25th March 2011 Archive

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RIM's PlayBook to run Android apps

Our love knows no bounds

Research-In-Motion will square up to Apple, Google and Hewlett-Packard with a tablet that runs apps built for Google's popular Android platform. On Thursday, RIM said it plans to deliver what it called an "app player" for its PlayBook tablet that will provide an environment capable of running Android 2.3 applications. An app …

Developer 25 Mar 2011, 02:36
Red Hat rolls up RHEL 6.1 beta

Tweaks and tech previews

Commercial Linux distie and soon-to-be billion dollar baby Red Hat has rolled up the first update of its Enterprise Linux 6 operating system and kicked it out there for beta testing. The beta of RHEL 6.1 has support for new hardware, as updates always do, but also includes software functionality that didn't make the cut before …

Operating Systems 25 Mar 2011, 03:00
Ubuntu board rejects slippery Flash installs

YouTube sensations no justification

Ubuntu won't be updated to quietly slip third-party apps like Flash Player onto your PC, regardless of the app's popularity. The Linux distro's technical board has unanimously ruled against a change that could have allowed third party software to install by default if users weren't paying attention and that seemed aimed at …

Operating Systems 25 Mar 2011, 04:00
Newbie's virtual appliance stores up trouble for EMC

Open...and Shut Tintri's dilemma: When (not if) to get bought

With $11bn at stake, you'd think that someone would have solved the virtualized storage problem by now. The problem, however, is that there's so much more money in the existing storage market. It's an "innovator's dilemma," Clayton Christensen style. It's therefore not surprising that it took a newbie Tintri to try and up-end …

Storage 25 Mar 2011, 05:00
UK is a closed source 'stronghold'

Workshop Proprietary software is the opiate of the people

The UK lags behind the rest of the world in deployments of open source software. Steve George, vice-president of business development at Canonical, believes this is a mistake that compromises not only our economy but also our global competitiveness. In China rural communities are receiving millions of PCs running Linux. In …

Open Source 25 Mar 2011, 07:00
Nintendo 3DS FAQ

Your questions answered

What is it? The Nintendo 3DS is the successor to the Nintendo DS handheld games console and can produce 3D effects without the need for special glasses. Not only can users play games in 3D, but they can also take pictures with its two cameras, as well as network with Wi-Fi. More on that later. So how exactly does the screen …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 07:02
Nintendo 3DS games release schedule

What to look out for

Nintendo and other publishers already have many titles out for launch, with more to come. Here's the current list of 3DS games heading to the shops. Out now Publisher Asphalt 3D Ubisoft Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars LucasArts Nintendogs + Cats Nintendo PES 2011 3D Konami Pilotwings Resort …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 07:04
Nintendo 3DS

Review Raise your glasses?

“You have to see it for yourself.” As the 3DS' unofficial marketing catchphrase, that's as good as it gets: an enticement at the most personal level. As the opening gambit to a product review, it's far less auspicious. But that's the reality of Nintendo's new wunderkind. Seeing is the only way of believing. Nintendo's 3DS: a …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 07:06
Nintendo 3DS launch games

Review We rate the first batch

Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition A faithful port of the Xbox 360/PS3 original, SSF IV is the most comprehensive 3DS launch title. It's also one of the best looking. All the console features are retained, from Arcade and Challenge Mode to Internet Match and the fully-customisable Training Mode. And the full roster of 35 …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 07:08
Acer locates 'missing' tablet strategy

Date, price set for Android 3.0 fondleslabs

Acer has announced the launch date and pricing of its Iconia 10.1in tablets. The company has a two-OS strategy supporting both Windows 7 and Android 3.0 Honeycomb in its W500 and A500 models, respectively. Acer's Iconia W500 in netbook mode The W500 will be available in Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G versions, and will be sold either …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 08:00
Productivity: IT pros to the rescue

Desktop Proving ground

There are tools and services that enable service desks to deliver all kinds of services to keep the desktop estate running smoothly, but how does it prove its impact on employee productivity and what steps can be taken to improve it? Most companies aren't in the technology business; the products and services they deliver - the …

Desktop Strategy 25 Mar 2011, 08:00
Marshall Islands prez 'legalises cocaine'

Government surprised by 'CBS' nose Ajax announcement

The government of the Marshall Islands has expressed its surprise that president Jurelang Zedkaia has issued an executive order legalising cocaine and introducing "a no-visa unrestricted entry programme for foreign nationals of any country". The bold initiative was apparently provoked by the need to raise cash to defend the …

