17th February 2011 Archive

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Nvidia's Q4 padded with Intel cash

Next stop: Mobile domination

Nvidia is facing some inconvenient market transitions and business shifts, but luckily, it has a $1.5bn patent settlement from Intel to help smooth the ride. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 ended January 30, Nvidia booked revenues of $886.5m, down 9.8 per cent from the year ago quarter. Gross margins jumped 3.4 points to …

Business 17 Feb 2011, 00:56
Sony threatens to ban PS3 jailbreakers from network

For your own protection

Sony has threatened to permanently banish all PlayStation 3 users from the its online game network if they use jailbroken consoles. Customers who don't want to lose access to the PlayStation Network “must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices,” Sony Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein blogged on Wednesday …

Games 17 Feb 2011, 00:58
Boffin breakthrough doubles Wi-Fi speed

Two-way packet pumper

A team of researchers has developed a technology that has the potential to double the speed of wireless radios – such as those used by Wi-Fi – by allowing signals to be received and transmitted simultaneously. "Textbooks say you can't do it," said Stanford University assistant professor Philip Levis when announcing the …

Hardware 17 Feb 2011, 04:00
IBM answer machine makes chumps of trivia chimps

'Robots will keep us as pets'

If you've been watching the first two days of the Jeopardy! game show pitting two of humanity's trivia champs against IBM's Watson question-and-answer machine, you probably had a sinking feeling – mixed with a sense of awe. All-time champ Ken Jennings put up a good fight, and Brad Rutter stole away a few questions, but the …

HPC 17 Feb 2011, 04:03
iiNet teams up with Microsoft

Telco offers VPS

Australian number three telco iiNet has partnered with Microsoft to offer virtual private server (VPS) hosting services. The move to VPS targets businesses with a need to build and host their web applications in a secure environment without an investment in dedicated servers. “Whether it’s used for developing complex websites …

Business 17 Feb 2011, 04:26
ATM scammer jailed for 12 months

$1,500 fine for $270k crime

A West Australian man has been sentenced to 12 months' jail and fined $1,500 for taking part in an EFTPOS card skimming scam which netted the bandits $270,000. Naresh Vasanthanathan, 22, was part of an EFTPOS scamming ring which used terminals to capture bank card numbers and pins over a two month period last year. The …

Law 17 Feb 2011, 04:27
One-third of Aussies 'are pirates'

Freetarding round the world

One-third of adult Australians have practiced piracy in the last 12 months, a study has estimated. The study, released by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, claims that piracy sucks $A1.37bn out of the Australian economy. Direct effects claimed by AFACT amounted to $A575m, the study claims – including $A225m …

Media 17 Feb 2011, 04:53
FOSS maven says $29 'Freedom Box' will kill Facebook

You say you want a revolution?

Concerned about Facebook, Google, and other companies that make billions brokering sensitive information, free-software champion Eben Moglen has unveiled a plan to populate the internet with tiny, low-cost boxes that are designed to preserve individuals' personal privacy. The Freedom Box, as the chairman of the Software Freedom …

Hardware 17 Feb 2011, 05:00
Mobile industry looks forward to spanking Apple

MWC 2011 The dancing girls are back

The mobile industry has got its confidence back, and it's spending money again while drawing up the ranks to take on Apple. Last year‘s Mobile World Congress was subdued in comparison to this year's, as operators held back on spending in an uncertain economy and Apple seemed to be holding all the cards. Not much has actually …

Phones 17 Feb 2011, 06:00
Canon EOS 60D DSLR

Review Shooting from the middle ground

In designing the much-anticipated EOS 60D, Canon decided against a simple upgrade of the previous model, the EOS 50D. Instead, the company opted for a redefinition of its range to create a middle ground between the semi-pro EOS 7D and the entry level EOS 550D. Canon's EOS 60D subscribes to the all-plastic body weight loss …

Hardware 17 Feb 2011, 07:00
Millennium bugs hit stock exchange

Crashing like it's 1999

The London Stock Exchange suffered a second day of problems yesterday as its new trading platform struggled to function again. On Tuesday the market failed to close correctly, causing confusion over closing prices for brokers and traders. Yesterday the MillenniumIT system displayed zeroes against some bid and ask prices, …

Operating Systems 17 Feb 2011, 09:38
Spanish whispers on Microsoft and Nokia

MWC 2011 From the bars of Barcelona ...

