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7th September 2011 Archive

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  • Yahoo! fires! CEO! Carol! Bartz!

    Over the phone

    Carol Bartz is no longer the CEO of Yahoo!, according to a report citing sources at the company, and she has apparently confirmed the news with a brief note to company employees. The company has not yet responded to a request for comment. AllThingsD reports that chief financial officer Tim Morse has been tapped to serve as …

    Financial News 7 Sep 00:11

  • On-chip photonics snares Eureka prize

    Oz science’s night of nights

    Excuse me for focusing on those parts of Australia’s Eureka Prize that I’m more familiar with: there are 26 individual prizes covering pretty much every discipline. Among those 26 are a scientist working on on-chip photonics designed to speed up communications between computer devices; a development in through-the-wall radar …

    Science 7 Sep 00:30

  • Korean antitrust agency raids Google over Android

    Claims top dog eats competition

    South Korean regulators have reportedly raided the local offices of Google as part of an ongoing investigation into claimed anti-competitive practices by the search giant. According to the Financial Times, officials from the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) visited Google this weekend to ask questions and gather information …

    Government 7 Sep 00:34

  • Digital Realty Trust adds Melbourne

    More cloud dollars for Australia

    Digital Realty Trust, which recently set up shop in Australia launching work on a Sydney data centre, has added a Melbourne site to its holdings. After laying out $AU4.1 million, the company has secured space in the Paramount Industrial Park in the Melbourne suburb of Deer Park. The 30,000 square meter-plus site will first be …

    Cloud Business 7 Sep 01:30

  • Can clouds ever be fully secure?

    Interview Cloud Security Alliance talks to El Reg

    Computerised clouds are often similar to their water vapour-based counterparts; they're amorphous in the middle, and often fluffy around the edges. That can spell problems for IT departments when securing their private clouds, and for public cloud providers when locking down theirs. Danny Bradbury and Jim Reavis, executive …

    Enterprise Tech 7 Sep 02:00

  • Server sales up, but Great Recession lingers

    Analysis Europe buys like it's 2005

    Server spending was solid in the second quarter, according the box counters at IDC and Gartner, with both shipments and revenues growing in the wake of the Great Recession. But don't jump to the wrong conclusion. While server shipments are up where they belong, revenues have yet to recover to their pre-recession levels. …

    Servers 7 Sep 05:00

  • Twitter users charged with terrorism for false tweets

    Mass panic over erroneous kidnap claims

    Mexican prosecutors are pursuing terrorism and sabotage charges against two Twitter users who falsely reported an armed attack by drug gangs was in progress at a local elementary school. The tweets falsely claimed gunmen had stormed several schools in the Mexican state of Veracruz and either injured or kidnapped children. A …

    Crime 7 Sep 05:00

  • Hitachi GST ships terabyte platter-spinners

    Faster to market than Seagate

    Hitachi GST is now shipping internal fit, terabyte-per-platter drives. Back in May Seagate announced it would ship a terabyte-per-platter Barracuda by the mid-year point, but production problems are still delaying this bumper Barracuda bundle. Oddly Hitachi GST is only shipping single-platter versions of these new drives, …

    Storage 7 Sep 06:00

  • NOA: Fujitsu strike highlights perils of single-supplier deals

    Period of discontent predicted as unions get busy

    The National Outsourcing Association (NOA) is calling for organisations to use multiple suppliers in the wake of planned industrial action at Fujitsu that will impact HMRC, the Office of National Statistics and the DVLA. The industry body reckons that greater instances of strikes in the current economic climate are a threat to …

    Channel Register 7 Sep 06:00

  • HP Pavilion dv7 17.3in Llano notebook

    Review AMD's Sandy Bridge alternative?

    Heave the 3kg HP dv7 from its enormous box and you can’t help but have your hopes raised: this is a notebook that gives the impression of high-end consumer tech promise. The brushed silver back has a refined air to it and Apple stylee, the HP logo lights up using the screen’s LED lamps. Appearances aside, there are tech treats …

    reghardware 7 Sep 06:00

  • UK slashes red tape in apprenticeships scheme

    'Key industries' include BT, Phones4U - and McDonalds

    Companies such as BT, Phones4U and McDonalds could benefit from a new streamlined apprenticeship scheme which will let them get young workers into their offices with less paperwork. The cuts to the red tape that currently surrounds apprentice contracts, workplace certification and inspection should mean that employers spend …

