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14th June 2011 Archive

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  • Aussie censor bans Dead or Alive

    So not PG … backflips after pressure

    The Australian classification board has bowed to pressure over the rating of Nintendo 3DS title Dead or Alive: Dimensions, revoking its initial PG certificate and banning it from sale in Australia. The incident has again tested Australia's limited classification board system which currently holds MA 15+ as its highest …

    Games 14 Jun 2011, 00:01

  • Bitcoin slump follows senators’ threats

    Correlation or causation?

    As any investment adviser will tell you, it’s a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket. And if Rick Falkvinge was telling the truth when he said all his savings were now in Bitcoin, he’s been taken down by a third in a day. Following last week’s call by US senators for an investigation into virtual crypto-currency Bitcoin …

    Financial News 14 Jun 2011, 00:58

  • Site appeals feds' unprecedented domain seizure

    'Operation in our Sites' challenged

    The Spanish operator of a website related to sports has petitioned for the return of two domain names seized by the US government in an unprecedented campaign that confiscates the addresses without first giving owners a chance to defend themselves in court. Puerto 80, the owner of rojadirecta.com and rojadirecta.org, said in a …

    Hosting 14 Jun 2011, 01:11

  • Xeround reinvents MySQL atop Amazon cloud

    NoSQL. Without the No

    Upstart database maker Xeround has taken the wraps off the 1.0 release of its flagship product, but you can't install it in your local data center. It's only available as a service, from public clouds like Amazon's EC2. Xeround got its start building massively scaled database management systems for telecom companies, including …

    Cloud 14 Jun 2011, 02:43

  • Intel, AMD in HP notebook smackdown

    Which is faster? 'You tell me' says AMD

    In early May, HP released a flurry of updated, redesigned Intel-based business notebooks. Now, AMD – Intel's microprocessor rival – will power these machines as well. On Tuesday, HP announced new business and consumer notebooks equipped with the latest versions of what AMD insists on calling APUs – accelerated processing units …

    Hardware 14 Jun 2011, 05:00

  • Intel 510 250GB Sata 3 SSD

    Review Performance benefits

    Having recently covered Crucial’s new M4 SSD, it seemed only natural to go further in-depth with it’s Intel counterpart, the 510 series. Both of these drives feature Marvell’s 88SS9174 controller, with the Intel drive using the BKK2 revision, and a SATA 6Gb/s interface. Sata 3 performer: Intel's SSD 510 Intel and Crucial’s …

    Hardware 14 Jun 2011, 06:00

  • Patrick Byrne: 'See, I told you America's economy was busted'

    The battle beyond naked shorts

    Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne has declared another victory in his six-year fight to expose fundamental flaws in the American financial markets. With a piece detailing what it calls "America's dodgy financial plumbing", the latest issue of The Economist addresses the very problem Byrne has fought so hard to uncover: naked …

    Financial News 14 Jun 2011, 06:13

  • Teen sells Perl cloud startup to ActiveState

    Mojolicious Phenona

    Meet Daniil Kulchenko. He was an HTML programmer at age six. He was a freelance Linux systems administrator at 11. And at 15, he founded his first business: Phenona, a platform-as-a-service for building and hosting Perl applications. Now, Kulchenko has sold Phenona to dynamic language specialist ActiveState for an undisclosed …

    Cloud 14 Jun 2011, 06:56

  • Big data can be deduplicated

    Opinion Isilon view disputed

    Ronaldo Yamashita, an ESG analyst in Brazil, took exception to the Isilon view that big data is not compressible and sent El Reg his reasoning why he thinks this is the case. When we talk about "text" big data, like logs or information gathered from different sources (e.g. web, credit agencies, Facebook), it is highly …

    Storage 14 Jun 2011, 07:47

  • Nokia and Apple bury patent beef

    You drop your lawyers and I'll drop mine

    Nokia and Apple have settled their patent dispute, with Cupertino handing over an undisclosed lump sum and agreeing to ongoing royalties. The case has been rumbling on since October 2009, with Nokia taking the action to various courts in the US and Europe, and both companies making formal complaints to the US International …

