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23rd August 2011 Archive

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  • HP: webOS will still run PCs and printers

    'We killed it. But it's not dead'

    After killing off its webOS hardware division last Thursday, HP has been working to assure the world – read: webOS developers – that there's "a dance in the old dame yet". "We have opened the next chapter for webOS," developer relations headman Richard Kerris wrote in a blog post, putting a forward-looking spin on the mobile …

    Operating Systems 23 Aug 2011, 00:05

  • Oz A-G to host ISPs and copyright industry in ‘three strikes’ confab

    Don’t spill blood on the carpet

    Australia’s attorney-general Robert McClelland will host what could be a very uncomfortable meeting in September, with the copyright industry on one side of the table, and ISPs on the other. According to The Australian, the death-match industry consultation is designed to “gauge the views of key stakeholders” about copyright …

    Law 23 Aug 2011, 00:30

  • God particle back in hiding

    Champagne cork back in bottle

    Less than a month ago, Large Hadron Collider boffins thought they were closing in on the Higgs boson particle, but the results they had observed now look like a statistical quirk. Nature is now reporting that a paper presented at the Lepton Photon conference in Mumbai, India, shows the “excess events” spotted at the LHC are …

    Physics 23 Aug 2011, 01:30

  • Apple MacBook Pro 17in 2011

    Review Flagship quad-core notebook

    A slap across the face is what I need. It’s the only language I understand. My problem is that I have played with too many Apple MacBooks over the past 18 months. They were starting to look similar, a little standard perhaps, maybe even ordinary. Quad core as standard: Apple's 17in MacBook Pro So I took another peek at the …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 06:00

  • VMware's open source doppelganger gets cloudy

    Convirture does Amazon, Eucalyptus, OpenStack

    Convirture – an outfit that has long offered tools for managing open source hypervisors – will soon release a new version of its (partially) open source software that also oversees the use of various "infrastructure clouds", including Amazon EC2 as well as similar but private services based on platforms such as Eucalyptus and …

    Infrastructure 23 Aug 2011, 06:26

  • Dell extends EqualLogic range

    First iSCSI over DCB: Eat that

    Dell has extended its EqualLogic iSCSI storage arrays with new products, 2.5-inch drive support, and automated tiering between EqualLogic group nodes. The existing PS4000 and PS6000 models – single or dual controller arrays which both used a 3U x 16-drive enclosure – are refreshed with PS4100 and PS6100 models, with new drive …

    Storage 23 Aug 2011, 07:27

  • Docs and devs: Health secretary wants healthcare apps

    Death, taxes and nurses

    Health secretary Andrew Lansley has launched a call for new ideas for health apps to help patients make informed decisions about their care. The invitation is open to healthcare professionals and app developers. Lansley cited an existing example of what could be done, the Choosing Well app developed by NHS Yorkshire and Humber …

    Developer 23 Aug 2011, 07:58

  • Storage world punch-up over whether VCE is a start-up

    Comment EMC: $40m-a-quarter losses are 'expenses'

    Is VCE, the VMware-Cisco-EMC entity set up to sell integrated virtualised server-networking-storage Vblocks, a startup? And how is it doing, given EMC's revelation that VCE is costing it more than $40m a quarter? VCE was originally set up as Acadia in November 2009, to integrate and sell Vblocks and provide an initial period …

    Storage 23 Aug 2011, 08:32

  • Ofcom mulls smackdown for rogue religious TV channel

    Ribena is not the blood of Christ and won't cure cancer

    Satellite channel Believe TV has broadcast advertisements during programmes, made unsupported claims of curing cancer and repeatedly improperly exploited its audience, says Ofcom – enough to make even the normally hands-off regulator consider a fine. The channel is broadcast on Sky and is filled with the kind of testament one …

    Music and Media 23 Aug 2011, 08:58

  • Nintendo said to be readying replacement for 3DS

    The eyes have it

    Nintendo may be preparing a 3DS revision that plays down the handheld's ability to display games and media in 3D. So says French-language website 01net, citing the outpourings of an unnamed Nintendo employee, who claimed the move has been prompted by parental fears that the 3DS' screen will mess with their nippers' eyes - and …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 09:02

