1st July 2011 Archive

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Wallabies battle cattle farts

Cork me kangaroo’s bot, Scott

The Tammar Wallaby’s digestive system is getting agricultural researchers excited, after researchers from Australia’s science agency CSIRO found its gut generates far lower methane emissions than cattle. Methane poses a greenhouse conundrum for policy makers: our dependence on livestock for meat means we keep lots of ruminants …

Science 1 Jul 2011, 00:01
Ten... pocket compact cameras

Product Round-up When a phonecam just won't do

When it comes to quick pics, the expedience of a phonecam can't be overestimated, yet the image quality expectations frequently are. With this in mind Reg Hardware has rounded up the smallest and cheapest compacts produced by all the usual suspects from the photography world. Here are ten cameras that will not only take decent …

reghardware 1 Jul 2011, 06:00
Apollo 14 'naut attempts to flog Moon camera for $80k

Oi, that's ours, protests NASA

Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell is locked in a legal battle with the US government over just who owns a movie camera which flew with him to the Moon in 1971. Mitchell - pilot of the lunar module Antares and the the sixth man to walk on the Moon's surface - pitched the camera for sale earlier this year as part of a Bonhams " …

Science 1 Jul 2011, 08:11
Twitter dealings with 3rd-party apps probed by FTC

Walled gardeners under the microscope

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating how Twitter deals with companies which make clients for people to access the service on smartphones and other devices. Various companies make applications which depend on Twitter but the issue came to a head in February when Twitter blocked users of two clients – UberTwitter and …

Applications 1 Jul 2011, 08:59
The Co-operative on application migration

Broadcast 11:00 They tell us how they're doing it

When Reg reader Ian Cawson, technical architect for the Co-operative, was given some new projects to tackle - including CRC targets, reducing IT complexity to minimise M&A impact and a move of headquarters - he grasped the challenge with both hands and charged down to Vulture Towers to tell us all about it. Today at 11am BST …

Desktop Strategy 1 Jul 2011, 09:02
NHS goes for in-cloud security from Zscaler

Looking to throttle ~~YouTube layabouts~~ bandwidth

It appears that the NHS will move security for its million-plus users to in-cloud services from Zscaler. The deal has not officially been announced but news is leaking out, such as in an agenda item entitled "Zscaler – Web Security Service Within N3" for an N3 user conference happening now. There is also a Satisnet Zscaler …

Cloud 1 Jul 2011, 09:19
Google left out of $4.5bn Nortel patent deal

Android left nude as enemies shrug on extra IP armour

Apple, Microsoft, RIM, EMC, Ericsson and Sony all chipped in to buy the patents, which cover critical 4G and wireless broadband technologies, leaving Google empty handed. The companies announced the purchase last night, with RIM admitting it had thrown $770m in the pot and Ericsson pegging its contribution at $340m. The …

Mobile 1 Jul 2011, 09:34
Apple to out-ship HP in 2012, say pundits

In mobile computers, at least

Apple will next year out-ship HP - if only when it comes to mobile computers - it has been forecast. The catch, you'll have already guessed, is that media tablet sales have to be included in the total. Unnamed pundits cited by DigiTimes say Apple could ship 15m MacBooks in 2012. And on a forecast 60m iPads - 75 per cent of …

reghardware 1 Jul 2011, 09:36
Magnificent Moon mountain sunrise caught on camera

NASA orbiter snaps the moody peaks of Tycho

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured a magnificent view (big version here) of sunrise over mountains in the centre of the Moon's Tycho crater: NASA explains: "A very popular target with amateur astronomers, Tycho is located at 43.37°S, 348.68°E, and is about 51 miles (82km) in diameter. The summit of the …