Once the condition of offspring has been established, and the second round is on the table, conversation in Barcelona quickly turns to what everyone expects of Nokia's deal with Redmond. And the MWC attendees are surprisingly positive, once the sense of betrayal has been exorcised. The feeling among them is that Nokia has …

Mobile 17 Feb 2011, 10:09
National Audit Office: Open data the key to 'big society'

Citizens shouldn't have to ask for data, it is govt's duty to publish it ...

Parliament's finance watchdog has said that stronger information strategies and more transparent government data will be key to the 'big society' agenda. The delivery of public services by charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises will require a "step change" from earlier attempts to open up government, such as the …

Government 17 Feb 2011, 10:48
NO-SH*T CURE FOR BALDNESS discovered by accident

Shiny-topped mutant lab mice unexpectedly sprout rugs

Boffins in California who were trying to deal with problems of stress in combat veterans say they may have accidentally found a cure for baldness. For now, the miracle drug is known to work only on experimental mice genetically engineered to go bald early, but there is apparently every prospect it will benefit humans too. "Our …

Science 17 Feb 2011, 11:06
Chinese mobile malware powers click-fraud scam

Android Trojan turns smartphones into bots

Malware writers are trying to infect Chinese users of Android smartphones with a Trojan that poses as a wallpaper for the smartphone's screen or other legitimate applications, such as the popular game RoboDefense. The mobile malware, dubbed Adrd or alternatively HongTouTou, has been seeded onto third-party mobile app stores in …

Security 17 Feb 2011, 11:08
NetApp still smashing the competition

G-men at war

NetApp carried on steamrollering EMC and other competitors by growing faster than the market in its third fiscal 2011 quarter, with a 25 per cent jump in revenues and a 60 per cent hike in profits. It's making more headway selling storage to VMware customers than VMware owner EMC. Revenues rose to $1.268bn compared to $1. …

Storage 17 Feb 2011, 11:11
RoboCop statue fundraiser hits $50k

Detroit poised for Officer Murphy's return

The Detroit RoboCop statue looks to be a goer after an online fundraising campaign reached the $50k target well ahead of the deadline. Brandon Walley and chums recently enlisted the help of internetizens to back their demand for a permanent tribute to the protagonist of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 movie. Walley and associates now …

Bootnotes 17 Feb 2011, 11:12
Sony shows telly-centric memory card reader

Stick it up your Bravia

You'd have thought it would be easier to build memory card slots in, but Sony has chosen instead to offer a USB adaptor to allow you to view content on SD cards on your Bravia telly. The reader is the MRW-F3, and it's supports SD, SDHC and SDXC cards, and Sony's own Memory Stick Pro Duo and Pro-HG Duo formats. Plug it in to …

Hardware 17 Feb 2011, 11:21
Virgin Media busts £1bn a quarter

Hot numbers for really, really cold quarter

Virgin Media credited Britons' thirst for data for boosting its revenues by 6.6 per cent after it hauled in over £1bn in the fourth quarter. The comms firm pulled in total revenues of £1bn in the last quarter of 2010, up 6.6 per cent on the previous adjusted figure for 2009. The company delivered operating income of £71m, up …

Broadband 17 Feb 2011, 11:34
Rugged-phone maker claims world's longest talk time

MWC 2011 More-more jaw-jaw

Want a phone with the longest possible talk time? Sonim, a phone maker which specialises in rugged handsets, announced just such a device at Mobile World Congress (MWC) this week. It's the XP3300 Force, and its 126 x 60 x 25mm frame contains a 1750mAh battery that, the company claimed, will let to natter away for 22 hours. …