    Business 7 Sep 07:34

  • Acas publishes first social media guide

    UK workplace rulebook to save heartache and cash

    Acas has published a new guide to social networking in the workplace, which it says is the first in the UK. The employment body said the guide is aimed at helping businesses, staff and trade unions agree on how to handle employment issues related to the internet, blogs and social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook. …

    Business 7 Sep 07:58

  • Gov pops lid on mighty £2bn PSN procurement barrel

    Networking the networks. With a framework

    The Government Procurement Service is setting up a pan-government framework for Public Services Network (PSN) and associated communications equipment and services. An advertisement in the Official Journal of the European Union says the framework is valued at between £500m and £2bn. It will be divided into 10 lots covering …

    Public Sector 7 Sep 08:26

  • Does Cameron dare ditch poor-bashing green energy?

    Analysis Let them eat windmills

    No 10 has a dilemma: it is committed to an unpopular renewable energy policy that punishes the poor, British industry, and will keep inflation high. But is it edging nervously away from the policy, or merely pretending to? The Telegraph has obtained a policy document, dated July, that seems to suggest that the government is …

    Environment 7 Sep 08:55

  • Game says sorry for site snafu

    Pre-orders vanish, wrong games ship, etc

    Retailer Game has publicly apologised for a foul-up that saw pre-order punters lose order details and, in some cases, even their accounts after the company's website was revamped late last week. Game's Facebook page is full of moans and groans from irate customers who say they have received games they ordered by then cancelled …

    reghardware 7 Sep 09:07

  • E-cars: unaffordable until 2030 (or later)

    Big subsidies needed, even with double-price petrol

    It'll take at least 20 years for electric cars to become an economic alternative to the gas-guzzling variety, according to a new study. The total cost of ownership (TCO) for hybrids and pure electrics will stay high for the next two decades – despite soaring fuel prices – because of their hefty price tag, consultancy Element …

    Environment 7 Sep 09:26

  • Getting the data centre running on your terms

    Four practical management tasks to help you take control

    In the real world, you need to manage hundreds of apps, multiple operating systems, many classes of service. And now they're asking for cloud, too. What do you do with the rest of your day? Watch our latest Regcast, that's what. On September 15th at 11:00 BST we will be teaming up with datacentre expert Gordon McKenna at …

    Data Centre 7 Sep 09:33

  • Shareholder demands RIM sell itself or spin off patents

    'Seize the whip reins', cries banker

    A shareholder has told RIM it should consider selling itself or spinning off its patent portfolio. The CEO of Jaguar Financial Group, who would not say how large Jaguar's RIM stake is, told the company it should act to shore up share prices. He said his proposal has the support of other shareholders who together hold less than …

    Business 7 Sep 09:55

  • Battery deal points to thinner, lighter iPad 3

    Keeping ahead of the competition

    Apple's upcoming iPad 3 - now expected in February 2012, or thereabouts - may be rather thinner than the current model. Apple has allegedly chosen battery units for the iPad 3 that are thinner, lighter and last longer than the ones in the iPad 2. Like the latter, the new batteries are made by Taiwan's Simplo and Dynapack, …

    reghardware 7 Sep 10:01

  • iCloud Communications ditches Apple lawsuit

    Whatever could have made them do that?

    A trademark lawsuit filed against Apple in June has reportedly been dropped by iCloud Communications LLC, which had originally claimed "irreparable injury" to its cloud computing business. The Phoenix, Arizona-based outfit said in its original complaint against the iPad maker that usage of the iCloud marks to promote the firm' …

    Cloud Business 7 Sep 10:14

  • Christ appears in phone advert, secular authorities act

    Outrage as Saviour depicted endorsing non-Jesus mobe

    Phones4u has managed to offend Christians with a cartoon Jesus offering a thumbs up, apparently endorsing its range of Samsung handsets rather than the more-traditionally messianic iPhone. The advert drew 98 complaints, more than enough to trigger an investigation into the ad which appeared in the national press just before …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 10:22

  • Phone-hack plods arrest another man in pre-dawn raid

    Scotland Yard dicks up early and out of office this time

    Scotland Yard officers investigating alleged phone-hacking at the now defunct tabloid the News of the World arrested a 35-year-old man in an early morning pounce on his home today (7 September). Cops took the unnamed man into custody at a north London police station on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages, …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 10:29

  • BT Engage IT to merge with dabs.com and Biz Direct

    £400m mega-org forged, Balaam to step down

    BT Engage IT chief executive Martin Balaam is stepping down as part of a re-organisation that will see the telco-owned reseller merge with BT's Business Direct and dab.com operations. The consolidated firm, which BT claims will have a turnover of £400m, is to be managed by John Thornhill, currently the boss of BT Business …

    Channel Register 7 Sep 10:38

  • Would you be seen dead with a shopping computer?

