12th May 2011 Archive

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CERT warns of critical industrial control bug

Iconics SCADA software open to code execution attacks

A group collaborating with the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team is warning oil refineries, power plants, and other industrial facilities of a bug in a popular piece of software that could allow attackers to take control of their computer systems. The vulnerability in the Genesis32 and BizViz products made by Massachusetts- …

Security 12 May 2011, 00:06
Singtel announces iPad 2 ship date as customers pass 400 mil

And Optus hit nine million mobiles in Oz

Singtel has ridden the Asian frenzy for mobiles to add more than 110 million customers across its mobile businesses in the last year. The Singaporean telco’s net, which spreads from Australia to Africa via wholly-and partly-owned subsidiaries, also took in growth of more than half a million mobile customers in Australia, where …

Mobile 12 May 2011, 00:35
FCC commish to lobby for Comcast-NBC giant she OK'd

Actor in ~~Comcast's~~ broadband's US rollout

An FCC commissioner who argued for and voted to approve Comcast's $6.5bn borging of NBC Universal is quitting her government position to become a lobbyist for the communications and media giant she helped to bring into existence. Meredith Attwell Baker – who was one of two Republicans serving on the five-member commission – …

Government 12 May 2011, 01:27
Google hooks Native Client into Visual Studio, Eclipse

Google I/O 'Threat to Mozilla vision' rolls on

Google is building an interactive Native Client debugger that will integrate with various popular IDEs. According to Google engineer David Springer, the company will begin with Visual Studio before moving on to Eclipse and others. "We're starting with Visual Studio because a lot of client programs are already built there," …

Developer 12 May 2011, 02:08
Facebook pulls plugs on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook profile

Not the Mark Zuckerberg, just a Mark Zuckerberg

Oh the pain: a consumer bankruptcy and home foreclosure attorney in Indianapolis is adjusting to life without Facebook, after an identity clash led to his account being disabled. Mark S Zuckerberg, whose problems with the social networking site began, predictably, when he first tried to join. At that point, he told a local TV …

Media 12 May 2011, 05:00
Crucial M4 256GB Sata 3 SSD

Review Life in the fast lane

Following on from its impressive debut in last month’s SSD roundup, it seems in order to look further into Crucial’s M4 SSD, specifically the 256GB version of this Sata 3 capable device. Crucial's M4 really shows what SSDs can achieve thanks to its Sata 3 interfacing First off, the usual; Crucial has made the M4 available …

Hardware 12 May 2011, 06:00
Qik Video Connect Plus

iOS App of the Week iOS video call app that's Android friendly

I suppose we could have had Qik as the Android App of the week too, since the main change that Skype has made to this video-chat app since acquiring it from the original developer earlier this year is to make it cross-platform. Video chat for free - even over 3G The great divide has been crossed, allowing owners of iOS …

Phones 12 May 2011, 08:00
Dixons warns it's getting worse

Time to call Dignitas?

The UK's favourite electrical retailer Dixons said this morning that sales are still crap, and getting crapper. For the full year ended 30 April 2011 sales in the UK and Ireland were down 3 per cent on a like-for-like basis. But for the last six months - 28 weeks ended 30 April - sales were down 7 per cent. Pure e-commerce …

The Channel 12 May 2011, 08:04
Samsung prices up Chrome OS netbook for Blighty

3G and Wi-Fi-only versions inbound

Twelve-inch Chrome OS netbook, anyone? Samsung will be bringing just such a machine to the UK late next month for £349. The Series 5 - the sound you hear in the background is Psion fans tut-tutting - runs the other Google operating system on a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 dual-core CPU. There's 2GB of DDR3 and a 16GB SSD on board …

Laptops 12 May 2011, 08:51
Police ordered to disclose ANPR camera sites

Devon and Cornwall cops appeal tribunal order

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary is contesting a judgment ordering it to release the location of its fixed automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras, following a successful Freedom of Information appeal by Guardian Government Computing. The force was told last month to release the locations of its ANPR cameras, in the …

Law 12 May 2011, 08:53
Life after merger: data better together or apart?

Risk assessment

As companies expand they restructure, start new initiatives, acquire competitors, and in times of hardship they ditch unprofitable business lines and cut staff. But change is an inevitable part of business, with an equally inevitable impact on IT systems – especially when two departments or organisations join forces. Mergers …

Doing Better Business 12 May 2011, 08:54
Slovakian cannibal's dinner calls in cops

Swiss man declares himself off the menu

A Slovakian would-be cannibal was shot and cuffed after his intended dinner alerted cops. The 43-year-old man, from Kysak, was grassed up by his own main course - a Swiss man who answered an internet ad looking for someone willing to be butchered and eaten. He thought the whole thing was simply a "macabre fantasy game", but …