Phones 17 Feb 2011, 11:38
20-tonne space truck heads for ISS

Successful launch of the heavyweight Johannes Kepler

The European Space Agency's second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) yesterday blasted off en route to the International Space Station. The Johannes Kepler rose heavenwards atop an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 21:50 GMT. The launch had previously been knocked back a day due to a minor technical …

Science 17 Feb 2011, 11:45
Canadian finance ministries closed off from web after cyberspy hack

Updated Blame ~~Canada~~ China

Chinese hackers have been blamed for looting sensitive Canadian government documents, forcing two government departments off the internet as a response. CBC reports that the attacks, first detected in January, have been traced back to Chinese computer networks – while noting the important caveat that compromised systems in …

Security 17 Feb 2011, 12:23
Carphone Warehouse wins Moto Xoom exclusive

Honeycomb honeypot

Carphone Warehouse has the UK exclusive on Motorola's Xoom tablet. And that's all the mobile phone retailer said - there was no word on price, or availability. Best Buy, the US superstore giant with whom CW has a joint venture over here in the UK, has priced up the 10.1in Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet at $800, equivalent to £ …

Tablets 17 Feb 2011, 12:25
Sarkozy: Microsoft represents all that is great about France

French prez sticks pin in Steve Ballmer

French president Nicholas Sarkozy delivered a profound judgement on Microsoft yesterday, declaring that the company personifies the values of France and Europe. While such a declaration would quicken the heart of US artists and filmmakers, it might not be the sort of endorsement that a nakedly capitalist, (sometimes) bleeding …

Bootnotes 17 Feb 2011, 12:26
UK biz bled dry by cybercrime

Yes, the figures are sketchy, what of it?

The average UK business is losing £10,000 a year thanks to cyber espionage, extortion and other forms of online fraud. In total the UK economy is losing £27bn a year and British businesses soak up £21bn of this loss. Given there are 2.1 million UK firms registered for VAT this gives a loss per firm of £10,000. The numbers, …

Security 17 Feb 2011, 12:48
Saucy spy Anna Chapman to design Russian space uniforms

Uncovered undercover chic chick offers self to cosmonauts

One-time Russian secret agent Anna Chapman, globally famous for being the only one of the deep-cover spy ring unmasked by the US last year who is even mildly attractive, will now assist the Russian space agency in designing a stylish new uniform for its personnel. Evidently this won't do for space troops. The revelations …

Science 17 Feb 2011, 12:51
The Doctor Who Experience

Review The Greatest Show in the Galaxy?

Since the revival of Doctor Who almost six years ago, the BBC’s marketing machinery has been in full flow, with the programme spawning action figures, DVD box sets, plenty of other merchandise, alongside Proms concerts and exhibitions. I remember my first Doctor Who exhibition, at Longleat in the 1970s, where there was a …

Hardware 17 Feb 2011, 13:00
Panasonic looks to the cloud for telly content

Viera Cast out, Viera Connect in

Panasonic has added dimensions to its HD TV range, introducing its first 3D sets with LED backlighting, and focusing on a new cloud-based service Viera Connect. The company was keen to bring attention to Viera Connect at its annual dealer convention this week, highlighting capabilities that outshine its previous IPTV front end …

Hardware 17 Feb 2011, 13:01
Update copyright law for pre-industrial era, says law professor

Behold, the Noble Savage?

UK copyright law needs an overhaul to bring it into line with pre-industrial cultures, says a top legal academic. It may strike you as the Most Imaginative Use of Politically-Correct Rhetoric you've ever heard, but the joke is ultimately on you: the project has won funding from the Department of Business. The study, Who Owns …

Law 17 Feb 2011, 13:07
Fifa, Uefa lose free-to-view footie challenge

UK can lawfully insist all major games are shown for nowt, court rules

Upcoming World Cup and Euro football tournaments will not be shown in the UK by pay-to-view services like Sky, the European Union's General Court has effectively ruled. The Court this week judged that the European Commission (EC) had been right to approve a list of games, including all 64 World Cup and all 31 Euro matches, …

Hardware 17 Feb 2011, 13:51
EU bottoms up committee slates body scanners

Expensive, flaky, not fit for purpose ...

