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25th August 2011 Archive

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  • Apple shares drop after Jobs resignation

    Trading suspended before reveal

    Apple's share price has dropped over 5 per cent in after hours trading, following the news that Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO. The company released a statement announcing Jobs's resignation at about 3:30pm Pacific, after the markets had closed in New York, and as of 5pm Pacific, Apple's share price had fallen from 376.18 to …

    Financial News 25 Aug 00:15

  • Apple after Steve Jobs is still Steve Jobs' Apple

    Analysis He can resign. But he'll never leave

    Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO, Apple's stock slips, and five will get you ten that over the next few days a passel of pundits will pronounce Apple doomed without its visionary leader. They'll be wrong. Today's Apple is Steve Jobs' Apple – staffed by Jobs, steered by Jobs, focused by Jobs, and given its marching orders for …

    Business 25 Aug 03:00

  • PHP lands on VMware's Cloud Foundry

    Open source code cloud multiplies

    PHP has come to VMware's Cloud Foundry project, an effort to create a standard open source platform for building "developer clouds". On Thursday, a Portland, Oregon startup known as AppFog open sourced code that allows PHP applications atop VMware's platform. Previously, Cloud Foundry was limited to Java, other JVM frameworks …

    Platform 25 Aug 04:56

  • Autodesk Fluid FX

    iOS App of the Week Send your pictures round the blend

    A very long time ago, graphics guru Kai Krause - a name sure to make any Mac user over a certain ago go all misty eyed and nostalgic - created an app - or 'program', as we called them then - named Goo. It allowed you to morph and distort photos in various, vaguely amusing ways. It was primarily just a bit of fun, but Goo did …

    reghardware 25 Aug 08:00

  • Scotland seeks £100m IT hardware deal

    Framework for public sector

    Scottish Procurement has published a tender for IT hardware and associated services, worth between £80m and £100m. According to a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the deal will be divided into the following five lots: PCs, workstations, netbooks, laptops and thin client technology. The notice …

    Government 25 Aug 08:00

  • Nokia pitches cheapest voicephones yet

    Fancy a two-Simmer for £22?

    Voice-centric handset for 17 quid, anyone? That's what Nokia's offering in the form of the 100, a €20 handset pitched as its cheapest yet. The Nokia 100... It's a basic voicephone, of course, with texting and an FM radio as its only other key features. It'll be accompanied by the 101, which adds a second Sim slot to the …

    reghardware 25 Aug 08:04

  • Ofcom pilots paid-for voting and compo rules for broadcasters

    Now you can pay online to kick Sally off Big Brother

    Ofcom has launched a one-year pilot during which broadcasters can make on-air references to any website where the audience can access paid-for applications in order to participate in voting or competitions. Previously, paid compo entries and voting could only lawfully take place on the phone. The UK's communications regulator …

    Government 25 Aug 08:30

  • Acer insists fondleslab 'fever' is fading

    It would say that, wouldn't it?

    Acer has once again claimed that punters are turning back to notebooks, tempted by the likes of Windows 8 and the ultra-skinny machines chip maker Intel calls "ultrabooks". The PC giant is seeking to spin this as a sign that consumer interest in tablets is waning. Yes, tablet fever is cooling down, Acer chairman JT Wang is …

    reghardware 25 Aug 08:37

  • The Torvalds of Drupal pledges HTML5 mobile love

    DrupalCon London So many coders, only one Dries

    One of the primary building blocks of yesterday's web is limbering up to become a mover and shaker in mobile – but it might just spend longer in training than you'd like. Dries Buytaert, the Linus Torvalds of open-source content management systems (CMS), has told The Reg that websites built on Drupal 8 will default to being …

    Developer 25 Aug 09:00

  • Sony Ericsson signals inbound Android 2.3.4

    Firmware upgrades ahoy!

    Sony Ericsson will release an Android 2.3.4 update in October. Its first smartphone to ship with the new release will follow later in Q4. Xperia handsets eligible for the new version of Gingerbread will gain the ability to do video calls in Google Talk, take panoramic 3D pictures, allow users to enter text by swiping fingers …

    reghardware 25 Aug 09:03

  • Server sales still growing strong

    Maybe there's something to all this cloud talk

    Server sales in the second quarter of 2011 grew 17.9 per cent in revenue terms to $13.2bn, reckons IDC. This is the sixth quarter of growth and unit sales also grew 8.5 per cent to 2.1 million boxes. The IDC abacus-botherers classify servers as either volume, midrange enterprise or high-end enterprise. Volume and midrange …

    Cloud Business 25 Aug 09:27

  • Woman in strop strip for Bermuda airport customs

    'You want to see me naked, do it right fu*king here.'