Bootnotes 25 Mar 2011, 10:02
EU strengthens online shopper protection

And time for a chat about online gambling

The European Parliament has approved changes to a draft law aimed to strengthen protections for online shoppers who buy goods from other member states. The changes made by MEPs will now be pushed forward as the basis for agreement with all member states. It will cover all purchases whether made online, by phone, post or in a …

Channel Register 25 Mar 2011, 10:03
Chain Reaction finds and plugs security hole that led to fraud

Bike site gets back on track

Popular UK-based biking site ChainReactionCycles.com has confirmed that a security breach on its systems led to fraud against its customers. Some of the cyclists who shopped with the site earlier this month noticed fraud against their credit cards days later, normally fraudulent purchases of mobile phone top-ups costing around …

Enterprise Security 25 Mar 2011, 10:29
Sales, meet Finance

Workshop Building cross-functional teams

Sales and finance are the two parts of business closest to the commercial coal face. One’s about generating money and the other’s about channelling and reporting funds. Both are occupied directly with customers: who they are, what they need, what they have bought, whether they have paid. From the buyer’s perspective, the …

Doing Better Business 25 Mar 2011, 10:30
Android gets in-app billing

Insert coin to continue

Google is set to launch in-application billing for Android next week, and is encouraging developers to upload their billing-event-enabled apps now. The Android Marketplace has been talking about in-application billing for almost a year now, and yesterday the team finally opened the store to developer testing with a view to …

Mobile 25 Mar 2011, 10:54
PARIS pops up in Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Space paper plane honoured with fetching cartoon

We're very much obliged to reader Mike Grant for letting us know that our magnificent Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) project was honoured earlier this week in Ripley's Believe It or Not! Nice graphic, we're sure you'll agree, and here's the orginal snap of our historic launch back in October... ...and here's the …

PARIS 25 Mar 2011, 10:57
Plane or train? Tape or disk?

You the Expert The dividing line is not easy to find

Where is the dividing line, onside of which says take the train to Paris from London and the other says fly? Where is the dividing line, one side of which says store your saved data on disk and the other points you towards tape? Plane are faster than trains, like disks are faster than tape, and budget fares are cheap, but that …

Storage 25 Mar 2011, 11:00
Why and when choose PaaS?

Broadcast Reg reader spills beans...cleans up

If you were to draw a systems-stack view of cloud services, ‘Platform as a Service’ (PaaS) is the layer between ‘Infrastructure as a Service’ (IaaS) and ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS). Of all the ‘C word’ offerings, it is arguably the least well understood. Sure, most people can get the gist of PaaS - a hosted service that …

Platform 25 Mar 2011, 11:00
Spotify splattered with malware-tainted ads

Updated Sounds dodgy

Users of the ad-supported version of Spotify were hit by a malware-based attack on Thursday. The assault takes advantage of a Java-based exploit to deposit Trojan horse malware or exploit kits on vulnerable Windows machines. Only users of the free version of the music streaming service seem to be affected. In response, …

Enterprise Security 25 Mar 2011, 11:15
Your census data will be kept secret - except from MI5, police, courts etc

New Labour attitudes buried in the fine print

Like you, I have received my 2011 census form from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The cover page prominently states, in bold, "Your personal information is protected by law. Census information is kept confidential for 100 years". Like you, perhaps, I have taken this statement at face value. However, preparing for our …

Law 25 Mar 2011, 11:38
Santander blames Firefox 4 for website fail

Downgrade yourself

Customers unable to log-in to Santander's personal banking site this morning need to try another browser. Several Reg readers got in touch with us this morning because they were met by a holding page which said: "We're sorry, but the online logon service for Online Banking is temporarily unavailable." Customers were offered …

Applications 25 Mar 2011, 11:40
Brand owners could stop reputation-benefitting keyword triggers

No vicarious benefits, suggests ECJ advisor

Owners of trade marks with a reputation could stop other companies using their brands as triggers for Google adverts if the use is an attempt to benefit from the reputation of that brand, an advisor to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said. ECJ Advocate General Niilo Jääskinen has published an opinion on a High Court …

Law 25 Mar 2011, 11:45
Online world maps rub jubs against todgers

Just how big, and how long?

It's Friday, and since you're all sitting around on your backsides waiting to head off to the pub, here's a challenge to fill a couple of dreary hours: just what interesting scientific conclusions can we draw from a comparison of the two following maps of breast size and penis length worldwide? Before …

Bootnotes 25 Mar 2011, 11:53
The workload challenge

Broadcast Have mainframes still got a job?

