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7th January 2011 Archive

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  • Acer outs low-cost Androids

    CES 2011 One for business, one for pleasure

    Acer roster of Android smartphones grew by two handsets this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one a compact affair for ordinary punters, the other a more sober Qwerty keyboard BlackBerry wannabe. The Liquid Mini is a mere 110 x 58 x 13mm and 109g in size and weight, but packs in a 600MHz Qualcomm processor, 5Mp …

    reghardware 7 Jan 00:17

  • Google pinpoints bugs that send texts to wrong people

    Android saves marriages

    Google has acknowledged a pair of Android bugs that end up sending texts to the wrong recipients, saying it plans to deploy fixes for each. On Thursday, in a post to the Android support forums, the company said that user complaints over misdirected texts stem from not one but two bugs. The complaints date back to at least June …

    Mobile 7 Jan 00:30

  • Researcher breaks security sandbox in Adobe Flash

    Bypassing security with mhtml

    A security researcher has found a way to bypass a measure in Adobe's Flash Player that's designed to harden it against hack attacks. Billy Rios, a Google researcher who published the method on his personal website, said it circumvents the local-with-filesystem sandbox, which is supposed to prevent Flash files loaded locally …

    Security 7 Jan 01:05

  • Ion readies book scanner for e-book buffs

    CES 2011 Pump up the volumes

    Fed up of paying through the nose for e-books? Ion, the company best known for its USB turntables, is readying a gadget that will help you digitise your paperbacks, hardbacks, magazines and comics. Called the Book Saver, it's a large frame into which you place an open book. Tap the Scan button and the spread is digitised and …

    reghardware 7 Jan 02:01

  • FCC dubbed 'Ministry of Truth' over net neut rules

    CES 2011 'Freedom is slavery' howls ideologue

    A senior telecommunications counsel to the House Energy and Commerce committee has blasted the Federal Communications Commission for laying down official net neutrality rules, comparing the FCC to Orwell's Ministry of Truth. Neil Fried – a Republican adviser to ranking members of the Energy and Commerce committee, the driving …

    Networks 7 Jan 06:18

  • Samsung Galaxy Player 50 Android PMP

    Review Smartphone sans phone?

    As a connected multi-function media player, Apple's iPod Touch has never had much in the way of competition. But that is changing. Archos has already launched an interesting looking range of Android mini tablets-cum-media players, including the impressive Archos 43, and now Samsung has today released the Galaxy Player 50. It's …

    reghardware 7 Jan 07:00

  • Min of Justice to crack down on dodgy compo claims

    'Incentives to sue' to be banned

    Claims management companies will be prevented from offering clients cash incentives to bring damages claims if a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) proposal to tighten up the rules comes into effect. The move has been prompted by concerns about the way such companies market their services to the public. In his October 2010 report …

    Law 7 Jan 09:46

  • Whose data is it anyway?

    Hosted apps Don't lose control - or get paranoid

    Losing control of one’s data is among the first concerns that arise when software as a service (SaaS) is mentioned. Fans may point out the merits of applications running in the cloud, but it’s not the software we worry about, it’s what happens, or might happen, to our data. As one Reg reader put it in a recent survey: “I'm …

    Hosted Apps 7 Jan 09:55

  • The optimised datacentre

    Introducing our new topic

    If you're a datacentre manager then you know just how tough it gets. Whether the customer is a small business down the road or a large enterprise halfway across the globe, whether you work for a service provider or in an in-house datacentre, it all amounts to one thing: an unsquareable circle. On the one hand, everybody wants …

    Data Centre 7 Jan 09:57

  • OCZ exhibits semi-vapourware speed freak SSDs

    Today's vapour, tomorrow's cloud?

    CES 2011 The performance numbers are freaking fast with OCZ's latest road-rocket SSD, the Vertex 3 Pro. But they are semi-vapourSSDware, demo CES devices with no prices and availability. It pairs a SandForce SF2582 controller with eMLC (enterprise multi-level cell) or ordinary MLC NAND and offers up to 75,000 random write IOPS …

    Storage 7 Jan 10:15

  • Microsoft Kinect goes gangbusters

    CES 2011 XBox marks the sweet spot

    During his annual keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer revealed the company had sold eight million Kinect devices in its first 60 days - three million more than expected. In the last two months of 2010, Kinect purchases went through the roof, boosting sales for Xbox consoles in the process …

    reghardware 7 Jan 10:21

  • Zero-day backdoors to be left unplugged on Patch Tuesday

    Microsoft may have to fix vulns later in month

    Microsoft plans to release two updates – one critical – as part of the next edition of its Patch Tuesday security bulletin cycle on 11 January. The critical vulnerability affects all supported versions of Windows (including Windows 7 and 2008R2) while the less serious fix is particular to a flaw that's restricted to Windows …

