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7th December 2010 Archive

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  • McNealy to Ellison: How to duck death by open source

    Interview Ex-Sun boss talks code, community, and underpants

    Let's forget the last few years ever happened — the last five, at least. Possibly 10. In the 1980s Sun Microsystems was on fire. Founded in 1982, Sun raked in so much money that it broke the psychologically important $1bn sales barrier in six years. It took Microsoft 15 years to hit $1bn — six if your starting point is the …

    Software 7 Dec 2010, 01:30

  • Nimbula punts instamatic cloud kit to world+dog

    Ex-Amazon über admin betas 'cloud operating system'

    Nimbula — the build-your-own-cloud startup founded by Amazon's former vice president of engineering — has released a public beta of its so-called cloud operating system, Nimbula Director. Available as a free download, the beta is designed to mimic Amazon's EC2 "public infrastructure cloud" inside your own data center, …

    Servers 7 Dec 2010, 01:39

  • Apache loses Java showdown vote to Oracle

    Exclusive Assume positions, brace for exit

    The Apache Software Foundation – one of tech's most influential open-source groups – is closer to quitting Java's governing body after losing a stand-off vote against Oracle on Java. The Reg has learned that with 75 per cent of qualifying Java Community Process (JCP) members having voted on whether to ratify Oracle's proposed …

    Developer 7 Dec 2010, 01:41

  • Google unloads Nexus S Gingerbread phone

    Run, run, Apple. As fast as you can

    The "Pure Google" Nexus S, announced Monday, enters an increasingly crowded, turbulent smartphone marketplace in which the eventual winner — or winners — are far from certain. "The volume and variety of Android devices continues to surpass our wildest expectations — but we're not slowing down," wrote Android honcho Andy Rubin …

    Mobile 7 Dec 2010, 01:52

  • Oracle slashes software prices on own iron

    Hikes 'em on HP Itanium

    Well before Oracle was even close to buying Sun Microsystems, the company was kind enough to tweak its per-core pricing for its eponymous database software to make it competitive on processors with fewer threads and higher clock speeds. Now, the company is making its software pricing less attractive on servers using Itanium 9300 …

    The Channel 7 Dec 2010, 04:00

  • Hacker brings enhanced security to jailbroken iPhones

    ASLR to unwashed iDevice masses

    A computer consultant is embarking where Apple has refused to go, adding a security measure known as ASLR to iPhones to make them more resistant to malware attacks. Short for address space layout randomization, ASLR has been noticeably absent from all iOS devices since their inception, making possible the types of attacks that …

    Security 7 Dec 2010, 05:00

  • Cisco and BMC in fluffy IT chase

    Cloud riders

    Server wannabe Cisco Systems and application and system management tool maker BMC Software have forged a tighter partnership to peddle cloudy infrastructure. Cisco has stopped short of shelling out big bags of cash to have BMC all to itself, though. BMC put itself into Cisco's partnership sights in March 2008 when it acquired …

    The Channel 7 Dec 2010, 06:00

  • The year's best... HD TVs

    2010: it's a wrap Top tellies

    The past year has been an interesting one in TV land with many new technologies making their debut on high street models. The more obvious features have been 3D and Freeview HD, but techniques to enhance image quality, such as LED backlighting, have gone mainstream too, along with more TVs offering Internet connectivity. There …

    Hardware 7 Dec 2010, 07:00

  • Virtualisation, cloud and dynamic infrastucture

    Webcast Today Hot to get from one to the next

    Today at 11:00 our studio has a ream of experts looking at the next steps for the data centre. According to research that we've done with you, virtualisation is now a central pillar of data centre plans and activities, with most of you having already ticked that particular check-box. So where next? Seemingly, it's heading off …