The mainframe was there first, but is it the dinosaur that many people assume? For some workloads, it has never been bettered: many of today's business web sites store a production database on a mainframe host, for example. For applications that rely on large-scale transaction processing, that support thousands of users, …

Tech Panel 25 Mar 2011, 12:00
Libya fighting shows just how idiotic the Defence Review was

Analysis Vast fleet of RAF planes delivers just 3 crap missiles

Recent combat operations by British and allied forces in Libya are beginning to tell us a lot: not so much about the future of Libya, which remains up for grabs, but about the tools one actually needs for fighting real-world wars against real-world enemy armed forces. The vast bulk of our own armed forces are set up, equipped …

Government 25 Mar 2011, 12:12
Where are the cheapest 3DS deals?

Prices compared

If you're off to buy a Nintendo 3DS today but don't know where the cheapest place to get one from is, here's a quick run through of the best deals. It appears supermarket chains are ahead of the pack with pricing, with Tesco offering the lowest - £175 - but only if you buy a game with it. Morrisons has the handheld priced at …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 12:25
Stardust comet hunter drifts off into space

Veteran spacecraft burns to depletion and shuts itself down

The last transmission from NASA's comet-hunting Stardust came last night at 23:33 GMT, as the venerable spacecraft ended its career with a "burn to depletion maneuver". The veteran of two cometary encounters – with Wild 2 and Tempel 1 – provided NASA with valuable last data on just how much fuel it had left in its tanks as it …

Space 25 Mar 2011, 12:27
Yakuza 4

Review Gangster wrap

Yakuza 4 manages to pack so many disparate gaming elements into the one package that it’s hard to know where to start. Part soap opera, part noire, undoubtedly a kung-fu fighter, but with fleeting resource management and a reasonable-sized city to explore, this is the JRPG, at its most offbeat. Too cool for an umbrella Take …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 13:00
Early demand knocks back UK iPad 2 delivery dates

Lots to go round, say retailers

Apple's iPad 2 goes on sale in the UK at 5pm today, but folk ordering online may have a long wait for their fondleslabs. When Apple's UK online store started taking orders for the second-gen tablet this morning, it was promising a sign-up to ship-out window of two to three weeks. That delay has now been extended to between …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 13:09
Gabrielle Giffords may wave Endeavour off

'Good chance' she'll see launch, says husband Mark Kelly

NASA astronaut Mark Kelly is optimistic that his wife Gabrielle Giffords will be at Kennedy Space Center on 19 April to see him blast off aboard space shuttle Endeavour. Arizona congresswoman Giffords was shot in the head in Tucson in January in an attack which claimed six lives. Kelly described his wife's condition as " …

Space 25 Mar 2011, 13:11
UK.gov uses purple-panted-berk to get 'young men' to do census

XY gamers urged to fill in some lovely forms

Attempts by officials at the 2011 census to increase participation by the young male population in this weekend's UK headcount exercise – aka the Census – appear to have reached desperation point over the last couple of weeks, with the launch of Census-Man, the online game. Those wishing to experience the census gaming …

Government 25 Mar 2011, 13:26
Which 10in Tab for Blighty, Samsung?

February's model, or March's skinnier one?

Fancy one of Samsung's just-announced sleek and sexy Android 3.0 tablets? You might have a rather long wait. The new 10.1in and 8.9in Galaxy Tabs may not be coming to Blighty, a Samsung staffer admitted, according to Pocket-Lint. Rather than the new 8.4mm model, Brits will be offered a ten-inch version of the current 7in …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 13:27
Fuel foolery, merger warnings and Budgetary boons

Comment New Budget makes some sensible changes...and some mad ones too

What a difference a new government makes, eh? Only parts of the budget are entirely lunatic rather than all of it. I dealt with the playing around with fuel duty and further taxation on oil companies years ago when it was being proposed by idiot Lefties rather than idiot Tories. That it's someone from supposedly my side of the …

Small Biz 25 Mar 2011, 13:47
Scarface blows onto Blu-ray

Say hello to my little remastered friend

Fans of Brian de Palma's 1983 orgy of blood and cocaine Scarface will doubtless be queuing round the block when the digitally-remastered Blu-ray version of the film is released on 6 September. Craig Kornblau, Universal Studios Home Entertainment prez, enthused: "Nearly 30 years after it first exploded onto the screen, Scarface …