    Mobile 14 Jun 2011, 08:48

  • Microsoft squeaks on Google Nortel sale

    Sold company should honour old agreements

    Microsoft is worried that any sale of Nortel's patents could endanger the worldwide agreements it had with the company. Google is offering $900m for the remnants of the company, and its 6,000 patents, and Microsoft is calling for any existing patent agreements to be transferred. Microsoft warned that any sale would disrupt …

    Broadband 14 Jun 2011, 08:49

  • Metro Bank in schoolboy email error snafu

    bcc fail for stripling bank

    Metro Bank, the newly established UK retail bank, has irked its customers with a schoolboy email error. The latest marketing missive from the bank was sent using all the email addresses in to To: field instead of using the bcc (blind carbon copy) field. In the process, the bank disclosed the email addresses of around 1,200 …

    Security 14 Jun 2011, 08:50

  • Samsung pips rivals with 1TB internal 2.5-inch drive

    Top of the leapfrog league

    Samsung is the first disk drive vendor to launch a 1TB, internal, 2-platter, 2.5-inch hard drive, leap-frogging the other four HDD suppliers. Western Digital has a 3-platter 1TB 2.5-inch drive, the Scorpio Blue, but its 3-platters and 12.5mm z-height measurement means it can't fit in a standard 9.5mm z-height drive bay as the …

    Storage 14 Jun 2011, 09:07

  • Businesses believe tribunal system favours employees

    81% of companies said claimants had 'tried it on'

    Almost all employers think the current Employment Tribunal system favours employees over businesses, a new survey has found. Only 3 per cent of firms are satisfied with the current system while 97 per cent of companies think the system is weighted in favour of workers, the survey by law firm Pinsent Masons said. Pinsent …

    Small Biz 14 Jun 2011, 09:19

  • LulzSec hacks US Senate

    Bethesda also bashed in latest attack

    Hacker tricksters LulzSec is baiting US lawmakers with its latest attack on the US Senate. The hacking group posted what security experts Sophos characterised as "basic information on the filesystems, user logins and the Apache web server config files" of the Senate website on Wednesday morning. The group also posted a …

    Security 14 Jun 2011, 09:26

  • Dam Busters dog dubbed 'Digger'

    Guy Gibson's mutt rebranded for the US movie market

    Scriptwriter Stephen Fry has announced he's successfully tackled the thorny problem of just what to call Guy Gibson's dog in Peter Jackson's upcoming remake of The Dam Busters. The mutt will be rebranded "Digger", Fry announced to the BBC, because "there is no question in America that you could ever have a dog called the N- …

    Hardware 14 Jun 2011, 09:36

  • BT ramps up fibre-optic roll-out plan

    5m homes with potential access by June

    BT Openreach is to connect a further 66 exchanges - together feeding almost 1m houses and office premises - to its fibre-optic network between now and the end of 2012. Openreach, BT's infrastructure arm, has a list of existing and will-be-connected exchanges on its website. The company said the 66 new locations - and a …

    Broadband 14 Jun 2011, 09:43

  • Dolphin Browser HD

    Android App of the Week The Dan Marino of mobile web browsers

    There’s not much wrong with the stock Android web browser but if you fancy something a bit more capable you might want to consider Dolphin HD as an alternative. Dolphin HD: browse with tabs Now before I go on, this recommendation is not about page rendering speed. If you want to download Dolphin, Opera, Firefox or any of …

    Phones 14 Jun 2011, 10:00

  • Wassup with systems and service management?

