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10th June 2011 Archive

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  • Fairfax looks for bids on auction site

    Old media might sell new media to save old media

    Fairfax Media is considering offloading New Zealands’s biggest online auction site Trade Me and has embarked on a wider strategic review of its group assets. Fairfax made a surprising move in acquiring the online property in 2006 for NZ$750 million. In a statement to the ASX Fairfax Media confirmed that the strategic review …

    Business 10 Jun 00:01

  • Sex-rating social pages take off in Queensland

    A plague of rats in the north

    A plague of geographically based Facebook "sex-rating" pages is spreading in north-east Australia, rating locals on their sexual pedigree. The frequently short-lived "root-rating" fad pages are based on recommendations shared mostly by male, teen participants, mostly in Queensland regional locations, in which they rank …

    Odds and Sods 10 Jun 01:00

  • RSA appoints security chief amid blistering criticism

    Welcome, Mr. Schwartz, and good luck

    RSA has appointed its first chief security officer, three months after a data theft on its network contributed to the hack of the world's biggest defense contractor, and possibly other important customers. RSA awarded the position to Eddie Schwartz, who held a similar title at NetWitness, the security monitoring firm acquired …

    Enterprise Security 10 Jun 04:00

  • Intel teaches machines to build own device drivers

    Game theory versus clumsy coders

    Intel Labs is working to automate the tedious and error-prone process of writing device drivers and porting them to different operating systems. Explaining the need for a tool that could synthesize device drivers, Intel Labs software engineer Arun Raghunath told The Reg: "A bunch of studies have shown that the prime cause of …

    Rise of the Machines 10 Jun 05:00

  • Nikon Coolpix P300 compact camera

    Review Manual dexterity

    Nikon's endeavour to rein in Canon’s success in the compacts market has seen the Coolpix P7000 released as a direct competitor to the Canon PowerShot G12. By introducing the P300, Nikon's first pocket-sized advanced compact, the company seems keen to cast a shadow over the Canon PowerShot S95. Small wonder: Nikon's Coolpix …

    reghardware 10 Jun 06:00

  • Xiotech unscabbards go-faster flash-mungous ISE blade

    Deadliest swordsman in all of Colorado Springs

    Six months after it was announced, Xiotech's go-faster flash-enhanced ISE storage blade is here, and ready to rock and roll. Hybrid ISE combines multi-level cell (MLC) flash with hard disk drives and continuously and automatically moves data between these two storage tiers to optimise I/O performance. In its 3U enclosure there …

    Storage 10 Jun 07:28

  • Council fined for randomly emailing personal data

    £120k slap for slipshod Surrey

    Surrey County Council has been fined £120,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office for breaking the Data Protection Act. The council was rapped for three separate offences. Firstly, in May last year it sent mental and physical health information on 241 individuals to the wrong group email address. Recipients included cab …

    Government 10 Jun 08:01

  • Pollster: Performance has little to do with pay, bureaucracy

    30% of public-sector bods have no idea what they're doing

    Good engagement and more autonomy for staff, and a willingness to accept "controlled risk" are the characteristics that make for a successful organisation, according to the head of a major polling company. Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos MORI, told the the Guardian's IT Leadership in the Public Sector Forum that its …

    Public Sector 10 Jun 08:28

  • Lulz warns NHS of sick security

    No waiting list for admin passwords

    LulzSec, the security collective which claimed credit for hacking Sony, has taken to Twitter to warn the NHS that it stumbled across several admin passwords. The Department of Health claimed the breach was nothing more serious than "a very small number of website administrators". It said no national systems were hit - given …

    Enterprise Security 10 Jun 08:45

  • Lanarkshire wristslap after vulnerable adults' data lost

    ICO handbags council for losing handbag

    A local authority has signed an undertaking to improve the security of the personal data it holds after information about six vulnerable home support clients was stolen from a worker, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said. North Lanarkshire Council's guidance on how workers should use, transport and dispose of …

    Public Sector 10 Jun 09:00

  • MS lines up bumper Patch Tuesday

    Apatcholypse Now

    Microsoft is preparing a bumper Patch Tuesday for next week, with 16 security bulletins that collectively address 34 vulnerabilities. Nine of the bulletins earn the dread rating of critical, while the other seven grapple with flaws rated as important. All supported versions of Windows will need patching on 14 June along with …

    Enterprise Security 10 Jun 09:09

  • Nokia takes the Facebook wall physical with NFC

    While Barclaycard reminds us it exists

    Nokia's latest research video shows us how high-speed NFC could make physical walls as interactive as their Facebook equivalents, while Barclaycard has tweaked its TV advertising to include Orange. Video seems the medium of choice in showing us just how great NFC is, in case we've forgotten how much we're all dying to pay for …

    Mobile 10 Jun 09:24

  • Can cloud save the NHS?