Entertainment 25 Mar 2011, 13:58
A deluge of diagramming add-ons

Workshop The third men

Installing the software is just the start: you can also buy all manner of diagramming add-ons and alternative stencils, templates, shapes and icons either from your vendor or from third parties. The beauty of the third-party market is that it is huge, flexible and offers plenty of cheap, or even, free software. A quick word …

Data Visualisation 25 Mar 2011, 14:00
Avanti's bird plumps up feathers

Just needs a few more customers

HYLAS 1, the satellite launched in November to service Avanti's broadband internet offering, is fully operational and ready to go, though questions remain about who is going to be using it. HYLAS 1 was successfully launched in November, completed testing last week, and is now ready for commercial services. The first customers …

Telecoms 25 Mar 2011, 14:45
Chinese firm accused of mobile malware ruse

Users pay to remove unrequested app

Chinese security firm NetQin has been accused of conspiring to plant malicious software on users' handsets in order to drum up business for its mobile security software. NetQin denies the alleged ruse, the mechanics of which were broadcast during a recent episode of 3.15 Gala, a Chinese consumer rights programme on state-run …

Malware 25 Mar 2011, 14:50
Sizing a server to support desktop virtualisation

Savvy scripting and baselining

Virtualising the desktop can bring benefits at the endpoint. It makes desktops more manageable, can reduce power load throughout the building, and can make systems more secure. But IT departments shouldn't underestimate the additional investments required at the back end. Running more endpoint logic centrally can have huge …

Desktop Virtualisation 25 Mar 2011, 16:00
Software bugs block O2 PlayStation phone release

Other networks seemingly glitch free

O2 has set back its PlayStation phone - aka the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play - release because it has failed to score sufficiently highly in the carrier's network tests. "We’ve been testing the phone non-stop for weeks and have found some bugs in the software that, if they’re not fixed, means customers won’t have a great …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 16:08
HDS private cloud storage product is 'beautiful'

KIller HCP+HDI product

The second day of the Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) Bloggers event is finished and I'm writing this piece on the airplane flying back home to Italy. HDS people joked about their unified/converged stack architecture while presenting their stack proposition, saying several times that their stack is uni-verged (unified and/or …

Blocks and Files 25 Mar 2011, 16:11
Fukushima scaremongers becoming increasingly desperate

Dead horse long ago flogged down to a mere red stain

The situation at the quake- and tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant in Japan was brought under control days ago. It remains the case as this is written that there have been no measurable radiological health consequences among workers at the plant or anybody else, and all indications are that this will remain …

Physics 25 Mar 2011, 16:22
Man Utd sues supporter over corporate client 'data theft'

Prawn sandwich crowd suffer intimidation

Manchester United is suing a supporter who published a list of its corporate supporters on its website last year, a move the football club alleges led to incidents of harassment. Thomas McKenna, 44, allegedly published the list of the club's corporate clients on United Supporters for Change, a group that campaigns against the …

Enterprise Security 25 Mar 2011, 16:51
Apple iPad 2

Review Tablet two-point-oh

What can I say? Yes, the iPad 2 is better than the iPad one. Yes, it's superior to the current crop of competitors. Apple has ticked the empty boxes on the features list that, left unchecked, would have left its tablet in the lee of this year's other new models. There, review done, move on to the next one... Apple's iPad 2: …

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 17:01
Apple iPad 2 demo'd on camera

Video Fondleslab stroked for your pleasure

Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com Now on sale in the UK, this video runs through the new design and shows off the improved responsiveness of Apple's iPad 2. You can read our review of the iPad 2 Wi-Fi here. ®

reghardware 25 Mar 2011, 17:15
Why US antitrust regulators should probe Google search

Comment To boldly know where no one has known before

The word is that the US Department of Justice may sue Google over its proposed $700m acquisition of flight data outfit ITA Software. And we can only hope that the feds have far more than flight data on the brain. As it investigates whether Google could use its web search monopoly to erect a second monopoly in the flight search …

Government 25 Mar 2011, 20:34
FCC official: AT&T deal faces 'steep climb' for approval

'There's no way the chairman rubber-stamps this'

An unnamed FCC official has said that AT&T faces a serious battle to win approval for its proposed $39bn acquisition of fellow GSM wireless carrier T-Mobile USA. "There's no way the [FCC] chairman's office rubber-stamps this transaction. It will be a steep climb to say the least," the official told The Wall Street Journal. The …

Business 25 Mar 2011, 22:57