networks that will, it is hoped, allow for the …

    HPC 1 Dec 2010, 18:21

  • Steve Jobs embraces Google's bastard grid child

    Cult plants ad empire on Hadoop

    Apple has embraced Hadoop, the open source distributed-computing platform based on Google's famously proprietary backend infrastructure. According to a recent Apple job listing entitled "Senior Software Engineer - Hadoop", the company is using or planning to use the entire Hadoop stack, from the HDFS file system and the Hadoop …

    Servers 1 Dec 2010, 19:40

  • Google extends security sandbox to Adobe Flash

    Like airbags for Corvairs

    Google has released a test version of its Chrome browser that extends its renowned security sandbox to Adobe's heavily abused Flash player. The enhanced security feature, which was released on the Chrome developer and canary channels, is available only for XP, Vista and 7 versions of Microsoft Windows. It will likely be …

    Security 1 Dec 2010, 20:05

  • WikiLeaks ousted from Amazon US

    Homeland Security Senator badmouths Assange

    Update: This story has been updated to show that contrary to some reports, Senator Lieberman's statement did not say that Amazon removed Wikileaks' mirrors in response to his inquiry. WikiLeaks is no longer mirroring its trove of confidential US diplomatic cables on US-based servers run by Amazon.com, and according to US …

    Networks 1 Dec 2010, 20:06

  • Oracle claims trademark on Hudson open source

    Fork talk follows big lock out

    Oracle is claiming ownership of yet another open-source project. This time, it's the Hudson project, the popular software build and monitoring service originally developed by Sun Microsystems. The giant has told users they are welcome to move the service to non-Oracle-owned servers, but if they do so, they can't call it " …

    Developer 1 Dec 2010, 21:35

  • Net neut rumble flares as FCC vote looms

    US gov in flame war with self

    On Tuesday, the US Federal Communications Commision announced that it would meet on December 21 to vote on what chairman Julius Genachowski calls "draft rules of the road to preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet." On Wednesday, the jockeying for position among the Genachowski and the FCC's warring commissioners …

    Networks 1 Dec 2010, 21:42