    A 36-year-old woman faced with a customs search at Bermuda's LF Wade International Airport rather brilliantly responded by instantly shedding her clothes and telling officers: “If you want to see me naked, you can do it right fucking here.” Loukai Phillips, a Bermudian native now living abroad, had just flown in from London on …

    Bootnotes 25 Aug 09:58

  • Boffins cobble up phone-powering footwear

    Walk to stop your gadgets running down

    Research published by the University of Wisconsin describes a way of generating sufficient electrical energy from human movement to power mobile gadgets. Tapping into the kinetic energy inherent in, say, walking up the street and converting it into electrical energy is nothing new, but the Wisconsin team, led by Tom Krupenkin …

    reghardware 25 Aug 10:03

  • Virgin Media preps firmware update for glitchy SuperHub

    Promises 'modem mode', calls for beta testers

    Virgin Media plans to release yet another firmware update for its oft-criticised SuperHub modem/router combi kit in the next few weeks. Since the box landed in February, there have been many complaints about the SuperHub. Virgin Media told The Register that it had so far installed more than 400,000 SuperHub devices, and …

    Telecoms 25 Aug 10:19

  • Samsung's iOS rival gets multitasking and HTML5

    Things can only get Bada

    Samsung has launched the next version of its own mobile platform Bada, bringing multitasking, HTML5 and a new advertising engine to Bada developers. Bada developers can now download the SDK and start getting used to the new, scalable UI elements, push notifications, and the aforementioned multitasking and in-app adverts, but …

    Developer 25 Aug 10:27

  • CERN: 'Climate models will need to be substantially revised'

    New atomsmasher research into cloud formation

    CERN's 8,000 scientists may not be able to find the hypothetical Higgs boson, but they have made an important contribution to climate physics, prompting climate models to be revised. The first results from the lab's CLOUD ("Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets") experiment published in Nature today confirm that cosmic rays spur …

    Science 25 Aug 10:42

  • Microsoft unveils file-move changes in Windows 8

    Aims to fix comical download/copy 'time to go' estimates

    Microsoft has been throwing out crumbs on forthcoming features for Windows 8, but dodged serving up the main course. Windows 8 will clean up the system for downloading files to your PC and changing file names, Microsoft has said on its newly launched Building Windows 8 blog. The successor to Windows 7 will combine file …

    Operating Systems 25 Aug 11:01

  • Seven Dwarfs password gag declared Fringe's best

    'I knew my joke was the funniest joke of all the other jokes'

    Comedian Nick Helm has secured the Funniest Joke of the Fringe 2011 title, after entertaining the Edinburgh crowds with this rib-tickler: "I needed a password with eight characters so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."* Nick Helm with his award. Photo: DAVE/PA A triumphant Helm (pictured) said of his Dave TV honour …

    Entertainment 25 Aug 11:19

  • Social networks likely to snub Home Office in riot confab

    Twitter may be irritating, but it doesn't cause looting

    The Home Secretary is expected to face fierce opposition from popular social network outfits today when she will ask them to consider restricting access to individuals in the aftermath of unrest in England earlier this month. Theresa May is meeting with wonks from Blackberry, Facebook and Twitter, following evidence that, …

    Networks 25 Aug 11:27

  • Home Office faces £500m demand in e-Borders sacking

    US defence contractor still wants paying

    Raytheon and the Home Office are in talks as the department tries to stop the company suing for unfair breach of contract over its sacking from the e-borders programme last year. At the time, the e-borders agency said it had no confidence in the company. Immigration minister Damian Green said: "The government is determined to …

    Public Sector 25 Aug 11:48

  • Brit men descend from mammoth hunters, not farmers

    'Of course it mammoth, woman. Ate rest on way back'

    Today's British man could be descended from exciting, live-life-on-the-edge hunter-gatherers rather than migrating farmers as previously thought, according to a new gene study. Britons' slightly sexier past comes courtesy of scientists from the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, who examined the set of genes called R-M269, …

    Biology 25 Aug 11:58

  • Cambridge Audio Sonata NP30 hi-fi streamer

    Review Hi-res, networked musical box

    Sound quality isn’t always the first consideration in the world of digital music, where songs tend to be compressed for convenience, rather fidelity. That’s where Brit hi-fi brand Cambridge Audio hopes to make its mark with the NP30 (Network Player 30), which offers better-than-CD hi-res 24-bit audio playback for music files and …

    reghardware 25 Aug 12:00

  • French letter shock: Tax us more, demand rich people

    Comment Well not specifically us, or we could just send a cheque

    So rich French people have written a letter demanding that they be taxed more. The text (fortunately in English) is here. The missive began: We, chairmen of companies and business leaders, business men and women, finance professionals or wealthy citizens, call for an exceptional levy that would target France's richest …