    Public sector looks for gentler cuts

    As the scope of cuts to the UK public sector becomes clearer, the holy grail becomes finding places where money can be saved with no impact on frontline services. No one wants fewer hospital beds, cuts to school meals or mothballed paramedic crews if we can make do with fewer email servers and fat terminals. The Society of …

    Cloud Business 10 Jun 09:30

  • Channel CFOs break free

    Kelway and Avnet finance bosses exit stage left

    The chief financial officer at Kelway - who oversaw the major acquisitions the reseller monster had made in recent years - is leaving by mutual consent at the end of the month and plans to set up a consultancy advising other channel businesses on a buy and build strategy. Craig Compton joined London-based reseller joined …

    Channel Register 10 Jun 09:33

  • NAO calls for new ambulance data systems

    Targets mean multiple call-outs

    Ambulance services need to develop data systems and procedures quickly, so organisations can collect and share information to measure performance, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). The auditor's new report, Transforming NHS Ambulance Services, says this is one of the measures needed to make poorly performing trusts …

    Government 10 Jun 09:45

  • Spanish police cuff three Anonymous hack suspects

    Updated Cell capture

    Spanish national police have arrested three suspected members of the infamous Anonymous hacking crew. The arrests in Barcelona, Alicante and Almeria involve suspects who allegedly had the ability to direct operations for Anonymous, the loosely affiliated hacking crew. Spanish police claim to have disrupted a key cell of the …

    Crime 10 Jun 09:49

  • Facebook plonks Sofa in Web2.0 lounge

    Couch potato by Dutch design

    Facebook bought Netherlands start-up Sofa for an undisclosed sum yesterday. The company, which in the past has developed Apple Mac software and design projects, announced the takeover on its blog. Sofa will be shipped out from Amsterdam to Palo Alto, California in the next few weeks and said it would take its "particular …

    Applications 10 Jun 09:59

  • Midlands council laughs at zombie-apocalypse threat

    Are you prepared for invasion of the undead?

    Leicester City Council has been forced to admit that it lacks a comprehensive emergency plan should the Midlands city be hit by zombie attack. The council received a Freedom of Information request which asked: Dear Leicester City Council, Can you please let us know what provisions you have in place in the event of a zombie …

    Bootnotes 10 Jun 10:18

  • VDI is not the only fruit

    Video Trevor talks VDI

    Thinking about virtualising your desktop? Virtual desktop infrastructure isn't the only option, says Trevor Pott, arch-sysadmin and El Reg contributor. In this podcast with Danny Bradbury, he discusses the alternatives to VDI, such as application virtualisation. Which model should you choose if you want to stop one user …

    Enterprise Tech 10 Jun 10:20

  • Dragon scoops Expansys into his Marlow den

    Staff leap overboard as company goes south

    Etailer Expansys has relocated offices from Manchester to Marlow, but unsurprisingly the majority of the staff refused to make the daily 286-mile round trip. The premises, owned by Dragon's Den bad boy Peter Jones who is non-exec deputy chairman at the mobile PC specialist, are also shared by two firms the company acquired in …

    Channel Register 10 Jun 10:34

  • Carphone Warehouse offers BlackBerry tablet a day early

    PlayBook promo

    The Carphone Warehouse reckons it will be able to sell you one of RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook a day ahead of the tablet's 16 June UK debut. CW isn't the only retailer willing to take your PlayBook order ahead of time, but today it said it will show off the gadget at its Selfridge's concession on Wednesday, 15 June when it will …

    reghardware 10 Jun 10:39

  • HP refuses to resurrect global partner piss-up conference

    Why fly to the US when you can get boozed briefed locally

    HP has confirmed will not be running a global partner knees-up for the third year running much to chagrin of some in the UK channel who are keen to get a run down of top level strategy, particularly in light of Leo Apotheker's succession to disgraced former CEO Mark Hurd. Despite rivals and other major vendors reinstating …

    Channel Register 10 Jun 10:59

  • Chromebooks hit UK shelves pre-order pages

    A month's wait, at least

    Netbooks and notebooks based on Google's Chrome OS look set to arrive in the UK early next month - though you'll wait longer if you want a 3G-connected model. According to Amazon UK, Samsung's Series 5 Chromebook will be out on 1 July, with the 3G version following on 1 August. The site lists them at £350 and £400, …

    reghardware 10 Jun 11:20

  • Is a Fusion-io bubble building up?

