6th January 2011 Archive

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Panasonic preps TV accessory tablet

CES 2011 How to stand out from the Android crowd

Android tablets are for media consumption? Panasonic thinks so - and that they'll make rather good TV accessories too. Today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the Japanese giant showed off a "prototype tablet-type terminal", one of a family of touchscreen gadgets - screen sizes run from four to ten inches - that'll go …

reghardware 6 Jan 00:41
Casio shows off its camera Tryx

CES 2011 Frame changing flip screen photography

Every once in a while a camera comes along that causes a bit of a stir. The original Flip video camera was certainly a game changer and at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Casio unveiled Tryx, a camera that has every chance of achieving a similar response. While the 12.1Mp CMOS sensor and Full HD video and wide-angle 21mm …

reghardware 6 Jan 01:11
Sony Ericsson lights up Xperia Arc

CES 2011 Android handset announced - no mention of PlayStation

The PlayStation Phone hasn't (yet) made an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), so Sony Ericsson fans will have to make do with the Xperia Arc, a very slim Android smartphone that, as its name suggests, is curved. The metal backed, chrome plastic sided handset is built around a 4.2in, 480 x 854 capacitive multi- …

reghardware 6 Jan 03:14
PlayStation phone coming, hints Sony chief

CES 2011 Tablets too

OK, so Sony's networking chief Kaz Hirai didn't announce the PlayStation Phone - or even confirm that this eagerly anticipated gadget is on the way, but he came darn close during his Consumer Electronics Show (CES) presentation this evening in Las Vegas. He did confirm - twice, in case assembled hacks and analysts missed it …

reghardware 6 Jan 03:34
Microsoft invents touch-sensitive mouse

CES 2011 Steve Jobs sprays tea in shock?

Microsoft says it's Touch Mouse - a input rodent with a touch-sensitive top surface - came out of a programme to research how "mouse 2.0" might appear. We're certain it did, but we'd also suggest the company could have saved itself an R&D buck or two by buying an Apple Magic Mouse and copying it. Bottom line: it's a mouse that …

reghardware 6 Jan 03:57
Doctor Who and the Stig become public speakers

CES 2011 Top gear for MP3 playback?

Speakal, US-based manufacturer of novelty speaker systems, is at the Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) this year with a fresh range of set-ups, which include these Top Gear and Doctor Who inspired designs. This replica Stig helmet includes an iPod dock, digital amplifier and 25W output with built-in sub-woofer. Give him a track …

reghardware 6 Jan 06:00
Ballmer says Windows on ARM isn't about ARM

CES 2011 'You're still our BFF, Intel'

Windows 8 will be the first incarnation of Microsoft's flagship OS to run on ARM processors. But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer prefers to paint this news a bit differently. He downplays the ARM bit. "This announcement is really all about enabling a new class of hardware and new silicon partners for Windows, to bring the widest …

Operating Systems 6 Jan 06:46
Arcam Solo rDac wireless digital-to-analogue converter

Review Stream spirit

Wireless music systems are commonplace nowadays, but some folk still prefer to use a standalone digital-to-analogue converter to liberate their digital music library, and these are the punters Arcam is pitching its Solo rDac at. Arcam's rDac: minmalist styling As you might expect from an up-market British audio kit maker …

reghardware 6 Jan 07:00
Panasonic readies five 3D camcorders

CES 2011 Build it and they will come?

Just to be sure that nobody has any doubts about its commitment to 3D content creation, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Panasonic launched 12 new camcorders, five of which can capture stereoscopic images. Panasonic's HDC-HS900 with optional 3D lens attachment At the top of the range the HDC-TM900, HDC-HS900, HDC- …

reghardware 6 Jan 08:34
Pickles throws down gauntlet on council data

Open up your books to the interwebs or else

Eric Pickles has told more than 200 "slow coach councils" that they must put spending data online or face the consequences. The local government secretary reminded them that they have until the end of January to publish data about spending of £500 or more. This includes publishing details of senior pay and councillor expenses …

Government 6 Jan 08:47
Spam volumes shrink over festive season

Even miscreants like to make merry

Spam volumes have witnessed a dramatic drop of more than 50 per cent since Christmas. Global junk mail volumes have reached their lowest level since the November 2008 shutdown of rogue ISP McColo, Symantec's net filtering business MessageLabs reports. MessageLabs attributes the drop to a production break from the Rustock, …