    Business 25 Aug 12:21

  • Samsung refuses to buy HP's PC business

    Wealthy minnow refuses to swallow bloated whale

    Samsung made it clear today that it is not interested in buying HP's PC business, despite market rumours to the contrary. Not usually so chatty about such speculations, Samsung released a statement from its chief executive, Choi Gee-Sung, denying any thoughts of picking up the unit, which Hewlett-Packard said last week it may …

    Business 25 Aug 12:41

  • Blackberry BBM adds social music cloud

    An interface that even riot youths can use has to be good

    RIM is adding a music service option to its Blackberry phones. What distinguishes this from just-another-cloud service – and there are dozens – is that RIM has its own social network, and the service will be deeply integrated into BBM. And BBM, as many people - not least underprivileged, rioting British youths who might …

    Music and Media 25 Aug 12:57

  • China Mobile becomes world's biggest mobe operator

    Didn't need any iPhone deal either

    China Mobile's half-year profits topped $9.6bn, making it the largest mobile operator in the world by customers and profits, and six times bigger than the nearest local competition. That $9.6bn profit is based on revenue of almost $40bn, stomping all over the local competition and topping Vodafone's annual figure of $18.82bn. …

    Business 25 Aug 13:18

  • US judge: Warrant required to access mobile location data

    'We're getting too close to Orwell's 1984 Oceania'

    The US government should have to obtain a warrant before mobile phone providers have to hand over multiple geolocation data records about customers, a US judge has said. In Europe, privacy watchdogs have called on geolocation data to be classed as personal data, information that can be used to identify someone. EU data …

    Law 25 Aug 13:37

  • Paintball round pops Bulgarian airbag

    26-year-old in jub implant rupture shocker

    A UK paintballing outfit has been obliged to ask participants if they're packing Bulgarian airbags before they take to the battlefield, after a 26-year-old combatant's Bulgarian airbag was burst by a paintball round. The jub implant rupture shocker happened last Saturday at UK Paintball's open air centre, close to Croydon. It …

    Bootnotes 25 Aug 13:58

  • That UK.gov Firefox cookie leakage snafu explained

    Cockup, not conspiracy

    If you've used the latest version of Firefox to visit a UK government website in the last few weeks, you may have noticed something unusual in the browser address bar. Instead of highlighting, for example, direct.gov.uk, as you might expect from Firefox 6.0's new domain-conscious security behaviour, only the gov.uk portion is …

    Hosting 25 Aug 14:34

  • Post-Jobs run on overpriced Apple shares fails to occur

    Markets more worried what'll happen to US gov, frankly

    The departure of Steve Jobs as boss of Apple was expected to result in a mass sell-off of the overpriced vendor's shares this morning, but the news has been overshadowed by larger events. Pre-market trading saw Apple shares pushed down more than 5 per cent. But early trading on Nasdaq saw the shares fall just less than 2 per …

    Financial News 25 Aug 14:41

  • US Marines not allowed to fart in Afghanistan

    Jarhead trouser-coughs 'could upset the locals'

    US Marines fighting in Afghanistan have been banned from farting in order to avoid upsetting the local population, it has been reported. The Marine Corps Times has the scoop: Audible farting has been banned for some Marines downrange [slang roughly meaning 'in the warzone'] because it offends the Afghans ... So, for all …

    Bootnotes 25 Aug 15:00

  • UK cops charge alleged Anonymous hacker

    Say he fired Low Orbit Ion Cannon at Wikileaks enemies

    A man has been charged by police investigating web attacks allegedly carried out by hacking collective Anonymous against firms deemed to have acted against the whistleblower website Wikileaks. Scotland Yard named student Peter David Gibson, 22, of Castleton Road, Hartlepool, Cleveland as one of the individuals alleged to have …

    Crime 25 Aug 15:23

  • AMD finally manages to snare a CEO: Lenovo man Read

    Here's your crown, sceptre, orb ... chalice

    AMD has announced that its new CEO will be Rory P Read, who was most recently president and COO at Lenovo Group. The appointment comes after a seven-month search during which a number of IT execs, including Oracle's co-president Mark Hurd, EMC's COO Pat Gelsinger and Apple's Tim Cook, were approached by AMD and rejected the …