Science 1 Jul 2011, 09:45
Amazon Kindle Lighted Leather Cover

Let there be light

Yes, it's expensive, but Amazon's top-of-the-line Kindle 3 leather-covered folio-style case isn't just an overpriced luxury item. It also has practical value, thanks to a built-in, slide-out LED lamp. The Cover is soberly good-looking, no arguing with that I sat up in bed with it one night, and can attest that it does …

reghardware 1 Jul 2011, 10:00
Brush up your virtualisation skills

The way to an employer's heart

Virtualisation has expanded its remit since back in the 1960s, when only the white-coated acolytes tending the IBM mainframe in an air-conditioned hall needed to know anything about it. Today, it is everywhere, and it would be a blinkered IT staffer who failed to recognise the importance of the technology to his or her role. …

Data Centre 1 Jul 2011, 10:00
'Lion' Apple Mac OS X 10.7: Sneak Preview

Review El Reg lifts the new big cat's tail and has a poke

The first major update to Apple's Mac operating system in some five years is nearly ready, and what has been removed is as significant as its improvements. Mac OS X 10.7, known informally as Lion, continues the trend of removing "legacy" components and technologies from OS X with a zeal that would leave Microsoft quivering in …

Operating Systems 1 Jul 2011, 10:00
Nokia begins mass Symbian Anna update

Old S60 handsets in line for handout

Nokia has new firmware on speed-dial and is set to offer many of its current client base a free Symbian Anna update. According to AllAboutSymbian, the Finnish mobile giant is set to handout firmware updates that come with Anna's improved browser Web 7.3, updated Ovi Maps, the addition of emoticons for SMS and MMS, and more. …

reghardware 1 Jul 2011, 10:13
US judge greenlights case against Google Wi-Fi slurp

'We place a priority on privacy', chips in Microsoft

A request by Google to throw out a lawsuit that alleges the company violated US federal wiretap law has been rejected by a judge in San Francisco. This means Google can be sued for its Street View vehicles' Wi-Fi data slurp, reports The Wall Street Journal. Plaintiffs from a number of states in the US are seeking class-action …

Law 1 Jul 2011, 10:14
NHS bitchslapped by ICO on data security

Serial fax offenders must grip the f–– up

The Information Commissioner's Office is working with Connecting for Health to try to get the NHS to take data security seriously. The news comes as another five NHS bodies sign undertakings with the regulator to improve processes. Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said: "The health service holds some of the most …

Security 1 Jul 2011, 10:18
BOFH: Drunken Time Lord

Episode 9 Glass lift, laxatives, untraceable banknotes ... oh my

"It's only 1:30pm!" the PFY grumbles, looking up from his cellphone clock. "I know," I say. "It's that variable viscosity of time again." "The what now?" the PFY asks "The variable viscosity of time. You know, how the viscosity of time is inversely proportional to what you'd like the viscosity to be." "You’ve lost me." " …

BOFH 1 Jul 2011, 10:38
El Reg cuts ribbon on new Special Projects Bureau

Black ops garden-shed boffinry to follow PARIS spaceplane

We're delighted to inform our beloved readers that as of today, El Reg has a dedicated Special Projects Bureau, which will henceforth be Vulture Central's nerve centre of black ops and garden-shed boffinry. The resounding success of our our audacious Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) project (see pic) convinced us …

SPB 1 Jul 2011, 11:00
Facebook promises 'awesome' launch next week

Boydroid Zuck brewing fondleslab offerings?

Facebook could be launching long-awaited iPad and iPhone apps next week. The company's founder Mark Zuckerberg told Reuters that Facebook would "launch something awesome" soon. However, the boydroid, who this week reportedly signed up to Mountain View's latest social network effort Google+, declined to comment further. …

Applications 1 Jul 2011, 11:23
Sleek Samsung smartphone spied in Sweden

Galaxy Z uncovered

A slender Samsung smartphone has been unveiled by Three in Sweden. The network operator touts it as the Galaxy S II's little brother. The Samsung Galaxy Z runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with an Nvidia dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 chip. It packs a 4.2in display with a 480 x 800 resolution, a 5Mp camera capable of shooting 720p video, …

reghardware 1 Jul 2011, 11:30
Everything Everywhere IT staff get new boss, again

Inhouse outsource resource in force

Two hundred former Orange staffers employed by Everything Everywhere today start working for T-Systems instead, as the UK's biggest operator commences a seven-year outsourcing deal for its IT systems. The majority of the staff are, and will continue to be, Bristol-based, while others work from Hatfield, Darlington and Leeds, …

Networks 1 Jul 2011, 11:36
Microsoft dismisses reseller critics of Office 365

Do you deserve to be in the food chain?