    Tech Panel 7 Dec 2010, 08:27

  • UK cops have warrant to cuff Assange, talking to his lawyer

    Plod keeps schtum over handling of quite warm potato

    Julian Assange's lawyer said he is talking to the Metropolitan Police this morning, after which he and his client will decide what to do next. A European arrest warrant has been issued for Assange. Scotland Yard said this morning it would not be commenting until an arrest was made. This might be a job for them, or for another …

    Law 7 Dec 2010, 09:45

  • Samsung readies less sockety servers for 3D stacked memory

    RDIMM skyscrapers cram in more bits with less footprint

    Samsung has worked out a way to stack memory chips vertically, increasing memory density and decreasing power needs. It says next-generation servers are going to have fewer memory sockets – 30 per cent fewer – implying that unless you can stick more memory in a socket, you're going to have less of the stuff. What it's done is …

    The Channel 7 Dec 2010, 10:07

  • StorSimple wheels out head-in-Cloud, feet-on-premises solution

    Cabinet has portal at back to infinite storage Narnia

    Startup StorSimple is SAShaying to the cloud with a small and medium business on-premises appliance for active data storage – and bulk data banished to the cloud. The cloud is not enough. It needs to be married to local storage in a seamless way. The idea is to have a 3-tier storage scheme with hot data stored locally and bulk …

    The Channel 7 Dec 2010, 10:41

  • ASSANGE ARRESTED in London - in court later today

    Wiki-lord cuffed 'by appointment'

    Wikileaks spokesman Julian Assange has been arrested by police in London and will appear in court later today. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Assange was arrested by appointment at a central London police station at 9.30 this morning. "He will appear at City of Westminster magistrates later today." Thirty-nine-year old …

    Law 7 Dec 2010, 10:51

  • British troops in A'stan find festive minutes in Santa's sack

    'Sorry love, bit of a firefight going on outside'

    British soldiers on active service will get an extra half-hour of phone calls home this Christmas, and cheaper calling from Afghanistan too. Soldiers already get half an hour of free phone calls to the UK every week, and will get an extra half-hour for Christmas. Those in Afghanistan will be able to buy more minutes for 6.5 …

    Broadband 7 Dec 2010, 10:58

  • Apple 'iPad 2' shipping in three months

    Manufacturer told to prepare for production

    Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn will punch out 400,000-600,000 iPad 2s within the next 100 days, the company's factory managers have been told. Foxconn isn't saying anything, but company moles cited by DigiTimes are emphatic that the next-gen tablet will be shipping by the end of February 2011. If so, it's almost …

    Tablets 7 Dec 2010, 11:01

  • Server virtualisation on the move

    Reader Study Is it catching on yet?

    Everyone's talking about server virtualisation, but are stories of real activity being greatly exaggerated? That was the case a year ago when we polled Reg readers on what they were up to in that area. There was lots of toying with the idea through pilots and limited scale rollouts, but few yet going all the way with the …

    Tech Panel 7 Dec 2010, 11:08

  • Brussels goes in to bat for beleaguered bees

    But Brit boffin insists 'bees die all the time, chill'

    The European Commission has launched a plan to restore bee health in response to widespread reports of increases in bee mortality. Is that a mite on your thorax, or are you just happy to see me? But a British boffin has warned that much of the media coverage is hype and that bees, along with all other species, have suffered …

    Science 7 Dec 2010, 11:13

  • iPad 2 to arrive around Valentine's Day - Taiwanese reports

    New slab to be even more fondlesome

    Apple looks set to release the next version of its iPad in February next year – that is if a claim bubbling up in Taiwan is to be believed. DigiTimes reported today that iPhone and iPad manufacturing giant Foxconn has been told to build 400,000 to 600,000 units of Apple’s next iteration of its much-loved fondle slab in the …

    Hardware 7 Dec 2010, 11:26

  • Financial vice tightens on Wikileaks, hacktivistas retaliate

    Assange Swiss bank, Mastercard sucked into imbroglio

    The financial squeeze has been put onto Wikileaks, with MasterCard refusing to process donations to the whistleblower site and the suspension of the personal bank account of founder Julian Assange in Switzerland. The withdrawal of payment facilities by MasterCard follows a similar decision by PayPal. Would-be supporters are …

    Security 7 Dec 2010, 11:43

  • Why is Google's new Nexus S like no other smartphone?

