The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

21st December 2010 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

    Review OK, where are the pandas?

    World of Warcraft actually bears more than a passing resemblance to it’s new - or old, depending on your perspective - villain Deathwing. Since its launch in 2004, it has trampled through the lives of millions, wreaking havock and destruction while altering the landscape of massively multiplayer online role-playing games forever …

    reghardware 21 Dec 2010, 07:00

  • Cabinet Office signs MoU with Vertex

    Another IT supplier toes the line

    Customer management outsourcing company Vertex has become the latest to sign a memorandum of understanding on efficiencies with the Cabinet Office. It said it has done so as part of the Cabinet Office led supplier contract renegotiation programme to find new savings in IT business with central government. Most of the IT firms …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2010, 09:57

  • Adobe forgets to thank Apple as it hits $1bn per quarter

    Was it down to tough love?

    Adobe put a troublesome year behind it yesterday, announcing its first ever billion-dollar quarter and jacking up its forecasts for next year. The developer and creative software vendor turned in revenues of $1bn for its fourth quarter ending 3 December, well up on last year's $757.3m, and ahead of the $998m Wall Street was …

    Developer 21 Dec 2010, 10:05

  • Xiotech could be leaving the prairie

    Is an HQ move being discussed?

    Revived storage startup Xiotech has issued a denial that it is planning to move its headquarters from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. There are two prominent storage suppliers based in Minnesota: Compellent, which is being bought by Dell, and Xiotech. The latter supplies the unique ISE (Integrated Storage Element) brick or storage …

    Storage 21 Dec 2010, 10:38

  • SEC probes whether Hurd leaked EDS buy info

    Fisher case haunts former HP boss

    The SEC has gotten on Mark Hurd's case, with an investigation that will look into whether the former HP boss passed on information about the acquisition of EDS to his nemesis, Jodie Fisher. The Wall Street Journal cites its favourite source – people familiar with the matter – to report that the inside information issue is part …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2010, 10:43

  • Microsoft says no to Kinect sex game

    NSFW Controller hacked for heavy pettin'

    Getting down for some 'hot coffee' action isn't going to happen on the Xbox 360, at least not with the Kinect motion control system and not with Microsoft's say-so. Borrowing the moral police helmet from Apple, Microsoft last night said that a protoype Austrian "sex game interface" based on the hand-tracking Xbox add-on will …

    reghardware 21 Dec 2010, 11:32

  • Secunia intros auto-update to patch management tool

    Patchwork quilt

    Security notification firm Secunia took the wraps off a new version of its patch management tool on Monday. Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) version 2.0 is designed to simplify the process of updating software applications and comes at no charge for consumers. The previous version of the tool informed users when a …

    Enterprise Security 21 Dec 2010, 11:35

  • Commission outlines how EU govts could standardise admin

    Citizens may eventually be able to use govt services across borders

    The European Commission has published documents which it hopes will result in governments across Europe standardising the way they run their administrations. The Commission said the documents would help make government services interoperable. The Commission's European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) and the European …

    Developer 21 Dec 2010, 11:37

  • NEC teases with two-screen Android tablet

    Pledges CES outing

    There are no pictures of the gadget yet, but NEC is promising to show off a dual-screen "cloud communicator tablet" running Android - a "world first", the company claims. It's not the first two-screen tablet, mind. Toshiba's Libretto W100, announced back in June, probably claims that honour, but it ran Windows 7. NEC's will …

    reghardware 21 Dec 2010, 11:55

  • China net filtering overlord gets pwned

    Fang's micro-blog pulled after critics vent their spleens

    The microblog of the brains behind China's infamous net filtering systems has been taken offline following a wave of criticism from net users. Fang Binxing, president of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, was integral in the development of the "Great Firewall of China", which as well as blocking access to …

    Enterprise Security 21 Dec 2010, 11:56

  • Sluggish economy means hard times for US executioners

    Public questions 'measurable returns' from death penalty

    Economic turmoil has wreaked havoc on the US execution industry, latest figures show, with the total number of prisoners put to death well down on last year. The Death Penalty Information Centre's annual report showed 49 executions were carried out across the US last year, a 12 per cent drop compared to 2009. Even more …