An obscure EU Committee has slammed the introduction of body scanners, raising concerns over the health and human rights risks of the technology. The European Economic and Social Committee has delivered an opinion on scanner technology, which sets out concerns over the scanners' ability to improve security "which, coupled with …

Government 17 Feb 2011, 13:52
Oz news team pays homage to Carry On

'Long stabby thing' – ooooh, matron

An Oz morning TV team has out-innuendoed itself with an exchange worthy of the best (or worst) of Carry On. With a couple of minutes to fill before the 6.30am news bulletin on Channel Nine's Today show, hosts Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson got the ball rolling with a bit of banter about how best to defend yourself and your …

Bootnotes 17 Feb 2011, 14:23
Orange Cash goes live, O2 Money goes to Ireland

Next stop, your mobile phone

Orange has launched a prepaid credit card in the UK, branded Orange Cash and backed by MasterCard, while from today the Irish can get hold of an O2 Money card. The plastic cards are contactless, and so can be used by waving them near a reader, but both launches are really about sticking a toe into the financial waters, and …

Mobile 17 Feb 2011, 14:58
Five Reasons to be cheerful about Nokia-Microsoft

There's a Silverlight at the end of the tunnel...

Elopocalypse, Day Six: The Nokia-Microsoft deal has by now been thoroughly flogged to death analysed from every quarter, with much of the emphasis on the risks and the negatives. Yet there are some positives. Here is a selection, ranging from the flippant to the frivolous. 5. Dave Stewart Will No Longer Be An Agent of Change …

Mobile 17 Feb 2011, 15:49
Avere tries again in the UK

Va-va-value-added distributor VADition

Avere tried selling its FXT filer accelerator boxes in the UK through Shoden, only to see that effort crash and burn. Now the storage vendor is trying again with value-added distributor VADition. Why should VADition succeed where Shoden failed? The answer, according to sales director Jason Dance, is targeting. He says there …

The Channel 17 Feb 2011, 16:14
Peruvian spuds entombed in Arctic 'doomsday vault'

Frozen chips off the old tuber

More than 1,000 Peruvian potato varieties are destined for entombment in the Arctic's Svalbard Global Seed Vault amid fears they may be threatened in their traditional home. The BBC explains that the Cusco Potato Park will provide 1,500 distinct tuber examples for storage in the "doomsday vault", whose purpose is to "store …

Science 17 Feb 2011, 16:37
US robot ornithopter spy-hummingbird in flight test triumph

Al-Qaeda to form Dick Dastardly bird-buster squadron?

Amazing news from the world of tiny robot spy ornithopters today, as developers have announced successful flight trials of the tiny robot spy ornithopter "Hummingbird" prototype – so named perhaps because it is roughly the size of a hummingbird, weighs as much as a hummingbird and looks like a horse ... no, sorry, like a …

Science 17 Feb 2011, 16:39
Anonymous security firm hack used every trick in book

SQL injection, weak password security, social engineering - oh my!

An attack by Anonymous on security firm HBGary used a combination of software vulnerabilities and social engineering to pull off a highly sophisticated hack, it has emerged. A SQL injection weakness in a third-party content management product used to post content on HBGary's website allowed a cadre of hackers from Anonymous to …

Security 17 Feb 2011, 16:52
Google Apps boss says cloud computing is your destiny

Interview 'Everybody' will move to the heavens

It was a Google ad. But not the kind you've come to expect. Last month, inside The Economist, a magazine in the old fashioned, physical sense of the word, Google ran a four-page ad touting its own Google Apps suite, that all-web-all-the-time challenger to Microsoft Office. "Each day, over 3,000 businesses go Google," the ad read …

Cloud 17 Feb 2011, 19:02
Cray wraps 2010 on high note

Top-flop act

Supercomputer maker Cray has turned in one of the best years in its history, nailing the high end of its revenue targets for both the fourth quarter and for the full 2010 year, and turning a profit as it had promised to. It also looks like 2011 will have a very similar shape and feel to it, although growth will come a little …

Financial News 17 Feb 2011, 19:51
SWAT team cuffs masked Dell flack for 'deadly' tablet promo

Call 911! He's selling the Dell Streak!