    First proper outing for NFC pay/scan/passcard tech

    Google and Samsung have jointly announced the Nexus S, but the new flagship Android handset has more wireless than previously seen with Near Field Communications built in. Google isn't trying to change the distribution model this time; the Nexus S will be sold in Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy stores, and will be available in …

    Phones 7 Dec 2010, 11:58

  • Facebook revamp gives away even more info, warn pros

    Your kimono may open without warning

    Security watchers have warned that Facebook's latest revamp will create the tendency to expose more user information. The redesigned profile, launched earlier this week and due to be rolled out gradually over coming weeks, is designed to encourage punters to expose even more information about their day to day lives to the …

    Security 7 Dec 2010, 12:13

  • Wikileaks are for-hire mercenaries - Cryptome

    Private enterprise not public interest

    Wikileaks has always been a commercial enterprise hiding behind a narcissistic "public interest" PR, says Cryptome operator John Young in a scathing critique of the site. Whistleblower site Cryptome began publishing documents in 1996, incurring the wrath of UK and US governments. The archive endures. Young was invited to be the …

    Security 7 Dec 2010, 12:27

  • Theft scribe picked for Intellectual Property review

    Liberté, égalité, téléchargement!

    Five advisers have been appointed to Ian Hargreaves' review into intellectual property growth, the IPO announced yesterday. Two of the choices may cause consternation among creators' rights representatives. One is Scottish legal academic James Boyle, founding board member of Creative Commons, and co-author of two rabble- …

    Media 7 Dec 2010, 12:46

  • Acer outs skinny dual-core desktop

    AMD, Nvidia Ion on board

    Ultra-slim desktop PC, anyone? If you fancy one, Acer has just released the Revo 100, packed with Nvidia's Ion chippery and not Intel's Atom but AMD's dual-core Athlon II Neo. There'll be a range of Revo running at different clock speeds, but they'll all use Ion for full HD graphics output. Expect up to 4GB of 1333MHz DDR 3 …

    Hardware 7 Dec 2010, 12:47

  • Tehran conscripts Ninja masters to crush democracy

    Men in black want black-clad black ops blackbelts

    The Iranian government has been attempting to co-opt the country's Ninjas and other martial artists to help out with some light repression duties, US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks claim. Authorities in the country have been attempting to outsource some of the grunt work involved in political repression to martial …

    Government 7 Dec 2010, 12:57

  • Google targets iPad with Android 3 Honeycomb tablet yumminess

    $10k Moto slablet helps devs master new tools' girth

    Google's Andy Rubin has been showing off Honeycomb, the next version of Android and one with proper tablet support, explaining how Android applications will work across form factors. With Gingerbread (Android 2.3) still not out of the door, Google has already started hyping Honeycomb (Android 3), which promises support for …

    Applications 7 Dec 2010, 13:12

  • MS waves enticing moolah at Oracle, Salesforce punters

    Go CRM and we'll make your trousers bulge - with cash

    Microsoft has written to Salesforce.com and Oracle punters urging them to ditch the cloudy database offerings of Marc Benioff and Larry Ellison in favour of its own CRM system. But in order to convince them to make the switch, the software giant is also, somewhat desperately, waving a wad of cash in the faces of Salesforce and …

    The Channel 7 Dec 2010, 13:26

  • Sky music service goes titsup.fm

    Never got off ground

    BSkyB is closing down its Sky Songs subscription music service, blaming poor take-up. The fiver-a-month offer bundled unlimited ad-free listening to a catalog of 5 million songs, and five MP3s to keep a month. Sky has told subscribers by email that the service will shut up shop on 7 February, but there's no indication on its …