    Comment Bubbling away nicely

    Did you ever! Fusion-io shares opened at $25, $6 above the $19 IPO price and valuing the company at $1.9bn. Is this a flash bubble? The Fusion-io IPO was priced to value the start-up at $1.5bn, a sum that has now been exceeded, and which seems out of all proportion to the value of Fusion's relatively old technology. Unless new …

    Storage 10 Jun 11:29

  • Apple wades in to defend developers

    Swings lawyers at Lodsys

    Apple is wading into the patent row between Lodsys and seven Apple application developers. Lodsys is demanding a royalty payment from developers for a patent it claims to own. The patent relates to in-app purchasing. Apple is not disputing this but insists that it has correctly licensed the patents in question and therefore …

    Law 10 Jun 11:41

  • Red Faction: Armageddon

    Review Appetite for destruction

    Red Faction: Guerrilla released in 2009 was a sandbox full of C-4. Volition and its clever Geo-Mod technology gave me the world and the tools to destroy it. Yet with Red Faction: Armageddon, Volition has clasped the reins of this chaotic monster and decided, mistakenly perhaps, that it needs some steering. Fatal attraction …

    reghardware 10 Jun 12:00

  • Where do all the Free Schools go?

    Video Cloud app renders pin-stickers obsolete

    Education Secretary Michael Gove faces many obstacles (and many opponents) to his plan to let parents, charities and educational experts open and manage new Free Schools in their local areas. There are many hurdles for Free School advocates to overcome too - funding, for example. But even before you get to that stage, how do …

    Platform 10 Jun 12:22

  • Cabinet Office talks to Facebook & co about new ID system

    Exclusive Online access to public services could be via social networks

    Facebook and other social networks could be used by British citizens to sign into public services online, The Register has learned. A Cabinet Office spokeswoman confirmed to us this morning that the department was speaking to "a range of industry" about its ID assurance scheme, a prototype for which is expected in October this …

    Government 10 Jun 12:23

  • Phishers LAMP web hosts

    Sites pwned repeatedly, survey finds

    Phishers compromise LAMP-based websites for days at a time and hit the same victims over and over again, according to an Anti-Phishing Working Group survey. Sites built on Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP are the favoured targets of phishing attackers, the APWG report found, with between 76 and 82 per cent of respondents using one …

    Hosting 10 Jun 12:26

  • 4G auctions - illegal and immoral?

    Consultation responses a mixed bag

    Both O2 and BT contend that Ofcom's 4G auction proposals amount to illegal subsidy of their competitors, but all the other network operators are curiously silent on the whole thing. The 55 responses which are being shared on the Ofcom site range from The Ramblers, whose letter is generally supportive, to Telefonica's 101 pages …

    Mobile 10 Jun 12:51

  • Reg hack cast adrift as Illuminati Online goes off-line

    Self-Indulgent Comment The end of an era that really died a decade ago

    For nearly 20 years I've paid, monthly, for an email account, but next month the domain shuts down and while I feel I should care it seems email isn't as important as it used to be. Steve Jackson Games was the company I selected for the email account I set up in the early nineties, and since then I've routed every message …

    Hosting 10 Jun 13:10

  • Sophos says sorry over Google Analytics false alarm

    Updated No harm done

    Sophos has apologised after its security screening technology went awry and began falsely warning users when they visited websites running Google Analytics. The false positive - which identified web content served up from google-analytics.com as malicious code (specifically HTMLGen-A) - kicked in at around 05:15 GMT and …

    Malware 10 Jun 13:16

  • E3 2011: the showstoppers

    Show Roundup Games! Games! And, thrice, games!