Bootnotes 12 May 2011, 08:58
iPad not stopping PC sales, says analyst

Cannibalisation rate declining

The iPad is not pulling sales away from PCs, US-based market watcher NPD has claimed. Having spoken to an unspecified - but presumably statistically significant - number of North Americans who have owned an iPad for six months or more, NPD found that only 14 per cent of them had bought the tablet in place of a netbook, …

Tablets 12 May 2011, 09:22
Broadband leads to drug abuse, say US boffins

Prescription drugs 'fast replacing' heroin, cocaine etc

Greater internet access leads to an increase in drug abuse, according to docboffins in the US. The researchers consider that this is due to the fact that the internet offers the opportunity to illegally purchase prescription drugs from rogue online pharmacies. "We know we face a growing problem with prescription drug abuse in …

Law 12 May 2011, 09:23
The future of VMAX is flash and SASy

EMC World EMC going 2-tier

NetApp's Tom Georgens was right. You only need two storage array tiers and EMC is going that way, to a VMAX with Flash and SAS disks. VMAX was launched in 2009 and the time is getting ripe for a refresh of the technology. El Reg talked to Brian Gallager, president of EMC's Enterprise Storage Division, and the subject was VMAX …

Storage 12 May 2011, 09:36
Nintendo knocks back 3DS software update

Unhappy eShoppers

Nintendo has pushed back the date for its first major 3DS firmware update. Owners keen to try out the console's promised eShop feature will now have to wait until June. Originally planned for release in May, the update will also introduce a web browser, DSiWare, and heaps of classic games, 3DS-specific downloads and additional …

Games 12 May 2011, 09:38
BT sales down, pre-tax profit up in telco's Q4

'We are well aware there remains a lot more to do,' says boss

BT's total revenues fell 6 per cent in the company's final quarter though pre-tax profit nearly doubled in the period ended 31 March. The telco giant reported £5bn in sales for the quarter compared with £5.35bn for the same Q4 in 2010. Reported profit before tax jumped from £251m in the company's final quarter last year to £ …

Broadband 12 May 2011, 09:47
NASA's asteroid hunter creeps up on Vesta

Dawn returns first snap of asteroid belt giant

NASA's Dawn has sent back its first photo of asteroid belt giant Vesta, snapped at a distance of 1.21 million kilometres (752,000 miles), and offering a teaser of what we can expect when the spacecraft goes into orbit around the distant body on 16 July. The agency's enhanced image shows Vesta against "a spectacular background …

Science 12 May 2011, 09:53
Northamber sees 'confusing picture' in Q1

Margins down, small loss overall

Northamber remains confused, it told shareholders this morning, but turnover is up 0.7 per cent on the year. The company said in an interim management statement that the performance of the UK economy in the first quarter justified the company's caution in its last report in February. Stripping out discontinued, low margin …

The Channel 12 May 2011, 09:57
Train firm offers phone-based ticketing across UK

Chiltern Railways leads the avalanche to a ticketless future

Train passengers can now buy a ticket for any UK train journey from a mobile phone, without paying any additional commission and with the ticket displayed as an on-screen bar code. The service was developed by ticketing specialists Masabi, and has been available for about a year from TheTrainLine.com which provides an easy …

Phones 12 May 2011, 10:07
Play prices up HTC 'superphone'

Sensational offer

Want HTC's "superphone", the Android-running Sensation? Put your order in now and you can have it for 500 quid Sim-free. Online retailer Play.com has posted the price and has begun taking advance orders. The handset will ship on 30 June, it says. HTC announced the Sensation in March. The smartphone features a 4.3in, 540 x …

Phones 12 May 2011, 10:09
Facebook spam prevention scam spreading like wildfire

Social media worm d'jour

The growing prevalence of junk messages on Facebook is been used to bait a new scam doing the rounds on the social network. Prospective marks in receipt of the fraudulent messages are invited to "verify" their account in order to "prevent spam". Recipients who respond to the message by clicking on a link end up sharing it on …

Security 12 May 2011, 10:22
Google lobbying to make driverless cars legal in Nevada

Kids, get in the car, time for school. No, I'm not coming

Google is lobbying to get self-driving cars made legal, according to reports. It appears that the colossal information company is manoeuvring to get its driverless-vehicle technology cleared for ordinary consumer use in Nevada, the US state where many things which would be illegal elsewhere are OK. The New York Times reports …

Science 12 May 2011, 10:44
CSC locked out of new NHS contracts

Good money after bad

Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday CSC had been suspended from new NHS contracts while the future of the £4.7bn patient record programme is assessed. Tory MP for Norfolk Richard Bacon said the NHS IT programme "will never deliver on its early promise, that in particular CSC has failed with Lorenzo and that, rather …

Government 12 May 2011, 10:48
Home Office appoints Brokenshire as security minister