  • Mystery railway buys 80 terabytes of Flash

    'First all-silicon firm in Europe', murmurs source

    Diamond Point International has sold two Violin Memory arrays, totalling 80TB of capacity, to a mystery European rail service provider. This customer – no one will say who – is moving from Dell EqualLogic iSCSI and HDS Fibre Channel disk arrays to all-flash arrays. A person familiar with the deal said: "[I] think it is the …

    Storage 23 Aug 2011, 09:25

  • Sony turns to augmented reality to sell tellies

    See how your new set will look in situ

    After a new telly but not sure how it'll look in your living room? Sony has come up with a neat way to find out, using augmented reality. Print out the marker you can download from Sony's site. Position the print where you plan to place your panel. Take a snap with your phone or camera, and when you've uploaded it to Sony's …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 09:32

  • Amateur balloonists hit record 40,575m above East Anglia

    Helium space orb glory marred by Antipodean beer insanity

    An Oz PhD student has pulled of a bit of a blinder by hitting 40,575 metres (133,120 ft) with a helium-filled meteorological balloon - a UK record and pretty close to the all-time international amateur altitude maximum. University of Adelaide electronic engineering alumnus Mark Jessop normally does his High Altitude Ballooning …

    SPB 23 Aug 2011, 09:44

  • Cerberus

    Android App of the Week Three-headed smartphone protection

    We’ve all lost our phone at one time or another. Actually, that’s a lie - I’ve never lost my phone, wallet or car keys in my life. But assuming that to err is indeed human, Cerberus provides a simple, reliable and fairly cheap way to locate and, if necessary, disable your Android pride and joy. The Sims, the settings (right …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 10:00

  • Moaning Scots told 'cheer up FFS' on broadband cash

    A third of the UK landmass - but 8% of the revenue

    UK.gov's Secretary of State for Scotland wants the Scottish government to stop moaning about the recent rural broadband funds allocated to the country. As we reported last week, the Scot ministers aren't happy about the £68.8m that culture secretary Jeremy Hunt splashed on the rollout of fibre optic tech in Scotland. The …

    Government 23 Aug 2011, 10:17

  • Detection systems guard against network intrusion

    Prevention is better than cure

    How do the different types of intrusion prevention system (IPS) work? Inline systems sit on the network like layer-two bridges, passing traffic along as they receive it. Host-based systems sit on the server, watching the traffic that it sends and receives. Both check packets for any suspicious activity, often using the most …

    Enterprise Tech 23 Aug 2011, 10:24

  • Boffins build powerful yet 'table-top size' atom-smasher

    Suitcase plasma cannon collider surfs on friggin LASERS

    Forget about mounting your lasers on the nearest shark, what you really want is a laser plasma accelerator you can put on your kitchen table. Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have managed to create powerful electron beams from much, much, much smaller accelerators …

    Physics 23 Aug 2011, 10:28

  • iPhone app tracks Android-equipped Surrey cops

    PC459 Is: <Giving a clip round the ear> To: <Your kid>

    Residents of Runnymede can now follow the goings-on of their local plod on a free iPhone app, assuming plod decides to record his location on his Huawei-supplied handset. The pair of apps were developed by UK-based Multizone, and the public component is being launched on the iPhone today. That free app can be used to pick up …

    Policing 23 Aug 2011, 10:42

  • 'The most ambitious project at eBay for a long, long time'

    Inside the auction leviathan's search megaproject

    "It's one of the most ambitious projects that's been undertaken at eBay for a very, very long time," vice president of search and experience technology Hugh Williams tells us on the phone. "I'd argue it's on the scale of any major search engine re-write a company has done." That's a meaty claim. eBay is one of the biggest …