Resellers need to re-engineer their business model for the cloud services era rather than trying to turn back time, Microsoft has warned. Office 365 hit the market this week but a cross section of the US software vendor's channel remain concerned about the client engagement model: Microsoft hosts the service and bills the …

Channel Register 1 Jul 2011, 11:56
Do we really want 100Gig Ethernet?

When do we want it?

Remember when Ethernet networks were invented? Probably not: it was over 30 years ago, after all, and you are probably too young. Even if you are not, you have probably dismissed from memory the woefully inadequate 10 meg of bandwidth on offer at the time – less than you get with most broadband services these days. Still, the …

Data Centre 1 Jul 2011, 12:00
Akira Blu-ray remastered disc set

Review Anime activist bikers get a retread

It’s been hailed as the greatest anime ever. While I think you have to go some before you can top Pokémon 4Ever, (no seriously, I prefer My Neighbour Totoro) there’s no denying Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira is a milestone of a movie. Akira: worth another spin in this UK Blu-ray remaster release Back in 1989, its international …

reghardware 1 Jul 2011, 12:00
DiData buys itself a hunk of cloud

Everyone's at it

Dimension Data, the South African services giant, has bought a US-based enterprise cloud hosting and storage company called OpSource. The company is creating a central Cloud Solutions Business Unit to house OpSource. It will report directly to chief executive Brett Dawson. OpSource has 150 staff. It is headquartered in Santa …

Cloud 1 Jul 2011, 12:17
Background checking in the palm of the hand

That hot babe in finance? Did 5 years in jail. Men's jail

The properly paranoid can now relax, BeenVerified is available for Android and iPhone platforms: so you can check out the history of anyone you meet instantly - if they're American, anyway. The service has been around as a website for a while, checking different publicly available sources of information and compiling a report …

Security 1 Jul 2011, 12:38
Who'll keep taking Windows Tablets in the iPad era?

Andrew's Review Notes BillG's 2001 proto-fondleslab that failed

I have a lot of sympathy for people who steal their technology from the hearse, just as its driving through the gates of the great technology knackers' yard. While it is obligatory to be savoir faire with the latest in design and innovation, when it comes to my personal spending I'm right there with the laggards, on the …

Hardware 1 Jul 2011, 12:42
'Dirty' Hari defends radical interview mashup technique

Comment Zelig and the Art of Tape Recorder Maintenance

Just last week I had the rare opportunity to catch up with Bill Gates. He's a busy man, of course, with the Foundation's medical research and investments consuming most of his time. Being so engaged with development issues, I wondered, did Gates have time to look at the spread of technology into developing countries? Gates said …

Media 1 Jul 2011, 12:44
Microsoft copies Google, kills home energy-meter project

Anything you can't do, we can't do better

Microsoft is retiring its free web-based household energy usage service, which means it won't leave its beta status and instead will be killed on 31 May 2012. The project, dubbed Hohm, is just two years old. But like Google's PowerMeter, which was billed as a home-electricity-consumption cloud service that only launched in the …

Applications 1 Jul 2011, 12:58
NetApp patents Hybrid Aggregates, sneers at PCIe

Flash cutlery alongside the platter

NetApp has Hybrid Aggregate drives coming, with data moved automatically in real time between flash located next to the spinning disks. The company now says that this is a better technology than PCIe flash approaches. NetApp, presenting at an Analyst Day event in New York on 30 June, said that having networked storage move as …

Storage 1 Jul 2011, 13:21
Phishers switch focus to targeted attacks, warns Cisco

Looking for the higher-value victim

Cybercrims are switching tactics from traditional email-based mass security threats to lower volume targeted attacks, according to a report by Cisco Security Intelligence Operations. A survey of more than 360 IT bods across 50 organisations found that in the past year the cost of email-based hacks - financial, stolen …