    Malware 7 Jan 10:55

  • Met confirms secret Gov forecast of Brass Monkey winter

    Didn't share it with us, though

    The Met Office gave Government confidential weather advice that contradicts their published public statements, according to the BBC's Roger Harrabin. Harrabin says the Cabinet Office was told to expect "an exceptionally cold winter", and he sounds pretty certain about it. But back in October, the Met published maps showing a …

    Government 7 Jan 11:18

  • Samsung launches 'world's slimmest' 3D Blu-ray player

    CES 2011 Size matters, apparently

    Samsung prides itself on making exceedingly thin Blu-ray players. Two years ago it claimed the slimmer's crown with the BD-P4600. Now it is crowing again over an even thinner player, the BD-D7500. The company introduced seven Blu-ray models, four of which are 3D compatible and three that support 3D conversion using Samsung's …

    reghardware 7 Jan 11:24

  • Startup proposes cheap, printed NFC radio tags

    May struggle to get aboard struggling standard

    NFC tags can be printed rather than built for a more egalitarian tracking system, according to tech start-up Kovio. Kovio reckons that its printed tags will come in at below five cents a time and can be built up using conventional printing techniques, trumping existing tags that are generally stuck on and cost two or three …

    Wireless 7 Jan 11:28

  • Salesforce buys Dimdim, continues with Facebook-for-biz ploy

    Follow the yellow brick Zuckerberg

    Cloud vendor Salesforce.com has bought messaging and screen-sharing outfit Dimdim for around $31m as it continues to out-Facebook Facebook for its biz customers. The company said yesterday it had acquired Dimdim – which was founded in 2007 and has offices based in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Hyderabad, India – in an effort to …

    Cloud 7 Jan 11:45

  • Runaway hydroponic fungus attacks real-world Starship Voyager

    'Mould in transporter' horror caused by below-decks dope farm

    The Leicestershire Trekkie who turned his flat into a replica of the Starship Voyager spent two years battling an alien mould attack, unaware that it was caused by a dope farm in the property below. Tony Alleyne, 57, spunked £30k to convert his Hinckley gaff* into a homage to Star Trek, but was forced to do some serious …

    Bootnotes 7 Jan 12:06

  • Google battles Derby cops over access to Street View data

    Criminal caravan caper camera-car capture court clash

    Google has turned the boys in blue red with rage by refusing to hand over private data except by court order. Police want to trace a vehicle snapped by Google's Street View cameras next to a caravan that was stolen shortly afterwards. The thief struck in June 2009, while the Soanes family, from Linton, Derbyshire, were out. …

    Policing 7 Jan 12:24

  • Microsoft confesses to New Year Hotmail blunders

    Claims nothing deleted, admits emails may have 'bounced'

    Microsoft's Hotmail saw the New Year in with a whimper, after thousands of its users were unable to access their web-based email accounts. Yesterday the company explained what went wrong, offered a relatively minor apology given the scale of the cockup, and said it would endeavor to prevent similar mistakes in the future. …

    Software 7 Jan 12:28

  • Mac App Store giving away pay apps for free

    Angry Birds vendor now even angrier

    Security oversights mean that many of the applications in Apple's newly launched Mac App Store can easily be obtained without payment. A significant number of developers have disregarded Apple's advice on validating App Store receipts before making their software available through the store. As a result, many applications can …

    Enterprise Security 7 Jan 12:43

  • Apple denies reported plan to deep-six CFO Oppenheimer

    'Peter loves the company and is extremely happy'

    Apple has reportedly been fishing around for a new chief finance officer, even though the iPhone and Mac vendor has strongly denied it is mulling a replacement for its current top bean counter. According to Bloomberg, which cites sources familiar with the situation, Apple asked Blackstone Group's finance boss Laurence Tosi to …

    Business 7 Jan 12:47

  • Kinect blamed for Red Ring of Death outbreak

    'Purely co-incidental'

    Some gamers are blaming Kinect, Microsoft's motion-controlled peripheral, for the loss of their XBox to the dreaded Red Ring of Death. One Reg reader says his Xbox was just over a year old when he plugged in his new Kinect device this Christmas, only for the console to break down. Microsoft says that Kinect was built to …

    reghardware 7 Jan 12:55

  • Huawei S7 7in Android tablet

    Review The low-cost option?