    Media 7 Dec 2010, 13:40

  • Salesforce.com parks cloudy database over Ellison's head

    Dreamforce 2010 Now witness the relational firepower

    Larry Ellison's got a new database competitor in the form of Salesforce.com, with the launch of Database.com from his one-time protégé Marc Benioff. Salesforce.com is going head-to-head against Oracle, as Benioff plans today to unveil his new venture. It's a relational database in the sky, delivered as a service and sold via …

    Applications 7 Dec 2010, 13:51

  • Latest botnet rankings: Rustock still mother of them all

    Zombie-puncher cowboys try out Twitter lariat

    Spam levels – hit by recent botnet takedown efforts – have begun to return to their previous noxiously high levels. The average global spam rate was 89.1 per cent, an increase of 1.4 percentage points on 2009, according to a study by Symantec. Global spam rates peaked at 92.2 per cent in August, largely powered by an …

    Security 7 Dec 2010, 14:00

  • Blighty's kids nosedive down global reading, maths rankings

    Cans of whup-ass popped by Irish, Canada, even US

    Britain's schoolchildren have slipped down the international league in reading, maths and science, according to the latest batch of numbers from the OECD. The organisation's biennial PISA study ranks international 15-year-olds by their performance in the three disciplines. This year the UK's schoolies gave a distinctly average …

    Government 7 Dec 2010, 14:20

  • Apple sells more mobile PCs than Dell

    But only if the iPad is a mobile PC

    Apple is now a more successful global seller of mobile computers than Dell, according to new third-quarter numbers from market watcher DisplaySearch. The catch: it has to include iPad sales to do so. According to DisplaySearch, Apple shipped 6.3m mobile computers - media tablets, laptops and netbooks, basically - in Q3 2010. …

    Tablets 7 Dec 2010, 14:30

  • Police back ends must be slimmed, says Home Sec

    IT shop chop to beat off beat-cop crop

    Home Secretary Theresa May has said that police forces need to ensure that they protect frontline staff by making cost savings on IT. May was responding to concerns raised by Labour MP Natascha Engel about budget cuts in Derbyshire and what impact they will have on rural communities. "We have been absolutely clear about the …

    Law 7 Dec 2010, 14:39

  • Sage Pay prevents punters blowing Xmas wad

    Four hour ordeal leaves Santa's sack empty

    Sage Pay has apologised for a four hour outage yesterday that left online merchants with no way to process payments for Christmas orders. Simon Black, managing director of Sage Pay, said: "I deeply regret the impact that we've had on your business, at what is the worst possible time for our systems to fail." The length of the …

    Small Biz 7 Dec 2010, 14:59

  • Judge puts Assange behind bars ahead of extradition hearing

    Prosecutor says he could attract loonies

    Wikileaks editor Julian Assange told Westminster Magistrates Court he would not consent to extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for alleged sexual offences. Assange said he would fight proceedings from the UK. Wikileaks meanwhile said legal action against its spokesman would have no effect on its publishing programme. It …

    Law 7 Dec 2010, 15:12

  • Alan Sugar's 'cockup braindead in call centre clueless' BT row

    Rude baron in tweet rage ADSL 2 triumph

    Alan Sugar showed UK business how to secure tip top service from BT today, pursuing a dual strategy of ranting on twitter while pulling the "don't you know who I am" line on the call centre staff. Trouble first started brewing about six hours ago, with LordAlun taking a break from slagging off Piers Morgan and touting his new …

    Broadband 7 Dec 2010, 15:18

  • Tumblr tumbles down, stays there for 24 hours

    Maintenance was planned, cluster f*ck less so

    Tumblr has blamed a database problem for an outage that left the popular microblogging service largely unavailable for more than 24 hours. The service was restored on Monday afternoon, allowing users to resume their postings of pictures of cats and musings on life, as is the local custom. In an update, Tumblr founder David …