Hands over drugs, alcohol and violence to Browning

James Brokenshire has taken over as the UK's security and counter-terrorism minister following the resignation of Baroness Neville-Jones on Monday. Brokenshire, a former banker and Conservative MP since 2005, was previously parliamentary under secretary for crime reduction before receiving his promotion this week. The crime …

Government 12 May 2011, 11:01
French publisher starts second round against Google

€9.8m of regrette

Google has incurred the wrath of the French publishing industry yet again, with book publishers Albin Michel, Flammarion and Gallimard unleashing a €9.8 million law suit for unlawfully scanning 9,797 books. Google’s impending march back into European courts comes as news emerged of a US$500 million fund being put aside to …

Law 12 May 2011, 11:02
Sony joins car-smartphone tech team

Mobiles to meet automobiles

Sony has joined the Car Connectivity Consortium - a band of phone and car companies dedicated to connecting phones to cars. The CCC was formed in March and already numbers Nokia, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Alpine, Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and VW among its members. All of them are developing - or will promote - a …

Science 12 May 2011, 11:17
Apple's Dutch store plan leaves locals seeing ~~orange~~ red

Wants to strip down Amsterdam ladies' dress shop

Apple's plan to open a flagship store in Amsterdam have run into trouble after local authorities decided to gut the vendor's plan to gut an iconic building in the Dutch city. Apple is a tenant of a 90 year-old landmark building at the Leidse Square, once home to the international fashion house Hirsch & Co. The completion of …

The Channel 12 May 2011, 11:20
Official: phones sting bees

Set them to buzz

Britain's honeybee population is in decline and some scientists now believe the blame lies with mobile phones. Bee expert Dr Daniel Favre was able to monitor the effects of mobile phone radiation on bees by placing his handset under a hive. When the phone was making and receiving calls, the bees responded with high pitched " …

Phones 12 May 2011, 11:41
Fiat 500 TwinAir

Review Twin-pot tearaway

As a rule, I loathe retro car design. The people responsible for VW’s re-imagining of the Beetle, and BMW’s not-that-mini Mini should have passed water on the graves of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and Sir Alec Issigonis, and had done with it. Such is the intellectual perfidy of this despicable and lazy philosophy of car design. …

Science 12 May 2011, 12:00
Elon Musk prepares SpaceX rocket firm for IPO

Plans to keep 'freedom to ignore Wall Street', though

Famous upstart startup firm SpaceX, soon to deploy the biggest rocket seen since the days of the Apollo programme, will shortly go public. However its founder, colourful nerdwealth geek-icon biz kingpin Elon Musk, seems likely to retain a controlling interest. Hints had emerged previously that Musk might seek further funding …

Science 12 May 2011, 12:11
BPI: Music sales drop further, but digital on upward trend

Insists much-maligned freetard yoof did put hand in pocket

Despite lower prices than ever, punters spent less on recorded music in the UK last year according to the BPI's annual survey. A picture tells a thousand words, so here's a 3,000 word feature you can ingest at a glance: UK recorded music sales 2005-2010 Digital sales rose by 12 per cent to £316.5m last year, but physical …

Media 12 May 2011, 12:12
Microsoft searches for crypto boffin to steer U-Prove tech

Exclusive Shaken-up identity access group needs new bums on seats

Microsoft has quietly been rejigging its identity access group by shunting some of its key engineers out of the way in favour of fresh blood at Redmond's cryptography division, The Register has learned. Last week the software giant's top identity architect Kim Cameron quit the company, however, Microsoft declined to comment on …

Security 12 May 2011, 12:38
Femtocells, not 4G, will solve spectrum crisis

Ofcom bets big on small cells

4G will improve capacity by only 1.2 times, according to the latest research, so better network topologies will be needed if we're going to get the bandwidth it seems we'll need. Solving the widely anticipated data crunch will require better-designed networks, rather than new generations of radio standard, according to the …

Broadband 12 May 2011, 12:52
Data visualisation through the cloud

Video Pictures in pictures in clouds

If a picture tells a thousand words then data visualisation should be just the gig for the digital dirge of data clogging up your systems. It should give you an idea about what your data is telling you, and it should tell you things you didn’t even know you could know. That’s the theory . A development company called Shoothill …

Cloud 12 May 2011, 13:00
Three to supply UK Chromebooks' 3G access

Google's favoured broadband bundler?