    Government 21 Dec 2010, 12:06

  • Govt asks businesses for views on intellectual property

    Hargreaves wants feedback on current IP system

    The Government has asked businesses how it can help them to make more use of intellectual property (IP) assets. It has also published details of the review it will hold into IP growth. It said that it wanted to focus particularly on the use of IP by small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) and what it could do to help them to …

    Developer 21 Dec 2010, 12:12

  • Asus, Acer to take on MacBook AIr

    'Sandy Bridge' slimlines inbound

    Expect MacBook Air clones from Acer and Asus early next year. Lenovo too. On past form, we can't see it, and we suspect that while the rumoured "ultra-thin" 13.3in and 14in notebooks from these suppliers will be skinny, their need to build in as many ports as possible, plus removable batteries and hard drives rather than SSDs …

    reghardware 21 Dec 2010, 12:18

  • US Navy's electric plane-thrower successfully launches an F-18

    Light at end of 10-year tunnel for Royal Navy?

    The US Navy says it has successfully launched a jet fighter into flight using a radical new electromagnetically powered catapult. The feat is important for the Americans, whose next supercarrier will be a disastrous botch without the new tech: it is even more critical for the future of the Royal Navy. In with the new The US …

    Science 21 Dec 2010, 12:37

  • Senior Guardian hacks turn on Assange

    Leaky love-in goes sour

    An intriguing mini-drama has emerged from backstage at the WikiLeaks theatre. Julian Assange has fallen out with the two senior Guardian journalists who have been central figures in the global publishing of classified US military and diplomatic documents this year. Arguably, he's not a man who can afford to lose friends at the …

    Government 21 Dec 2010, 12:46

  • Daily Express social network pwned by slew of smut

    Middle England's MySpacey mouthpiece stuffed with sex spam

    The Daily Express MyExpress web service has been swamped by masses of sex spam text in a mighty pwn which may have begun two years ago. Reader profiles on the site have been turned into handy catalogues of naughty practices, seemingly by Eastern European hackers and to no obvious end. The reams of text have the appearance of …

    ID 21 Dec 2010, 13:05

  • Christmas shoppers hit by BT fire

    Exchange blaze cuts off London's retail heart

    A flood and fire in one of BT's major exchanges in London's west end has left stores on Oxford Street and Regent Street unable to process card payments in the last few shopping days before Christmas. The small blaze overnight at the Gerrard Street facility in Soho has left thousands of businesses without broadband and …

    Telecoms 21 Dec 2010, 13:23

  • Queen set to outlaw ID cards today

    Photos, fingerprints and personal info to be securely destroyed

    The bill abolishing the National Identity Scheme is expected to gain royal assent later today. The Home Office said that it expected the identity documents bill would be passed into law on 21 December. As a result, existing ID cards will be invalid for use in a month's time. Home office minister Damian Green said the bill's …

    Government 21 Dec 2010, 13:41

  • Samsung hops onto MLC roundabout

    Solid and flashy performance

    Samsung is sampling its first enterprise multi-level cell (MLC) flash, with a pretty high performance solid state drive, and hopping onto a roundabout already crowded with other suppliers such as Anobit, OCZ, Pliant and STEC. The product comes in a 2.5-inch form factor, in 100, 200 and 400GB capacity points, and with a 3Gbit/s …

    Storage 21 Dec 2010, 13:42

  • Nailing the question of SaaS security

    Reg reader study How big's your hammer?

    According to feedback so far from Reg readers, the jury is still out on the question of security when it comes to hosted apps, or 'Software as a Service' (SaaS) in cloud parlance. Some reckon the risks are simply too high, others say you just need to think it through and make decisions sensibly. While it's a complex topic, …

    Tech Panel 21 Dec 2010, 14:24

  • BP taps HP for IT ops

    $400m for global outsourcing offload

    Oil giant BP looks likely to make cuts in its European and US IT departments to help allay the costs of the Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. BP International Ltd announced today that it has expanded an IT outsourcing deal it has operating in the United Kingdom to cover all of the oil company's operations in …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2010, 15:05