    Hard on the heels of Samsung's Galaxy Tab comes the S7 from Chinese manufacturer Huawei, an Android tablet that aims to tread the line between the pricey Galaxy and the wretched crop of £99 devices that you can find on the shelves of Netto and Asda. Huawei's S7: handsome The S7 is certainly a solid and handsome bit of kit …

    reghardware 7 Jan 13:00

  • Man charged in bizarre EXPLODING VIBRATOR plot

    Gunpowder-stuffed mock cock labelled 'Merry Xmas bitch'

    A Minnesota man has been cuffed on charges of "creating an explosive device and making terroristic threats" after allegedly rigging the worst Xmas present ever for an ex-girlfriend – an exploding vibrator. According to the Criminal Complaint (PDF), Terry Allen Lester, 37, (pictured) was reported to police by two women with …

    Bootnotes 7 Jan 13:14

  • Ofcom preps 'digital dividend' selloff, kick in the (foot)balls for Sky

    Olympic spectrum-cop electronic warfare unit planned, too

    Ofcom has laid out its priorities for the next two years: mostly cost-cutting and working out how to best slap down bit torrent users, but kicking Sky too. The draft plan is open to comment until the beginning of March. But don't rush to the defence of the pirates just yet: Ofcom will only be drawing up a code for dealing with …

    Government 7 Jan 14:06

  • Intel soups up Wireless Display tech

    CES 2011 But will punters really buy a new laptop for PC-to-TV streaming?

    Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) technology entire failed to take off after it was launched a year ago during the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). One year on, and the chip giant has taken the wraps off WiDi 2.0. Can it fare any better? The new release is certainly better. Developed to stream your computer's screen over …

    reghardware 7 Jan 14:48

  • Facebook riddled by 'my first ever status message' scam app

    Forgetful narcissists targeted by survey scoundrels

    A new survey scam has hoodwinked thousands on Facebook. Users are being induced into filling out a worthless survey on the false promise of a dubious reward - a reminder of their first ever status message on the social networking website. These false promises appear as status messages from already fooled surfers, touting a …

    Malware 7 Jan 14:52

  • Ptable: It’s all about the interface

    Using simplicity to drag people into the 21st century

    With no insult to El Reg’s skilled and resourceful interblag guru Murray Walker, I have recently run across potentially the coolest and most useful site currently available on the web. It’s called ptable. It is everything you ever wanted to know about the periodic table of elements presented in an easy to navigate format and it’ …

    Sysadmin blog 7 Jan 15:00

  • EU law not tough enough for online piracy, says Brussels

    Wants measures to force ISP cooperation

    Rates of intellectual property infringement in the EU are "alarming", according to the European Commission. It says that an EU law on IP rights has had some effect, but that the legal measure was not designed to deal with online piracy. Current laws are not strong enough to combat online IP infringement effectively and powers …

    Law 7 Jan 15:38

  • Fujifilm focuses on fresh FinePix range

    CES 2011 GPS goes gritty

    Fujifilm clicked off 2011 with a major launch of 16 FinePix digital cameras, revealed at CES this week. Here's a look at some of the snappers on offer... The Fujifilm FinePix X100 is "the most exciting model" of the line-up. It has a fixed, prime F2 lens and a 12.3Mp APS-C sensor. The camera also includes a hybrid viewfinder …

    reghardware 7 Jan 15:42

  • Tech veep denies Xiotech ISE controller strategy change

    Comment 'It's certainly possible'

    Rob Peglar, Xiotech's VP for technology, took issue with some aspects of the story about the ISE NAS Controller Node. He told the Reg: The basic clarification is this: ISE NAS today is exactly the same strategy as it was back in April.  We have changed high-stack technology, from Symantec Filestore to Windows 2008 Storage …

    Storage 7 Jan 15:50

  • Nazis 'became obsessed' with piss-taking Finnish dog

    Mocking mutt raised paw in response to barked 'Hitler'

    Newly discovered documents have revealed that Nazi officials got themselves into a bit of a tizz over a Finnish dog which raised its paw in response to the command "Hitler". According to AP, piss-taking mutt Jackie was owned by pharmaceutical company boss Tor Borg, whose German wife Josefine was known for not being …

    Bootnotes 7 Jan 16:02

  • 'Methanotroph' bacteria feasted on blown BP rig's methane belch

    Deepwater Horizon upsets climate-change assumptions

    Scientists believe they have solved the mystery over what happened to the hundreds of thousands of tons of methane that belched into the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion last April. According to a study published in Science Xpress, the gas served as a feast for methanotrophs: bacteria able to …

    Environment 7 Jan 16:11

  • Vegas vid-poker hackjackpot bonanza duo face charges

    One-arm-bandit bandits plundered backdoor for $100ks

    A duo who used a software bug in video poker machines to milk thousands in unearned jackpots have been charged with computer hacking and conspiracy offences. John Kane, 52, of Las Vegas, allegedly learned that a glitch in the software that meant it was possible to change the stake and multiplier of payouts after first …