Three will be offering 3G-connected Chromebooks when they debut in the UK next month. That's all the network operator is saying about the deal for now, but it seems likely that its role will be similar to that of Verizon in the US: to provide the bundled 100MB of mobile broadband data transfers each month for a two-year period …

Mobile 12 May 2011, 13:39
Scammers take advantage of ticket allocation to craft Olympics scams

Faster, Higher, Scammier

Fraudsters have begun ramping up the production of scams ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in London next July. The ticket allocation lottery process has been accompanied by two email-borne scams, with more surely to follow, Trend Micro warns. The first of the scam messages comes with a .DOC attachment that asks for personal …

Security 12 May 2011, 13:44
X-Prize offers $10m for working Trek tricorder

Fascinating

Fancy getting your hands on $10 million? Of course you do. Then just grab a tool kit and build a working Star Trek-style medical tricorder. Simples. The X Prize Foundation, famed for innovative big-prize challenges in technical advancement, has outlined its next contest: make an all-purpose mobile device that can do a doctor's …

Hardware 12 May 2011, 13:51
Nothing to lose but your desktop PCs

Desktop Virtualisation When does VDI make sense?

Interest in desktop virtualisation is driven by frustration with desktop PCs and laptops. Maintenance, security, regulatory compliance – all are managed more easily with desktops that live on the server or in the data centre. Users still need physical devices but if you use either a thin client or a virtual machine synchronised …

Enterprise Tech 12 May 2011, 14:00
Give the Met Office £10m, says Transport Committee

Strange silence from the MoD

The Transport Committee is backing calls to hand £10m to the Met Office to spend on hardware to improve its long-term forecasting ability. The Committee reported yesterday on ways to reduce the impact of severe weather on transport links. Last year's winter in the UK arrived early and snow-filled and came as quite a shock to …

HPC 12 May 2011, 14:54
US Navy produces smart, cheap 6kg fire+forget missile

Suitcase-size 10km-sniper assassin version, anyone?

US military boffins have added cheap "fire and forget" autonomous seeker heads to basic, lightweight dumb rockets of a type which can be fired in large numbers. By seriously reducing the size and cost of smart weapons, this development is yet another big step towards changing the way wars are fought. The project in question …

Science 12 May 2011, 14:58
EA reloads, aims at Activision, goes for headshot

War!

Publishing giant EA has continued its battle with Activision over who makes the best 'real world' first-person shooter game by releasing its next title at the same time as its arch nemesis' next offering is out. They were already in the ring together, now the gloves are off. Retailers claim the games will arrive within days …

Games 12 May 2011, 15:51
Student accused of posting bogus coupons to 4chan

Caught following TOR anonymizer flub up

A computer science student has been charged with fraud and counterfeiting for allegedly posting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bogus coupons on 4chan and other websites. Lucas Townsend Henderson, 22, of Lubbock, Texas, was charged with wire fraud and trafficking in counterfeit goods in a criminal complaint unsealed …

Security 12 May 2011, 17:57
Scala daddy wraps his Java baby in Red Hat-ness

Is it Typesafe? Yes it is

Martin Odersky – the man who created Scala, the Java-based programming language that now drives such big name web services as Twitter, Foursquare, and LinkedIn – has launched a company that provides service and support around an extensive open source application stack for the language. Both the company and the stack are known …

Developer 12 May 2011, 19:21
FBI fights to protect ISPs that snoop on their customers

Refuses to name warrantless wiretap partners

The FBI has finally come clean on the real reason it doesn't want to name phone and internet service providers that participate in a sweeping surveillance program that taps international communications without a warrant: Customers would get mad and dump or sue the providers. This rare piece of honesty came in a recently filed …

Security 12 May 2011, 20:44
Amazon's 1-click hit with patent loss in Oz

Some bits of One-Click patent aren’t original

Australia’s Patent Office has decided that some aspects of Amazon’s notorious “1-click” patent lack either “novelty” or “an inventive step”, in a decision handed down on May 9th. Opposition to the patent under Australian jurisdiction was filed by Telstra back in 2003. Telstra had objected to the patent on the basis of twenty “ …

Media 12 May 2011, 21:00
Microsoft claims Windows Azure appliances exist

HP? Dell? Fujitsu? Hello?

Microsoft remains enthusiastic about the idea of selling a cloud-in-a-box, but it has conceded that its Windows Azure Appliances, unveiled nearly a year back, are few and far between. Server and tools general manager Charles Di Bona has told financial analysts that Microsoft has started to roll out "some" Windows Azure …

Cloud 12 May 2011, 22:25
Cybercrooks set up shop in Canada

Blame Canada

Canada is on its way to becoming an unlikely hotbed of cybercrime. As hosting providers in China and Eastern Europe have begun to clean up their act, mostly in response to external pressure, cybercrooks have begun looking to countries with better online reputations, such as Canada. As a result, the number of Canadian servers …

Security 12 May 2011, 22:48
How bin Laden thwarted US electronic surveillance

Prolific emailer used thumb-drive proxy

Osama bin Laden didn't have a phone or internet connection, but for years he was a prolific user of email who frustrated Western efforts to track him by saving messages to a thumb drive and having them sent from a distant internet cafe, the Associated Press reports. The process was so tedious that even veteran intelligence …

Security 12 May 2011, 23:11