Spam 6 Jan 09:17
Renault fingers three for spying

'Leccy tech espionage alleged

French car giant Renault has suspended three senior executives for alleged industrial espionage offences. The company said that the three had been suspended without pay for ethical issues following an investigation. Anonymous sources told Reuters: "It involves people who were caught red-handed for industrial espionage. It's a …

Physics 6 Jan 09:24
ESA releases splendid new space-'scope pic of Andromeda

Neighbouring spiral galaxy refulgent in X-ray, infrared

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released an impressive composite snap of the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way – an infrared and X-ray mélange showing Andromeda in all its glory: The Herschel space telescope captured the infrared component of the image (shown in red/orange), while the XMM-Newton observatory provided …

Space 6 Jan 10:17
Windows Phone 7 to get cut'n'paste shortly, says Ballmer

CES 2011 Biz tyrant insists that end users are the customer

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 will get a significant update in a month or two, with faster task switching and the much-discussed ability to cut and paste between applications. The news was tucked away in the middle of Steve Ballmer's CES keynote, between lengthy tales of how impressed everyone is with Windows Phone 7 and a recap …

Applications 6 Jan 10:41
SWAT team besieges Illinois school in 'butt dialling' incident

Touchscreen buttock hip-hop blabber SOS error

An Illinois man prompted a full-scale SWAT intervention on Monday afternoon by inadvertently "butt-dialling" his wife, who quickly became convinced the "garbled" call was evidence he was being held hostage. The unnamed chap was driving home from his job at Carleton Washburne School in Winnetka when "his touch screen phone …

Policing 6 Jan 11:03
NoTW editor suspended as phone-hacking stink persists

No. 10 spindoc Coulson struggles to rid self of odour

The News of the World has suspended an assistant editor over claims he authorised the voicemail hacking of phones used by actress Sienna Miller and her friends. Ian Edmondson, the tabloid's assistant editor, faces an internal inquiry over allegations of phone hacking in 2005, dating from the time was edited by Andy Coulson, …

Crime 6 Jan 11:22
Groupon cops triple slam from ads authority, blames newbies

ASA bitchslaps voucher mammoth over cheap tuck, Segways

Voucher site Groupon has promised not to republish adverts judged by the Advertising Standards Authority to be misleading. The company said that during its exponential growth it had hired hundreds of new staff and the ads in question were written by new starters. The ASA upheld complaints against an email advert which said: " …

Music and Media 6 Jan 11:40
SaaS and Security

Tech Panel We want your views

The security discussion around Software as a Service (SaaS) is pretty lively. It is common to hear IT professionals question whether service providers can be trusted to look after business data. We are trying to determine how real the risk actually is, and how it compares to risks currently associated with data storage in house …

Security that Fits 6 Jan 11:48
Assange 'threatened to sue' Grauniad over leak of WikiLeak

Irony, thy name is Julian

Julian Assange threatened to sue The Guardian last year when he learned it planned to publish stories based on leaked US diplomatic cables without his permission, it's claimed today. The Wikileaks founder's gripe: That the paper had obtained the documents it intended to use not via him, but from a leaker within his …

Music and Media 6 Jan 11:48
Footie fans in 'cunthorpe Utd' calendar shocker

Club grovels after rude merchandising mishap

Scunthorpe United has apologised to 2,000 fans for rather unfortunately dropping the "S" from the club's name in a personalised 2011 calendar, the Sun reports. According to the paper, the £12.99 calendar "each month shows photos of the Championship club's players as well as prominently displaying the fan's name". Fan Jamie …

Bootnotes 6 Jan 11:58
Palm Pre 2 WebOS 2.0 smartphone

Review Refined rather than revamped

This is the second upgrade made to the Palm Pre since the original version appeared almost two years ago, and the first since the company was acquired by HP. The last tweak, the Palm Pre Plus, made a few changes, but this latest version raises the bar considerably. Palm's Pre 2: refined design The Palm Pre 2 looks much the …

reghardware 6 Jan 12:00
Unsinkable music CD finally sinking

Plastic sales plummet: HMV shares down 75% in one year

After a remarkably resilient lifetime, in which its death was announced prematurely several times, the music CD finally looks to be on its way out. Figures released by the BPI this week show a 12.4 per cent decline in CD albums sales. In 2009, CD sales fell just 6.9 per cent – remarkable considering the disappearance of Zavvi …