    Crime 7 Jan 16:29

  • Hoxton social media types hit by Silicon Roundabout power cut

    No 'leccy to be had at the Electricity Showrooms

    Web 2.0 consultants and SEO specialists residing in the increasingly crowded hub of London's social media universe were left without electricity in Hoxton yesterday. The outage was the second power cut to have hit residents who occupy offices near the so-called Silicon Roundabout, which is serviced by the area's new leccy …

    Bootnotes 7 Jan 16:32

  • Oz net filter jams up with smut, may be pulled out altogether

    Online rules may be scrapped

    A former Australian regulator recently speculated that there may be changes in the works for Australia's smut regulation, suggesting that self-regulation may eventually follow. This is ahead of a review of the classification system that is being conducted by the Australian Law Review Commission (ALRC). Does the future for the …

    Law 7 Jan 16:52

  • iConnectivity brings MIDI interfacing to iOS devices

    CES 2011 Mobile music making gets serious at last

    Music composition on iOS devices has been around for a while but for meticulous musicians, touchscreen tune tapping just doesn’t cut it. For more serious work it seem that iConnectivity has the answer. iConnectMIDI in play with Xewton’s MusicStudio At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), iConnectivity introduced …

    reghardware 7 Jan 18:00

  • Feds relax export curbs on open-source crypto

    Hold the applause

    Federal restrictions will be relaxed on the export of open-source software that incorporates strong encryption, the US government announced on Friday in a lengthy disclosure. The effect of the changes announced in the US Federal Register is that cryptography software now may be exported to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and …

    Security 7 Jan 19:15

  • US job market still limp

    But IT on the rise

    The US economy added 103,000 non-farm jobs in December, but just as in November, American employers added significantly fewer jobs than economists had been expecting. In this case, those who make such prognostications had predicted 175,000 new jobs (net) to be created. The good news, according to the December jobs report …

    Financial News 7 Jan 19:20

  • Drupal 7 dives into machine-readable web

    Later better than never

    The machine-readable web has come a step closer thanks to open sourcers in the Drupal community. Drupal 7 has received sign-off - finally - adding the ability to embed semantic meta-data into sites using the open-source content management system. That means Drupal 7 is adding native support for the W3C's RDFa - a set of XHTML …

    Applications 7 Jan 19:42

  • Ford unveils all-leccy Focus for 2012

    CES 2011 Li-ion battery liquid cooled for longevity

    Ford has formally wheeled its new all-electric Focus out of the garage, and promised to put it onto European forecourts in 2012. The car company said the leccy Focus will charge more quickly than Nissan's rival Leaf and offer better miles-per-litre pricing than GM's Ampera, as the Volt will be called in Europe. The charge …

    reghardware 7 Jan 20:30

  • Motorola dual-core Android phone to pull off laptop trick?

    CES 2011 The smartphone that thinks it's a notebook

    Motorola's Atrix smartphone will be coming to the UK courtesy of Orange. Just another Android handset, you say, but it's the Atrix's accessories that make this gadget stand out as much as its spec. Atrix the phone The Atrix will sport a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of Ram and 16GB of on-board Flash storage to which you can …

    reghardware 7 Jan 21:37

  • If you open source an old market, are you doomed to fail?

    Open...and Shut Going down with a closed ship

    A few years back, a host of open-source businesses raised hundreds of millions of dollars on the promise that they would commoditize old, dying markets, and make a bundle of money in the process. Missing from this thesis, however, was its logical conclusion: winning in a fading market is tantamount to losing, as the …

    Software 7 Jan 21:44

  • For sale: 50,000 compromised iTunes accounts

    Music and movies for pennies on the dollar

    Users of a Chinese auction site are brazenly selling access to compromised iTunes accounts that offer downloads of movies and music for pennies on the dollar. According to China's Global Times, about 50,000 pillaged iTunes accounts were up for sale on Taobao.com for as little as $5. Access to thousands of accounts has already …

    Crime 7 Jan 21:45

  • Verizon to sell iPhone 4 this month

    Deal to be made official next week, says mole

    The cat is near as darn it out of the bag. US carrier Verizon will announce next week that it's going to offer the iPhone 4. It'll be doing so during the last week of the month if reports that Apple has told its retail employees that holidays are a no-no during that period are correct. Verizon's oft-predicted announcement …

    reghardware 7 Jan 23:06

  • DisplayLink tools up iPad as wireless Windows screen

    CES 2011 Turn tablet into monitor

    DisplayLink, the company best known for gadgets that connect monitors through USB ports, has released software that will allow a Windows 7 machine to use an iPad as a secondary display. And it does it with Windows' Aero UI, wirelessly over Wi-Fi. You'll need to install code on both devices: the iPad app is available now for …

    reghardware 7 Jan 23:34