    Infrastructure 23 Aug 2011, 11:00

  • Second e-petition hits 100K: Calls for Hillsborough docs

    Brits mainly care about riots and football tragedy

    A second e-petition has crossed the 100,000 votes barrier, which means it will be discussed by a Commons business committee and could get debated in Parliament. The site, which struggled to stay online for the first few days, has proved more popular than expected – predictions were that no petition would hit 100,000 before …

    Government 23 Aug 2011, 11:14

  • Getting your business software requirements right

    Whitepaper It’s all in the definition

    Why do few developers get requirements definition right? Understanding what end-users want from a software project at the outset is crucial if projects are to remain on track. Yet a combination of poorly understood processes and inadequate tools often compromises this important phase. The US-based research firm Standish Group’ …

    Developer 23 Aug 2011, 11:30

  • Cloud music-locker ruling: MP3tunes claims '99% victory'

    The 1% leaves Robertson still on the hook, however

    The legal fight in US Courts between record labels and music-locker cloud services continues into a full-blown case – despite both sides claiming something favourable from court rulings yesterday. A judge in New York District Court ruled that most of Michael Robertson's MP3tunes operation was covered by "safe harbor" provisions …

    Cloud Business 23 Aug 2011, 11:43

  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution

    Review Augmented realty

    Forget the lacklustre sequel Invisible War, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the true, worthy successor to Deus Ex, a breathtaking paragon of the genre the original helped define. Bringing more to the table Yes, there's little novelty in its genre conceits. Hacking and circumvention, augmentations, turrets and robots, moral …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 12:00

  • Just when you thought it was safe to enter the data centre

    Always assume the horse has bolted

    It is surprising that thieves don’t target data centres more often. All that expensive kit and copper is worth a pretty penny, not to mention all the data that’s on it. Several BT exchanges have been hit, along with facilities owned by C&W. But of course, thieves don’t always need to get in to wreak havoc: data centres can be …

    Enterprise Tech 23 Aug 2011, 12:00

  • New Samsung-funded Flash disruptor uncloaks

    Storage applecarts tumble like leaves in a gale

    You want flash disruption? You got it. Pure Storage's FlashArray is cheaper and faster than enterprise disk drive arrays but just as available and reliable. Cue major oops and headaches in Hopkinton, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and other storage vendor HQ locations. Pure Storage is coming out of stealth with a product and significant …

    Storage 23 Aug 2011, 12:14

  • Samsung hawks ultra-fast gaming laptop

    Loads of cache

    Samsung has unveiled its latest gamer PC, a super-specced notebook which allows users to cache HDD data on a small SSD to improve game speeds. The Samsung Series 7 Gamer is powered by a Core i7 processor and a DX11-supported 2GB AMD Radeon HD graphics card. The big point here, though, is the 8GB ExpressCache system - the …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 12:23

  • Microsoft Hyper-V floats Chinese military Linux

    Red cloud rising

    Microsoft's virtualisation stack is being updated to run a flavour of Linux built for China's national defence and other government systems. The world's largest software maker has signed a development and marketing agreement with China Standard Software Co (CS2C) to target China's cloud market . The focus is to make the …

    Cloud 23 Aug 2011, 12:26

  • Facebook, Twitter: Doing better than before Google+

    Swelled visitor numbers in July ... bitch

    The demise of Facebook appears to have been much exaggerated, as July saw the social network's highest ever unique visitor numbers, according to comScore. There were 162 million visitors to the site in July, compared to 161 million in June and 157 million in May. Some pundits had already decided that Facebook's days were …

    Networks 23 Aug 2011, 12:52

  • BlackBerry Curve 9360 hits UK

    Hands on All fingers and thumbs

    RIM has launched the BlackBerry Curve 9360 in the UK, featuring BlackBerry 7 OS and BBM6, the company’s fuel in the crowd jewel-in-the-crown messenger service. Curve handsets are RIM’s most popular smartphone both globally and in the UK, and the company has high hopes that this revamp will sustain its appeal. Indeed, at the …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 13:00