  • Duke of Edinburgh gives spintronics researchers a pile of cash

    Atomic nuclei can store data, boffins discover

    The Duke of Edinburgh is funding research into spintronics that has demonstrated the reading and writing of data from the spin of the nuclei of phosphorous atoms. The grand old D of E, through the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 which he heads, is but one of many funders of the research which has been carried out …

    Storage 21 Dec 2010, 15:11

  • Open source FTP app fixes fiery backdoor bug

    ProFTPD pain in the arse put paid to

    ProFTPD has updated its popular open source file transfer application to close a zero-day bug that hackers used to attack the developers' own website and plant a backdoored version of the software late last month. Version 1.3.3d of ProFTPD plugs a critical flaw in the SQL module of the FTP software package. The buffer overflow …

    Enterprise Security 21 Dec 2010, 15:52

  • BAA accused of banning passengers from filming travel chaos

    Airports not working? We hadn't noticed...

    It seems that UK airport bosses are not content with keeping passengers in the dark as to when they will ever leave the ground. Angry passengers who'd rather be swilling their eggnog in foreign climes have told El Reg that British Airports Authority (BAA) staff are stopping passengers stranded at Heathrow – and other airports – …

    Law 21 Dec 2010, 16:38

  • Worthless iPhone 'Wikileaks App' removed from Apple Store

    Many fools bought it first, though

    An iOS app designed to provide access to Wikileaks has been removed from the Apple App Store. "Wikileaks App" was a paid app ($1.99) which did nothing more than present the Wikileaks Twitter feed and website – both of which can of course still be seen by iDevice users with sufficient energy to activate their browser and/or …

    Mobile 21 Dec 2010, 16:39

  • Sony Ericsson to brand PlayStation phone 'Xperia Play'?

    It'll be mad if it does

    Will the PlayStation phone be called the PlayStation Phone? A search of Sony trademarks suggests it might not. According to fansite Pocket Now, Sony Ericsson has registered "Xperia Play" as a trademark in Europe. The name has also been registered as a web address. The flaw in any suggestion that Xperia Play will be the …

    reghardware 21 Dec 2010, 16:43

  • Vblock clouds moisten the data center

    Capellas talks up VCE sales and pipeline

    Michael Capellas, the former CEO at Compaq and since May of this year the CEO heading up the Acadia cloudy infrastructure partnership between Cisco Systems, EMC, and VMware, has been making the rounds, talking up the partnership and its Vblock virtualized server and storage stacks. In a column over at CNET, John Webster, a …

    Servers 21 Dec 2010, 16:57

  • Microsoft's year in review: Hits, misses, and maybes

    Radio Reg Don't mention the iPad. Or Ray Ozzie

    This year saw Microsoft return to mobile with Windows Phone 7, deliver its answer to Google Apps, and silence web skeptics with an HTML5-compliant IE9 beta. Yet Microsoft failed to answer Apple on tablets and lost the presidents of its Office and entertainment and devices divisions along with Ray Ozzie, the man handpicked by …

    Microbite 21 Dec 2010, 17:12

  • Microsoft opens playpen for 'unstable' web standards

    'We do HTML5 the right way'

    Microsoft has unveiled an online sandbox where developers can experiment with unfinished web standards you won't find in its Internet Explorer browser. After years of cold shouldering the web standards movement, Redmond has taken a very different approach with Internet Explorer 9, now available in beta. And with the …

    Developer 21 Dec 2010, 20:08

  • HP tempts Cisco shops with networking discounts

    Taunts ex-BFF

    In September, Hewlett-Packard dumped Cisco-branded LAN and WAN switches from its data centers, and now, it wants Cisco shops to do the same thing. Of course, HP pays cost for its own A Series switches and routers (the data center-class products that came from the 3Com acquisition) and the E Series products (which used to be …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2010, 20:40

  • Microsoft ARMs Windows for iPad assault (allegedly)

    Tablet OS hits ARM chips next month, says report

    Microsoft is set to unveil a new incarnation of Windows that runs on ARM chips, according to a report citing two people familiar with the company's plans. Bloomberg reports that Redmond will announce an ARM-friendly version of Windows early next month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. According to Bloomberg' …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2010, 21:58