    2011's Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA set the world alight with inklings of a new console war and more titles on display than a brimful bookshop. Aside from hordes of dribbling fanboys and/or overweight sweaty men, the common theme this year was cross-platform playability and revamps of old franchises. The latter does …

    reghardware 10 Jun 13:17

  • Mission critical computing for the masses

    Everyone benefits from networking advances

    The provisioning highly-available IT service, once the sole province of large enterprises, is today available to everyone. Consider the ftServer line from Stratus. These servers contain numerous redundant components, are equipped with dozens of sensors and are shipped with “uptime assurance” software monitored by Stratus as a …

    Enterprise Tech 10 Jun 13:25

  • Cloud iTunes DESTROYS music business FOREVER!

    Says man. We disagree...

    More hysterical shrieking reaches us about Apple's new music feature, I'm afraid. Earlier this week a lone lawyer said that iTunes Match, which populates an online store with songs you already have, encourages infringement. Well, this one is even nuttier. It's actually so spectacularly muddle-headed, I thought it might be is …

    Music and Media 10 Jun 14:05

  • IPv6 on Mobile? Only if it's free

    Billing and filtering prevent IPng going mobile

    The UK's first trial of mobile IPv6 is suffering technical delays as the operator struggles to make it work, though that's still impressive when the competition can't work out why they should even bother. Mobile phones themselves have supported IPv6 for the last five years or so, but network operators have almost nothing to …

    Mobile 10 Jun 14:14

  • Speck TrimSleeve MacBook Air case

    Txt Take Slide it in

    Daily Product reviews in 140 characters... Speck TrimSleeve Pictures Want our Txt Take on your gadget? Just send it in to Reg Hardware - details here.

    reghardware 10 Jun 15:00

  • Codemasters pulls website after hackers pwn customer database

    Game over

    Games developer Codemasters has taken its website offline and advised users to change their passwords in the aftermath of a hack attack last week. Unknown attackers made off with a treasure trove of personal information following an attack on Codemaster' website last Friday (3 June). Hackers got access to the Codemasters CodeM …

    Enterprise Security 10 Jun 15:02

  • Two fined for mobile data theft

    £73,000 in fines and costs

    Two ex-T-Mobile staff have to pay £73,700 in fines and confiscation orders after being found guilty of breaking the Data Protection Act. David Turley and Darren Hames were identifying customers whose mobile contracts were about to end. These contact details were then sold onto sales companies flogging new contracts. They …

    Law 10 Jun 15:10

  • IBM demos graphene circuits

    Future neuron for the other carbon-based life form?

    Researchers at IBM are showing off a high-speed switching circuit based on graphene. In a paper presented in the journal Science today, Big Blue is taking its carbon-based transistor up another notch and making full integrated circuits. IBM showed off wafer-scale graphene transistors back in February 2010, demonstrating …

    PCs & Chips 10 Jun 15:48

  • Go Daddy to sell .xxx domains

    Jumps on bandwagon straight to hell

    Go Daddy, the largest seller of internet domain names, has become the latest registrar to sign up to sell .xxx addresses. The company joins about 50 other registrars that have so far been approved by .xxx manager ICM Registry and accredited by ICANN to sell the names. "A large number of our customers have spoken... and there …

    Hosting 10 Jun 15:59

  • LTE iPhone 5 coming this fall?

    Don't hold your 4G breath

    If you're jonesing for a 4G LTE iPhone 5, you may only have to wait until this fall – and move to the United Arab Emirates. Or not. "Yes, we are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year," UAE wireless carrier Etisalat spokesman Ali Al Ahmad told …

    Mobile 10 Jun 17:24

  • Duke Nukem Forever rocks up on shelves

    It's party time

    Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming. 14 years since production first commenced, Duke Nukem Forever has finally gone on sale. It was immediately hit by stonkingly bad reviews, though. D'oh! Apparently, the game has failed to live up to the hype. Although, with that much talk, for that long, it was bound to have a rough ride. …

    reghardware 10 Jun 17:59

  • Red Hat's Oracle shot: The Unbreakable Database?

    Open...and Shut JBoss part II

    Red Hat has always been joined at the hip to the success of the database market. What's surprising is that it has yet to launch its own database product. Perhaps that should change. Much of Red Hat's success today was built on Oracle's early support for the Linux and middleware leader over the past decade. But it wasn't always …

    Applications 10 Jun 19:58