  • Nokia goes gold with sparkly smartphone

    Bling ringer

    Nokia continued its bling initiative today, announcing a gold-clad smartphone for the aspiring Del Boy or extravagant pimp. The Nokia C3-01 gold edition is an Series 40-based smartphone with 18ct gold plating and a ceramic-feel keypad. It packs a 1GHz processor, a 2.4in touchscreen and 5Mp camera. The Nokia C3-01 - or should …

    reghardware 23 Aug 2011, 13:04

  • iRumours: Flash sources point to cheap iPhone 4. Or 5

    Or whatever

    A Korean company is apparently manufacturing a Flash drive for an 8GB version of the Apple iPhone 4, according to sources interviewed by Reuters. The two people familiar with the matter declined to be identified "because the information has not been made public", but claimed the new iPhone is expected to launch within weeks. …

    Mobile 23 Aug 2011, 13:10

  • Google closes Android developer complaint forums

    Silent support costs more, but it's less embarrassing

    Google is shutting down the Marketplace forums which have, until now, required Android developers to resolve their problems in public and without much in the way of official support. Developers who have questions about the Android Marketplace are now being asked to submit those questions directly to Google – hopefully …

    Developer 23 Aug 2011, 13:23

  • Facebook looks to gobble 7 more companies this year

    Who wants to be Zuckerberg's new bitch?

    Facebook wants 2011 to be the company's biggest year to date for acquisitions. The world's most popular social network has already hoovered up 13 outfits this year, but it plans to gun for seven more firms before the year is out. Facebook's corporate development director Vaughan Smith, who clearly wants to stay in his job by …

    Business 23 Aug 2011, 13:47

  • Four months' porridge for 20-minute Facebook riot page

    Bangor unsurprisingly did not burn to the ground

    A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to four months in jail for a brief riot-supporting post on Facebook. David Glyn Jones, Bangor, posted "Let's start Bangor riots", then removed it 20 minutes later. But the post was seen by a woman who used to work with Jones and she reported it to the police, the Beeb reports. His …

    Law 23 Aug 2011, 14:41

  • NASA to work on approved sci-fi books

    Will feature a manned US space programme

    NASA is working with a publisher to create a series of sci-fi books inspired by NASA's work. The US space agency has inked an agreement with Tor-Forge Books to work on "NASA Inspired Works of Fiction" that will contain stories relating to current and future missions and operations. NASA's space shuttle programme came to an …

    Space 23 Aug 2011, 14:51

  • New GPL licence touted as saviour of Linux, Android

    Tough on lawyers, and on the causes of lawyers

    The Free Software Foundation reckons its new version of the General Public Licence removes the problems bedevilling version two, but not everyone is convinced the problem even exists. The FSF reckons that Linux developers need to move quickly to GPLv3 if they're to avoid Android (and similar Linux-based platforms) getting tied …

    Developer 23 Aug 2011, 15:01

  • EMC/Cisco virtual venture CEO vanishes

    VCE chief disappears, like an old oak table

    VCE – the EMC and Cisco backed Virtual Compute Environment – appears to have lost its CEO. Until recently Michael Capellas was listed (PDF) as its CEO and chairman. The VCE website now lists him as chairman only, with Frank Hauck as president. There is no CEO listed. VCE's San Francisco PR agency, The Outcast Agency, said it …

    Storage 23 Aug 2011, 16:16

  • Hey, Music Industry. You're suing the wrong people

    Open...and Shut Price is the problem. Not pirates

    After years of lawsuits and fearmongering by the music industry, one thing is clear about piracy: the industry has been suing the wrong people. According to new research, file-sharing is rather limited in North America and the European Union, though running relatively rampant throughout Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and the …

    Music and Media 23 Aug 2011, 17:13

  • Samsung says Apple lifted iPad from Kubrick's 2001

    'I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't run Adobe Flash'