    Reader poll You tell us

    "Do more with less" springs to mind when describing the conflicting demands placed on IT: new devices, more services with better performance, not to mention making it all nice and secure too. And, oh, we want all that at a lower price please. Trying to shoehorn this into existing ways of working is likely to end in tears. So …

    Tech Panel 14 Jun 2011, 10:00

  • ARM server hero Calxeda lines up software super friends

    Preparing to battle The Atom

    With Intel's top brass bad-mouthing ARM-based servers, upstart server chip maker Calxeda can't let Intel do all the talking. It has to put together an ecosystem of hardware and software partners who believe there's a place for a low-power, 32-bit ARM-based server platform in the data center. To that end, Calxeda, formerly …

    Servers 14 Jun 2011, 10:00

  • Cable & Wireless in talks to acquire 2e2

    Private equity backers holding out for £450m

    Cable & Wireless Worldwide has opened acquisition talks with systems integrator 2e2, according to industry insiders. Sources reckon that long term 2e2 backer Duke Street Capital (DSC), which acquired 2e2 from venture capitalist Gresham in September 2006 for £130m, is edging toward its five-year exit plan. A second private …

    The Channel 14 Jun 2011, 10:00

  • Neal's Yard Remedies its supply chain

    Video With IT department of one

    Neal's Yard is famous for its natural remedies sold in distinctive blue bottles. But how do the perishable and rare ingredients get to the factory, and how do the products of this £20m business get to market? Neal's Yard has both a sophisticated supply and distribution chain - and an IT department of one to run it. In this …

    Doing Better Business 14 Jun 2011, 10:30

  • Anonymous vows to attack Federal Reserve

    Blames bankers for impoverishing millions

    Infamous hacktivist collective Anonymous has served notice that it intends to attack the websites of the Federal Reserve. The campaign – likely to take the form of denial of service attacks and possibly sit-ins – is in protest at the Federal Reserve's role in the global financial crisis, misuse of US taxpayer funds and …

    Security 14 Jun 2011, 10:32

  • Guy spills on girl in weird Huawei tablet teaser

    Gadget users exchange fluids

    Chinese comms kit maker Huawei has posted a "sneak peek" video of its MediaTab tablet - and rather a curiosity it is too. The video, not the tablet. All we can say, after watching it, is that the MediaPad has a camera and a headphone port. No doubt it has a screen too - 7in, judging by the size of the tablet - but it is never …

    Tablets 14 Jun 2011, 10:33

  • Creationists are infiltrating US geology circles

    Grand Canyon? Caused by Noah's Flood, that

    Creationists are infiltrating US geology circles in an attempt to push the theory that the Earth is no more than 10,000 years old and that recognised geological phenomena which appear to contradict this idea can be accounted for by Noah's Flood and similar Bible stories. The attempt by creationist "scientists" to present …

    Science 14 Jun 2011, 10:35

  • Carphone Warehouse considers retailing future

    Big yellow boxes slipping into the red

    Despite good results from its US expansion, and turning a French loss into a profit, annual figures from Carphone Warehouse show its ambitious plan to change European retailing is consuming a good deal more cash than anticipated. Losses from joint operation Best Buy UK topped £62m in the last 12 months, more than three times …

    Mobile 14 Jun 2011, 11:00

  • Quantum recruits sales heavy hitter

    Marketing splits from sales

    Quantum has recruited a heavy-hitting sales VP to cope better with the complex deals and extended sales cycles it is seeing. Until now EVP Bill Britts had worldwide responsibility at Quantum for marketing, sales and services. He reported to the previous CEO, Rick Bellluzzo, and then to Jon Gacek when he took over the CEO …

    Storage 14 Jun 2011, 11:05

  • BT earmarks 66 more exchanges for fibre-to-the-cabinet upgrade

    Bucket and spade required

    BT's Openreach wholesale division announced this morning the next 66 exchanges that it plans to upgrade as part of its fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) broadband rollout. Most of the locations, which are spattered all over the UK, will get the FTTC technology at some point in 2012. BT said that a few of the exchanges will "go live …