Security 1 Jul 2011, 13:43
Auditor declares FiReControl a 'comprehensive failure'

Years: 7, dosh spent: £469m, Systems delivered: ZERO

The project to create nine regional control centres for fire and rescue linked by a new IT system has been a comprehensive failure, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). A newly published report from the government auditor, "The failure of the FiReControl project", says the scheme was fatally flawed because the …

Government 1 Jul 2011, 14:11
LightSquared admits it will knock out 200,000 sat-navs

Unholy row at FCC: GPS industry predicts rain of planes

Wireless broadband firm LightSquared has admitted that its original plan would have knocked out most GPS sat-nav kit, but argues that its new plan will only leave 200,000 users lost. Reporting on the results of several months of testing, involving 130 different GPS receivers, LightSquared admits that operating in the …

Broadband 1 Jul 2011, 14:27
Virtualisation lets the applications roll

Desktop Delivery made easy

Virtualisation can ease desktop application deployment in a variety of ways. It separates the application not just from the underlying hardware but also from the operating system. It means, for example, that you can run applications – or several copies of the same application – side by side in separate virtualised spaces …

Desktop Strategy 1 Jul 2011, 14:28
New anti-corruption offences come into force today

No backdown in biz bung crackdown

New anti-corruption laws come into force today, giving companies more certainty over what constitutes bribery but placing greater obligations on companies to tackle corruption. A company could be responsible for bribery carried out by its employees without its knowledge or consent under the Bribery Act. It creates a new …

Law 1 Jul 2011, 15:00
Blighty gets gold-dispensing ATM

Auric cornucopia

The UK's first gold-dispensing ATM machine has been installed at Westfield shopping centre in London. The Gold to Go hole-in-the-wall was unveiled today at London's biggest shopping centre, where it will dispense various sizes of 24-carat gold coins and bars. The machine also updates the prices every ten minutes, keeping the …

reghardware 1 Jul 2011, 15:50
Google Go strikes back with C++ bake-off

'Benchmarks only as good as the programs they measure'

In early June, Googler Robert Hundt published a paper comparing the performance of four programming languages: C++, Java, Scala, and a rather new addition to the world of systems programming, Google's own Go. Go is designed to provide the performance of a compiled language like C++ and the "feel" of a dynamic language like …

Developer 1 Jul 2011, 15:58
Facebook game outfit Zynga files for $1bn IPO

60 million virtual world obsessives

Zynga – the online gaming outfit behind the wildly popular Farmville – has filed for an IPO, seeking to raise as much as $1bn. According to the company's SEC filing, Zynga is actually a profitable company. In 2010, it reached $90.6 million in net income and $597 million in net revenue. In the first three months of 2011, the …

Financial News 1 Jul 2011, 17:52
One help desk API to unite them all

Open...and Shut Down with the Software Tower of Babel

Businesses everywhere have embraced open source as a way to increase innovation and drive down software acquisition costs. Unfortunately, open source doesn't solve an even bigger problem companies have: making their software/systems talk to each other. Whether you're Chevron or Sam's Truck Stop, at some point you're going to …

Developer 1 Jul 2011, 18:00
One per cent of world's web browsing happens on iPad

Jobsian fondleslab munches net

The iPad now accounts for over one per cent of worldwide web browsing – and in the US, that figure jumps to 2.1 per cent. So says the latest Net Applications NetMarketShare report, which also adds that mobile browsing has surpassed 5 per cent worldwide (over 8.2 per cent in the US). The inexorable upward march of the iPad as …

Media 1 Jul 2011, 18:28
Profit piranhas want a bite of HP

Comment Apotheker needs to walk on water

Private equity firms are circling HP, looking for a way to carve up the IT behemoth and make a few quick and easy bucks – just as they do every time a new CEO has trouble running the company. Bankers, brokerages, private equity firms, and other stockjobbers and moneylenders talk a good game about investing for the long haul, …

Business 1 Jul 2011, 19:06