    In courts across the world, Apple has accused Samsung of pilfering ideas from the brains of Jobsian fondleslab engineers. And Samsung has now responded by accusing Apple of pilfering ideas from the brain of Stanley Kubrick. As noticed by inveterate Android watcher Florian Mueller, Samsung recently filed a court brief in …

    Mobile 23 Aug 2011, 17:13

  • Nuke plant shut down after US earthquake

    Diesel backups kick in

    A strong earthquake with its epicenter in central Virgina has caused two nuclear reactors at Louisa County's 1,806 megawatt, two-unit North Anna Power Station to be automatically taken offline. According to the US Geological Survey, the quake was given a preliminary magnitude of 5.8, though some reports have upgraded it to 5.9 …

    Science 23 Aug 2011, 19:29

  • Ruby on Rails cloud envelops PHP shop

    Orchestra plays in the Engine Yard

    Engine Yard – a San Francisco startup offering a "platform cloud" for Ruby on Rails applications – is buying Orchestra, a Dublin-based outfit that provides a similar service for PHP applications. On Tuesday, Engine Yard announced a definitive agreement to purchase Orchestra, saying it intends to expand its existing platform to …

    Platform 23 Aug 2011, 19:33

  • Hong Kong police cuff suspect in stock market attacks

    Crashed website disrupted trading

    Police have arrested a man they say is connected to a website attack earlier this month that disrupted trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Officers investigating the August 10 attack for the Hong Kong Police's Technology Crime Division of Commercial Crime Bureau arrested the 29-year-old man late last week, they said in a …

    Crime 23 Aug 2011, 19:54

  • Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet goes on sale

    iPad competitor touts business chops

    Mere days after HP threw its TouchPad tablet under the bus, Lenovo has tossed its new iPad-killer candidate into the marketplace. The 10.1-inch Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet, which went on sale on Tuesday, has a focus and features that give it a far better chance than HP's megaflop to claw some market share away from Apple's "magical …

    Mobile 23 Aug 2011, 21:11

  • Jesus Phone gives Sprint redemption 'this October'

    Mobile soothsayers speak

    Sprint Nextel will become the third US wireless carrier to offer Apple's iPhone, according to the ever-loquacious "people familiar with the matter". According to a Tuesday report by The Wall Street Journal, sources say that the struggling carrier will begin to offer the iPhone 5 in mid-October. If that timing is correct, and …

    Mobile 23 Aug 2011, 21:15

  • Facebook revamps privacy settings (again)

    Promises more control over who sees what

    Facing heat from finer-grained privacy settings in Google+, Facebook has revamped the controls account holders use to designate who gets to see their pictures, posts, and other content. Over the coming days, the controls will move from a dedicated settings page to the main profile page, right beside the posts, photos and tags …

    ID 23 Aug 2011, 21:23

  • HP P10000 storage array more and less than expected

    New ASIC, yes; SAS support, no

    HP's new P10000 3PAR Storage System array, announced Tuesday, is both more and less than expected, with a new ASIC but no SAS drive support. Array federation across 3PAR and LeftHand arrays was also announced. The P10000, or 3PAR V-Class, is a high-end 3PAR array supporting up to 1,920 drives. These are 3.5-inch format Fibre …

    Storage 23 Aug 2011, 22:26

  • Juniper boosts Oz presence, waits for cash to rain from cloud

    Vendor gets ready for cloud-based boom

    Juniper Networks is boosting its presence in Australia as it readies for an anticipated boom in cloud and enterprise grade services. The vendor has expanded its office in Melbourne, adding 50 local staff . Juniper Networks ANZ vice president Mark Iles expects the National Broadband Network (NBN) to stimulate cloud computing …

    Business 23 Aug 2011, 22:40

  • Chinese PLA video shows cyber-attack software

    How we kick the Falun Gong

    It’s being called an accident, but it could also be a show of force: a piece of state propaganda from China shows an attack being launched against Falun Gong computers. New York-based newspaper The Epoch Times says this image, taken from a TV spot aired in July, shows the software in use. The newspaper translates the labels …

    Security 23 Aug 2011, 23:30