    Broadband 14 Jun 2011, 11:27

  • Capgemini goes French

    Another acquisition

    Capgemini is in advanced talks to buy Prosodie from Apax Partners and its senior managers. The exclusive negotiations should lead to a deal that will add to earnings for the year. It is based on a value of €382m, and will be paid for from Capgemini's cash reserves. Prosodie has 861 staff, turnover in 2010 of €172m and …

    The Channel 14 Jun 2011, 11:31

  • NFC pioneer packs in proximity payments

    Bling Nation failed in bring in the bling

    Having failed to find a business model that worked, the pioneering proximity payment company Bling Nation has stopped processing payments – although it claims the move is temporary while it finds a workable business model. The pay-by-sticker system was launched in 2009, striking deals with community banks and under cutting …

    Broadband 14 Jun 2011, 11:35

  • VMware unfurls fresh Spring Java 'vFabric'

    Priced by the VM

    VMware has unveiled a new version of its vFabric platform, a collection of software tools for building, deploying, and running SpringSource Java applications atop VMware hypervisors. Dubbed vFabric 5, the platform offers a new incarnation of the SpringSource tc server designed to improve memory management for Java applications …

    Virtualization 14 Jun 2011, 12:00

  • Duke Nukem Forever

    Review What were we waiting for, Christmas?

    In a game bursting with 1980s macho-movie quotes and in-jokes, one line resonates far beyond Duke Nukem Forever’s puerile script. Besieged by an alien invasion, the President of the United States ignores calls to beg the eponymous meathead to save the planet, lamenting, “Duke, you’re a relic from a different era.” My boot, …

    Games 14 Jun 2011, 12:00

  • EA: early Battlefield 3 buyers will gain no advantage

    Bye-bye boycott?

    EA has denied claims that gamers who pre-order Battlefield 3 will gain an advantage in play over those who don't. Some fans began calling for an international boycott after reports surfaced that buyers who pre-order the game will gain unfair advantage thanks to the exclusive Battlefield 3 weaponry they will receive as an early …

    Games 14 Jun 2011, 12:02

  • Facebook hurls insults, punctuation at growth slump report

    'People... wrong. Every. Single. Time!'... bitch

    Facebook flacks are up in arms about a report that pointed to usage growth slumping in the company's more mature markets such as the US, where six million people recently switched off from the world's largest social network. Inside Facebook Gold said data it had garnered about Facebook usage showed that the Mark Zuckerberg-run …

    Media 14 Jun 2011, 12:18

  • Stand by for more big, windfarm-driven 'leccy price rises

    Analysis Think it's bad now? Just wait, says Grid

    The National Grid has released a report into the way things are headed for the UK's electricity supplies in the coming decade, and it's not good news for anyone who finds their 'leccy bill to be a noticeable expense. No matter what happens to fossil fuel prices, British electricity is going to cost a lot, lot more in the near …

    Science 14 Jun 2011, 13:02

  • Facebook value hits $100bn, to go public in Q1 2012

    Waiting for the burp... bitch

    Facebook's valuation grew even larger yesterday, after a CNBC report suggested that share-watchers on Wall Street expected to see the company's planned IPO pop the $100bn mark. CNBC reckoned the dominant social network could take Facebook public in the first quarter of 2012, with an S-1 filing that might land as soon as …

    Financial News 14 Jun 2011, 13:03

  • Cambridge startup launches world's first white space radio

    16Mb/s, 10km range, battery-powered and licence-free... just not legal

    Neul, the Cambridge startup staffed by some of the UK's top radio boffins, has started manufacturing a white space radio, despite the fact that there isn't a single country where such a thing would be legal to use. Neul launched last year, and has been talking about protocols and standards for use in white space: television …

    Broadband 14 Jun 2011, 13:26

  • Yorks PC maker goes titsup owing £1m+

    Little chance of payout as PC maker faceplants

    West Yorkshire-based Cube Enterprises has gone under owing more than £1.2m to trade and expense creditors, the Reg has learned. The Wetherby firm went down in May, but a director's report presented to creditors at a meeting on 9 June revealed creditors were unlikely to recoup monies owed, resulting in anguished howls from the …