Dell's Round Rock, Texas headquarters was stormed by a police SWAT team on Monday after multiple 911 calls reported that a masked gunman was ordering employees into a building lobby. Round Rock's finest discovered employee Bryan Chester dressed in a biker outfit, wearing a skull mask, and carrying what callers identified as " …

Tablets 17 Feb 2011, 20:08
Free Wi-Fi, SMS alerts for Sydney commuters – if ALP wins election

Last-minute pitch for geek vote

The collapsing New South Wales state government has launched a pitch for the geek vote, announcing it will provide free Wi-Fi on Sydney's bus and train network if re-elected next month. The struggling government has also announced that it will launch an SMS alert service for bus commuters at the end of the month. The Wi-Fi …

Networks 17 Feb 2011, 20:26
NBN Co buys Aust regional spectrum for $120m

Austar exits 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz spectrum

NBN Co will buy regional satellite television provider Austar’s stash of 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz spectrum licences for $120m. NBN Co will use the spectrum to deliver fixed wireless services to around 5 per cent of customers out of reach of its planned fibre network, with the remainder to be served by satellite. The transaction …

Networks 17 Feb 2011, 20:27
The cloud and the channel

Part 2: What cloud providers want

After Part 1 was published last week, someone asked “how many of these companies will still be around two years from now?” I can’t answer for the companies now describing themselves as “cloud providers” in Australia, but I would expect in two years, there will be more providers, not fewer. That’s the nature of a boom: we’re …

The Channel 17 Feb 2011, 20:28
Microsoft bans open source license trio from WinPhone

Reserves the right to block redistribution

Some open-source apps for Windows Phone and Xbox have been banned from Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace. And there's uncertainty hanging over the rest. Apps licensed under GPLv3, Affero GPLv3, and LGPLv3 cannot be sold and distributed on the marketplace, according to Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace Application …

Mobile 17 Feb 2011, 20:30
The internet ate our homework

Part 2 Borders, Angus & Robertson were already struggling

What went wrong with Borders? The story so far is that a mouse is eating an elephant. According to my own back-of-the-envelope calculations as well as a more serious report from Frost & Sullivan, online shopping accounts for about five per cent of the Australian consumer’s retail dollar. That’s enough to cause private equity …

Business 17 Feb 2011, 21:08
Oracle gives 21 (new) reasons to uninstall Java

A modest (security) proposal

Oracle this week pushed an updated version of its Java runtime environment that fixes 21 security vulnerabilities, 19 of which allow attackers to remotely install malicious software on end-user machines. The company recommends users install Java 6 Update 24 as soon as possible, but before readers follow though, allow us to …

Security 17 Feb 2011, 21:48
Google asks US Patent Office to rethink Oracle Java patents

Android v Ellison rolls on

Google has asked the US patent office to reexamine four of the Java patents that Oracle is using to sue the company over the design of the Android operating system, according to a blog post from an American law firm. On Wednesday, a "patent reexamination alert" from the firm Westerman Hattori Daniels & Adrian announced that …

Developer 17 Feb 2011, 21:57
Obama in private confab with Jobs, Zuckerberg, Schmidt

Careful with the place cards!

President Obama will sit down with a pack of Silicon Valley tech titans on Thursday evening in San Francisco. Among the attendees: Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google soon-to-be-ex-CEO Eric Schmidt. "The president and the business leaders will discuss our shared goal of promoting American innovation …

Media 17 Feb 2011, 22:37
Novell shareholders approve Attachmate buyout

And now for the regulators

The shareholders of beleaguered systems software supplier Novell has approved the $2.2bn takeover of the company by Attachmate. According to an 8K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, shareholders representing 68.1 percent of the 352.8 million outstanding shares of Novell showed up for the special meeting or …

Business 17 Feb 2011, 23:41