    Applications 7 Dec 2010, 16:01

  • IBM gorges on cheap debt for share buybacks, acquisitions

    Forget the kit, everyone wants Big Blue paper

    IBM sometimes behaves like a bank, and sometimes like a private equity firm. Sometimes it even behaves like an IT vendor. This week, in selling $1bn in debt for doing acquisitions, Big Blue is behaving like a private equity firm. The debt is being sold between Monday and Thursday this week and pays out 2 percent on 30 November …

    Financial News 7 Dec 2010, 16:26

  • Sony adds Sky News to Bravia net TVs

    Shame it's already on Freeview...

    Whatever you think of Sky news, the fact is you can now view it on internet-connected Sony Blu-ray Disc players and Bravia TVs. It's an odd choice given that Sky News is already broadcast over Freeview, and you'd expect viewers would chose to watch the 24-hour rolling news channel that way rather than streamed over the network …

    Hardware 7 Dec 2010, 16:35

  • Samsung blows wad on Bada bling app compo starlets

    Go with sailors - and edit out shameful exes

    Samsung's Developer Challenge is over, with the top app earning a prize of $300,000 as the company continues to big up its third mobile platform. Not content with manufacturing the flagship Android handset and one of the best Windows Phone 7 devices, Samsung is still banging the Bada drum. In June, the company put almost $3m …

    Applications 7 Dec 2010, 16:56

  • Quantum crypto experts dispute potency of 'blinding' hack

    Boffin DEATHMATCH

    A dispute has emerged between experts in quantum cryptography over the effectiveness of a recently discovered attack that takes advantage of implementation flaws in high-security key exchange systems. A paper published in September's Nature Photonics explained how the avalanche photo-detectors used in some commercial quantum …

    Security 7 Dec 2010, 17:34

  • Google delays Chrome OS, punts brandless beta netbook

    World of web heads grapple for 'Cr-48'

    Google has announced that the first Chrome OS netbooks will arrive in "mid-2011" from Acer and Samsung. Originally, the company said that devices would arrive by the end of this year. But the company has introduced a Chrome OS "pilot program" that offers a beta netbook known as the "Cr-48" to select users. Several businesses …

    Operating Systems 7 Dec 2010, 20:05

  • Microsoft unveils 'do not track' option for IE9

    Like 'do not call' for browsers

    Microsoft says it will offer a privacy setting in the next version of Internet Explorer that will make it easy for users to keep their browsing habits from being tracked by advertising networks and other third-party websites. The feature, known as Tracking Protection, was unveiled on Tuesday, five days after the Federal Trade …

    Applications 7 Dec 2010, 20:32

  • Salesforce's Benioff: 'Ellison flunks vision test'

    Dreamforce 2010 Oracle dreams of a mainframe past

    Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, has fired back at Larry Ellison and his beloved Exadata for cloud computing, saying that the server fails the cloud test and that Oracle lacks a genuine vision. Working — and walking — a crowd of 14,000 at his annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Benioff championed a …

    Cloud 7 Dec 2010, 20:48

  • Whitehats peer into new botnet's heart of 'Darkness'

    DDoSes R Us

    Whitehat hackers are tracking a new botnet that's quickly become a popular platform for launching web attacks. Over the past few weeks, members of the Shadowserver group have observed the Darkness botnet unleashing distributed denial of service attacks on more than 100 websites in the financial, insurance and retail industries …

    Security 7 Dec 2010, 22:13

  • Google speeds Chrome JavaScript engine with 'Crankshaft'

    '100 times faster than pre-Chrome Internet Explorer'

    Google has uncloaked a new incarnation of the V8 JavaScript engine that underpins its Chrome browser. Dubbed "Crankshaft," the updated engine is roughly 50 per cent faster on Google's own V8 benchmark suite, according to the company's internal tests. Google vice president of product management Sundar Pinchai revealed the …

    Applications 7 Dec 2010, 23:32