    The Channel 14 Jun 2011, 13:48

  • Video vigilantes in trouble again

    CCTV leaks leads to ICO slap

    Video vigilante service Internet Eyes is in trouble with data protection regulators again. Internet Eyes streams CCTV footage from shops to its network of users who watch the live feeds from their home computer. Keen-eyed noseyparkers can then hit an alert button if they spot a shoplifter. This information is then texted back …

    Law 14 Jun 2011, 13:53

  • Careless tweets cost lives, warns MoD

    Vid campaign against the perils of social networking

    The Ministry of Defence has knocked together a couple of videos warning just how a careless tweet or unguarded Facebook comment could end up with someone on the wrong end of an AK-47. The MoD accepts social networking sites are "great for keeping in touch with family and friends, and letting the world know what you’re up to", …

    Bootnotes 14 Jun 2011, 14:21

  • Quantum pounces on Pancetera

    Go go for VM backup to DXi

    Quantum is buying virtual machine backup specialist Pancetera for a measly $12m. It's not even $12m cash as $3.6m of it is in the form of 1.2 million Quantum shares. What Quantum is buying is "a virtual appliance that can reduce virtual machine backup I/O load by up to 80 per cent, and lets sysadmins move virtual machine files …

    Virtualization 14 Jun 2011, 14:27

  • Commons hit by rash of laptop thefts

    One politico also has charm stolen

    The House of Commons' perennial theft problem has become increasingly high tech, with sporadic thefts of computers in recent years turning into a veritable run on laptops, according to the latest figures. In a Commons answer last week, John Thurso detailed cases of theft on the Commons Estate over the last five years, for the …

    Government 14 Jun 2011, 14:52

  • Belkin FlipBlade mobile tablet stand

    Txt Take Rest your reader

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

    Tablets 14 Jun 2011, 15:00

  • VMware eats Digital Fuel

    Will p*ss fire and put the heat on IT budgets

    Server virtualization juggernaut and cloud plumbing supply provider VMware has acquired Digital Fuel Technologies, a company that has created online applications for doing IT costing, budgeting, planning, showback and chargeback. Digital Fuel has also built systems for implementing service level agreements for IT infrastructure …

    Virtualization 14 Jun 2011, 15:01

  • European Council: Creating hacking tools should be criminal across EU

    Ministers want Europe-wide legal net for cybercrookery

    The making of hacking tools and computer viruses should be a criminal act across Europe, EU ministers have said. The EU's Council of Ministers has backed the extension of criminal sanctions to tool—makers in response to European Commission plans to update EU laws tackling attacks against computer systems. Responding to …

    Security 14 Jun 2011, 15:11

  • A sysadmin's top ten tales of woe

    Mission Critical The IT troubles I have seen

    Get enough people of any profession in one room and the conversation drifts inexorably towards horror stories. Everyone loves a good “…and then it all went horribly sideways” yarn, and we all have more than one. The IT profession is flush with tales of woe. There are no upper boundaries on ignorance or inability. From common …

    Enterprise Tech 14 Jun 2011, 15:30

  • No Gingerbread snack for Desire owners, says HTC

    We didn't put enough Ram in, admits manufacturer

    HTC today told Desire smartphone users they won't be getting a Gingerbread update after all because it didn't put enough memory in its handsets. Oops. The company made the announcement on its Facecrack page, claiming the handset lacks memory for both Gingerbread and the Sense UI. Solution: give users the choice to upgrade to …

    Phones 14 Jun 2011, 15:47

  • Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

    Physicists say sunspot cycle is 'going into hibernation'