Music and Media 6 Jan 12:14
Investors fight to buy secret special-offer Facebook equity

Zuckerberg cloudwad, the hottest paper on Wall Street

Goldman Sachs is to reportedly end soliciting interest in Facebook shares from wealthy investors later today. According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the situation, the brokerage has been inundated with orders of "several billion dollars" after the deal emerged over the weekend. Goldman Sachs …

Financial News 6 Jan 12:28
Nike and TomTom display watch with marathon capabilities

CES 2011 Running out with time

Nike and TomTom have come together to create the Nike+ SportWatch GPS, unveiled this week at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The Nike+ SportWatch GPS is a wrist-mounted portable computer that supplies an athlete with information they may need while on a run. It captures location details and shows time, …

reghardware 6 Jan 12:28
Casio touts 'Bluetooth Low Energy' wristwatch with 2 year battery

CES 2011 Also: WiFi rodent spotted in Vegas

Casio is showing off a prototype Bluetooth Low Energy watch at CES, hoping that it is battery life that's stopped us rushing out to buy wrist-mounted Bluetooth kit. The watch, which still lacks a model number, uses Bluetooth Low Energy to communicate with a mobile phone so it can buzz when the phone rings. Not only that, but …

Wireless 6 Jan 12:43
US woman @theashes gives in to Twitter, flies to Sydney

Wisdom of crowds turns nanny into cricket connoisseur

A US children's nanny whose boyfriend gave her the twitter handle @theashes, prompting a flurry of confusing messages by cricket-loving tweeters as a result, has made it Down Under for the final test match in Sydney. Ashley Kerekes, 22, had turned on text notification for new messages on her phone. As a result she received a …

Entertainment 6 Jan 13:03
Ofcom clears way for 3G kit on 2G spectrum

Nobody likely to freq out ahead of 2012 mega-auction

Ofcom has modified the UK's mobile-operator licences to allow 3G services at 2G frequencies, though don't expect to be able to use them any time soon. The proposed modifications were published last year, but have now been enacted with a couple of clarifications (pdf) including a promise to open up the frequencies to new …

Mobile 6 Jan 13:19
Disappearing filth leads to dropped charges in extreme smut case

Geordie cops mutter 'Doh', scratch heads

The stumbling progress of extreme porn case law continues with Newcastle magistrates dropping a charge of possessing a single image of extreme porn – because local police and prosecution appear to have lost the evidence. Not only is this embarrassing, but anyone out and about in the Newcastle area who happens across the dodgy …

Policing 6 Jan 13:34
Xiotech saddles up, heads west, fires a few guys

'One-time streamlining' accompanies HQ move

In a decisive break with its past, Xiotech is moving its headquarters from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to Colorado Springs in Colorado, and some people have been laid off as a result. Marketing head Brian Reagan emphasised that this was a one-off exercise, saying: "Some roles have been eliminated in order to streamline operations …

Storage 6 Jan 13:45
South African wireless traffic lights pillaged by SIM-card thieves

Don't stop at the lights unless you want free phone calls

The Johannesburg Road Agency is in talks with suppliers to try and stop thieves targeting its shiny new traffic lights for the SIM cards they contain. The Agency has been forking out thousands of rand on phone calls the thieves subsequently make using the snaffled SIMs. Thulani Makhubela, spokesman for the JRA, said: “The JRA …

Crime 6 Jan 14:28
RIM reveals 4G PlayBook plans

CES 2011 Tablet wars heat up

Research in Motion is to launch a 4G version of its much-anticipated tablet, the PlayBook, this summer with US mobile operator Sprint Nextel. For the first time on Wednesday, RIM provided a hands-on demonstration of the Playbook, a 7in touch-screen tablet. A Wi-Fi only version launches in the US in March, and RIM is reporting …

reghardware 6 Jan 14:32
Apple unwraps app store for proper computers

Can OSX offerings replicate fondle-slabware success?