    Business 25 Aug 15:50

  • Keep calm and carry on networking, says UK.gov

    Tweeting while London burns is OK

    Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry representatives met with Home Secretary Theresa May at lunchtime to have what ended up being a somewhat lighter discussion than expected about social networks used in relation to criminal activity. Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs, who were forced to cut short their holidays and return to …

    Networks 25 Aug 15:58

  • Greyhound spatters Nashville with semen

    Emergency cleanup as considerable ½-litre wad splurged

    A Greyhound bus caused a bit of a rumpus in Nashville earlier this week when it lost its considerable load of bull semen. The vehicle was negotiating a curved on-ramp to the Interstate 65 at around 5am when it discharged four canisters of frozen taurine oysters. The bus went merrily on its way, unaware it had bust a nut. …

    Bootnotes 25 Aug 16:01

  • 'Apple is not going to change,' new boss says

    In case you thought otherwise

    Lest fans worried otherwise, Apple's new CEO is assuring world+dog that the company won't lose its mojo under his leadership. In an email sent early Thursday and leaked to reporters in record time, Tim Cook told employees Apple would be the same juggernaut it was under the watch of outgoing CEO Steve Jobs and echoed the oft- …

    Business 25 Aug 17:46

  • DIAMOND AS BIG AS A PLANET found, say Aussies

    Colossal Jupiter-weight gemstone orbits far-flung pulsar

    Dr Who fans will remember the episode “Midnight”, set on a diamond planet. That’s what a team of astronomers from Australia, Germany, Italy, the UK and the USA believe they’ve found circling a star 4,000 light-years distant. Don’t expect the object to become a tourist destination anytime soon, however: not only is it too far …

    Space 25 Aug 18:00

  • Firm at heart of biggest oil spill spews toxic web attack

    Transocean's deepwater.com hosts malware exploits

    Transocean, the offshore drilling contractor at the center of the world's biggest marine oil spill in the history of petroleum production, has been caught spewing a virtual sort of toxic sludge, according to a report released Thursday. Researchers at web security firm Websense said deepwater.com, Transocean's official website, …

    Malware 25 Aug 19:14

  • AMD's new CEO bobs, weaves, says 'big' and 'fast' are good

    Read reveals little in first day on the job

    Rory Read spent his first morning as CEO of AMD – of any company, for that matter – performing a very CEO-like duty: dodging and deflecting questions about the company he now leads. In a conference call with analysts and reporters shortly after AMD announced his appointment on Thursday morning, Read was more intent on …

    Business 25 Aug 19:18

  • Mobile operators: US quake proves we need more spectrum

    But 'no networks failed ...'

    Operator body CTIA reckons that Tuesday's earthquake proves US operators need more radio spectrum – and quickly – despite the fact that much of the owned bandwidth lies unused. The call for more spectrum is an oft-repeated mantra, taken up by the US government (and echoed by the UK's), claiming that unless network operators …

    Mobile 25 Aug 19:22

  • VMware's vSphere 5 hits the streets

    'Up to four times more powerful'

    VWware has announced that the hypervisor core of its Cloud Infrastructure Suite, vSphere 5, is now generally available. "The enhancements and new innovations we've introduced in VMware vSphere 5 provide a robust, reliable platform for business applications,' said VMware cloud-infrastructure headman Bogomil Balkansky in a …

    Virtualization 25 Aug 20:53

  • Insulin pump maker ignores diabetic's hack warnings

    Medtronic device susceptible to wireless tampering

    The maker of an insulin pump that's susceptible to wireless hacking was identified for the first time on Thursday by a diabetic researcher who said the company repeatedly ignored his warnings. A commercially available pump made by Medtronic, the world's biggest medical device manufacturer, is vulnerable to attacks that allow …

    Security 25 Aug 21:45

  • NBN chief beancounter exits

    The former Alcatel CFO set to retire from industry

    The bribery scandal that has gripped Alcatel-Lucent's legal team over the past few years continues to cast a shadow over its former executives. In the latest twist, former Alcatel CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret, the number-cruncher in command during much of the telecommunication giant's bribery activity, has abruptly exited his plum …

    Business 25 Aug 22:29

  • Oz cybercrime bill passes on the nod, unchanged

    Amendments recommended but ignored

    While the surface of Australian politics is a roiling maelstrom of spite and hatred, the government and opposition manage to agree on some things – like the need to have spooks and police snooping Internet and telephones with as little hindrance as possible. In spite of a bipartisan committee which recommended changes to the …

    Government 25 Aug 23:30