    What may be the science story of the century is breaking this evening, as heavyweight US solar physicists announce that the Sun appears to be headed into a lengthy spell of low activity, which could mean that the Earth – far from facing a global warming problem – is actually headed into a mini Ice Age. Ice skating on the …

    Science 14 Jun 2011, 17:00

  • Duke Nukem sniffs out a number one

    Chart topper scores better on PlayStation

    Despite an influx of bad reviews, Duke Nukem Forever has clawed its way into the top spot of the UK's videogame charts for all consoles. It appears the perennial bombardment of hype has paid off and although fans have waited 14 years to play the bloody thing, interest hasn't faded. It now sits on top of the all-formats charts …

    Games 14 Jun 2011, 18:09

  • AMD promises 10 teraflop notebooks by 2020

    Fusion Summit Demos next year's Trinity and talks elephants

    AMD has demoed its next-generation "Trinity" processor, promising 10-teraflop notebooks based on follow-ons to its new A-series "Liano" APUs by 2020. "Two and a half years or so ago ... I brought up a bold promise: that in 2011 AMD would deliver a supercomputer in a notebook," AMD senior vice president and products-group …

    Laptops 14 Jun 2011, 18:31

  • World's biggest ad agency keelhauls 2000 'pirate' sites

    No, not Google

    Advertising giant GroupM will stop buying advertising space on more than 2,000 global sites said to offer pirated or unlicensed content. The blacklist, assembled with help from key entertainment clients, includes The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents, but also features legitimate download sites such as BitTorrent Inc and business …

    Media 14 Jun 2011, 18:54

  • Malware abusing Windows Autorun plummets

    You'll never guess why

    Microsoft saw a sharp drop in malware infections that exploit a widely abused Windows Autorun feature almost immediately after it was automatically disabled in earlier versions of the operating system. As measured by Microsoft's various antimalware programs, Windows XP and Vista suffered 1.3 million fewer infections in the …

    Security 14 Jun 2011, 19:06

  • Citigroup hack exploited easy-to-detect web flaw

    Brute force attack exposes 200,000 accounts

    Hackers who stole bank account details for 200,000 Citigroup customers infiltrated the company's system by exploiting a garden-variety security hole in the company's website for credit card users, according to a report citing an unnamed security investigator. The New York Times reported that the technique allowed the hackers to …

    Security 14 Jun 2011, 21:25

  • Google Instant Pages: Search sites rendered before you click

    Webmasters, beware fake traffic

    Google has unveiled several new desktop and mobile search tools, including a Chrome service known as Instant Pages that attempts to accelerate your searches by rendering pages before you actually click on them. Already available with the developer version of Google Chrome – and due to arrive in the next stable version of the …

    Media 14 Jun 2011, 21:47

  • IBM: Palmisano mulls Big Blue line of succession

    We have a plan. Almost

    It's no coincidence. As IBM celebrates its 100th anniversary, the Wall Street Journal is running a vague story about IBM president, CEO, and chairman Sam Palmisano "seeking advice" on how to handle the transition to a new set of executives. IBM's age has got Wall Street thinking about how old Palmisano is – and who will be …

    Servers 14 Jun 2011, 22:30

  • NBN downstream wholesale arrives, courtesy of Nextgen

    Entry-level for smaller ISPs

    One of the criticisms of Australia’s National Broadband Network – a case prosecuted by Internode founder Simon Hackett, among others – is that product suites offered by NBN Co don’t suit smaller ISPs. Nextgen Networks is seeking to address that by crafting an alternative wholesale product. The company says its “NBN Connect” …

    Broadband 14 Jun 2011, 23:05

  • 'Harmony' for open source contributors on horizon

    Just don't mention the Canonical bit

    A controversial push to establish clear-cut rules for contributing to open source projects is nearing completion. Project Harmony – no, not that Project Harmony – has spent a year collecting feedback on how to refine terms governing contributors to open source projects, and it's scheduled to wrap up this effort on June 23. …

    Developer 14 Jun 2011, 23:49