Apple has launched an online applications store for its Mac computers. Cupertino hopes that its latest cloudy marketplace will replicate the success of its iPhone apps store and bring on board plenty of software coders for developing progs on the company's latest operating system, Mac OS X. The latest store went live in the …

Applications 6 Jan 14:44
Sony shows sci-fi style personal 3D viewer

CES 2011 Surround-sound specs, anyone?

Next-gen 3D viewers will get personal and, in some cases, lose the need for special glasses - or at least that's what Sony, for one, reckons. At the Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) in Las Vegas this week, it showed off two possible products - no, it wasn't saying if or when they will come to market - for folk seeking a less …

reghardware 6 Jan 15:03
Becks offloads ~~Posh~~ Porsche on eBay

'Murdered out' black-on-black motor offered on tat bazaar

David Beckham is offloading his Porsche 911 Turbo Convertible on eBay ahead of an impending return to Premiership football at Tottenham. The wheels cost Becks £100k new back in 2008, and he apparently stumped another £50k having it modified to an all-black "murdered out" state. The motor boasts "Tiptronic S transmission, …

Bootnotes 6 Jan 15:36
Kindle lets users lend e-books to mates via email

Publishers say: Get your arse down the library, fat boy

Amazon is allowing Kindle users to lend a book to a mate, but the UK Publishers Association reckons e-book borrowers should get down the library. The new feature allows e-books bought for the Kindle platform to be lent out for 14 days, delivered by email and springing back to their owners automatically as detailed by Amazon, …

Music and Media 6 Jan 15:40
Toshiba tries again with second gen tablet

CES 2011 Snazzy Honeycomb hardware inbound

After Toshiba's shaky entry into the tablet market - exclusive UK retailer Dixons dropped it after a week thanks to software problems - the Japanese giant is having another go, this time upping the spec and waiting for Android 3. The unnamed tablet, announced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), sports a 10.1in, …

reghardware 6 Jan 15:41
iPhone-wielding chumps rush to give data to phish sites

BlackBerry, desktop users less easily phooled

Mobile users are three times more likely to respond to phishing scams than their PC-using counterparts, according to stats prised from fraudulent websites. An analysis of logs from several phishing websites by transaction security firm Trusteer revealed that not only were they among the first visitors to arrive at a phishing …

ID 6 Jan 15:44
Fit your old MacBook Air with turbo flash, bitchslap the new ones

CES 2011 Glowing handprint for early-adopter fanboi cheeks

Solid state drive (SSD) supplier OWC has come up with a flash retrofit to first-generation MacBook Airs to make them fly faster and further than ever before, faster than Apple intended, and faster than generation two Airs as well. OWC is doing this by supplying SSDs using SandForce controllers in its new SSDs with-a-very-long- …

Storage 6 Jan 16:31
Amazon expands cloud services support

Adds 'bronze' and 'platinum' offerings, chops prices

Amazon Web Services, the cloudy infrastructure-peddling arm of the online retailing giant, is expanding its support offerings with entry and higher-end options while at the same time chopping prices on existing support levels. AWS, of course, is the juggernaut of the cloud computing field right now, with its EC2 compute cloud …

Cloud 6 Jan 16:44
iRiver upgrades Story with hi-res display

CES 2011 HD, sort of

iRiver has announced what it claims will be the e-book reader with the highest resolution display. The Story HD - the successor to iRiver's rather good Story reader - has a 6in, LG-made 768 x 1024. Not only more pixels, the display flips from one page to next more quickly than its rivals do, iRiver claimed. Based on …

reghardware 6 Jan 18:12
Motorola uncloaks 10.1-inch Xoom fondleslab

CES 2011 iPad challenger runs Android 3.0

Motorola has announced a new 10.1-inch tablet, the Xoom, hoping to take on Apple's überpopular iPad and a host of fondleslab wannabes. The Xoom will appear in the first quarter of 2011 running Google's tablet-centric Android 3.0 operating system, aka "Honeycomb." "Motorola XOOM gives consumers complete access and control of …

Music and Media 6 Jan 18:31
Google Apps battle spam with auto email signing

DKIM to the rescue

Google's Apps service has rolled out a technology designed to snuff out spam and phishing emails by cryptographically verifying that senders are they entities they claim to be. The email-signing standard, known as DKIM or DomainKeys Identified Mail, is available immediately from Google Apps and can be turned on with a few …

Channel Register 6 Jan 18:49
Google sneak peeks Android for fondleslabs

Holographic Honeycomb

Google has given the world another peek at "Honeycomb", the next incarnation of Android designed specifically for tablets – such as the upcoming Motorola Xoom – and other devices with larger-than-handset screen sizes. In a blog post, head Android man Andy Rubin says that Honeycomb – aka Android 3.0 – will use a "truly virtual …

Operating Systems 6 Jan 19:17
Olympus fires off seven shooters

CES 2011 Micro Four Thirds range expands

Olympus has announced seven cameras at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), with a new addition to the PEN range of micro four-thirds cameras at the top of the pile. Olympus PEN E-PL2 with PENPal Bluetooth adapter The Olympus PEN E-PL2 is an interchangeable lens camera, featuring a new kit lens designed with video use in …

reghardware 6 Jan 21:26
Skype gobbles mobile video startup

VoIP king gets Qik

Skype has agreed to acquire Qik, a California-based outfit offering mobile software and services that let you capture and share video across phones as well as desktops and the web. Expected to close later this month, the deal is meant to speed Skype's march into mobile video. Qik's capture-and-share video apps are already …

Financial News 6 Jan 21:27
NASA taps Unisys for flight sim mission

Nerdy wingman suits up for cool $48.5m

Here's a job you probably wish you had. Unisys has just been tapped by NASA's Langley Research Center to provide application development and systems integration services for the space agency's simulators and flight research projects. The contract has a potential value of $48.5m. More than a decade ago, NASA Langley (which is …

Software 6 Jan 22:00
IT sales beat expectations in 2010

2011? More of the same. Maybe

The market for computing and telecom hardware, software, and services had better sales in 2010 than research outfit Gartner originally predicted. And the prognosis for 2011 is perhaps better than many now expect. If you are trying to be optimistic about the state of the economy, then the news that Gartner is now projecting …

Channel Register 6 Jan 22:10
Dell flashes Streak 10, launches Streak 7

CES 2011 By-the-numbers tablet lifted from herd by 4G connectivity

Dell has extended its Streak family of Android tablets by two inches with the announcement of a 7in model and by five inches with the admission that a 10in version is "coming soon". Dell briefly flashed the 10.1in Streak at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but put the Streak 7 centre stage, touting the tablet's Corning …

reghardware 6 Jan 22:59
Dell opts for Android for consumer smartphone

CES 2011 Oddly, Pro version runs WinPho 7

Dell today announced a new smartphone, the Venue, adopting the Sony Ericsson approach of offering a vanilla version of the handset sans keyboard and a "Pro" version with a slide-out Qwerty deck. Sony Ericsson, however, is at the very least consistent in its choice of operating system. The Xperia X10 Mini and the Xperia X10 …

reghardware 6 Jan 23:37
CES 2011: Complete Coverage

CES 2011 The stories, the tech, the tablets

Tablets and E-book Readers DisplayLink tools up iPad as wireless Windows screen Dell flashes Streak 10, launches Streak 7 Motorola uncloaks 10.1in Xoom fondleslab iRiver upgrades Story with hi-res display RIM reveals 4G PlayBook plans Toshiba tries again with second gen tablet Panasonic preps TV accessory tablet Samsung …

reghardware
Samsung rolls out 4th gen Wi-Fi camera

CES 2011 Lets your phone become the viewfinder

While the world + dog will use a cameraphone to distribute snapshots, Samsung still reckons a dedicated camera with built-in Wi-Fi is the way to go. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the company showed off its latest connected camera, the SH100. This 14.2Mp, 4.7-23.5mm zoom (35mm equivalent, 26-130mm) with a 3in …

reghardware 6 Jan 23:48
Facebook revenues 'hit $1.2 billion in nine months'

2010 financials leaked

Facebook pulled in $1.2 billion in revenue over the first nine months of 2010, according to a report citing documents distributed by Goldman Sachs, which is offering Facebook equity to some of its wealthiest clients. Facebook's net income during the first nine months of 2010 reached $355 million, Reuters reports. Goldman …

Financial News 6 Jan 23:50