    Analysis Like buying and carrying Bezos' cash register for him

    Amazon's first tablet, according to reports, is designed entirely around getting stuff from Amazon. The first hands-on (no pix) report indicates that it's a fork of Android, heavily customised to run a colour Kindle app – and provide access to Amazon's other services. Like the eInk Kindle, the all-colour Kindle tablet will be a …

    PCs & Chips 7 Sep 10:43

  • appToyz appBlaster

    iGamer Gunning for control

    Gaming peripherals have a bad reputation, and not without good reason. From the sublime Steel Battalion controller to every ridiculous Wii peripheral, these plastic appendages have one thing in common: they make gamers look sublimely ridiculous. Point and shoot: appToyz appBlaster Even those which actually enhance gameplay …

    reghardware 7 Sep 10:46

  • Dixons predicts Olympics will boost sales

    Beach volleyball in 3D ought to shift some tellies

    Dixons Retail has reported a sharp drop in sales, particularly in the UK and Ireland, but it still feels like it's doing well and the market seems to agree. The group, which includes PC World and Currys, said like-for-like sales in the first quarter in UK and Ireland fell 10 per cent and slid 7 per cent across the total group …

    Business 7 Sep 10:59

  • GlobalSign stops issuing SSL certs, probes hacker claims

    Better to do it and not need to than vice versa

    GlobalSign has suspended the publication of SSL certificates as a precaution in the wake of unverified claims by a hacker linked to attacks on Comodo and DigiNotar. The self-named Comodohacker used pastebin in March to claim responsibility for hacks against Comodo that allowed the publication of bogus SSL certificates. The …

    Enterprise Security 7 Sep 11:12

  • Most bosses monitor or block social-network use at work

    Didn't get where they are today fooling about on Web 2.0

    Viruses, loss of confidential data and fear of employees tooling around doing sweet FA on Twitter are the top reasons that employers give for putting the brakes on social media in the workplace. And it's stopping them benefiting from new collaborative technologies, says ClearSwift Research. The company surveyed 1,529 employees …

    CIO 7 Sep 11:29

  • Most organisations just not ready for Cloud: Computacenter

    Despite 'Cloudwash' just 28% will migrate loads this year

    The majority of organisations do not have the infrastructure backbone to move wholesale to the cloud, according to a report by Computacenter. The services-based reseller took small steps into cloud provision earlier this year with the launch of C3 mail and has since added collaboration and virtual desktop solutions. But …

    Cloud 7 Sep 11:39

  • Nvidia boss: Windows 8 will run Windows Phone 7 apps

    Welcome to the world after Intel

    Nvidia has been outlining a future that sees a Qualcomm/Nvidia duopoly providing processors for every computing platform, which will share apps as well as chips. Nvidia's CEO has been briefing journalists, including C-Net's Roger Cheng, pointing out that the company's Tegra chipsets are already powering half of the Android …

    Operating Systems 7 Sep 11:44

  • Seagate GoFlex Satellite 500GB wireless hard drive

    Review Buckets of content storage for your fondleslab

    Tablets being generally pricey, buyers tend to opt for the least expensive, lower capacity models. It has to be said, 16GB isn't a paucity, especially if you're happy juggling files back and forth. The GoFlex doesn't just connect wirelessly, but also by USB and - optionally - eSata and Firewire But you may well have a …

    reghardware 7 Sep 12:00

  • HP pops out all-in-one biz boxes

    Touchscreen for corporate show-offs

    HP has announced a pair of all-in-one PCs – one with a touchscreen display – that it hopes will remove any remaining barriers that prevent that unibody form and point-and-flick interface from finding a home on the business desktop. The two new biz-centric all-in-ones met the public on Wednesday along with two consumer-level …

    PCs & Chips 7 Sep 12:13

  • Groupon backs away from scheduled IPO

    We sell other people's stuff discounted, not ours

    Groupon may be having second thoughts about when, and if, it should go public, joining the growing list of new web companies unsure of their steps in the market. Groupon's roadshow, its bid to big up interest in its shares before the IPO, was due to start next week, but has now been called off, the Wall Street Journal reports …

    Financial News 7 Sep 12:27

  • Search visionary retires from Microsoft's Bing battles

    Updated 'Last day at Microsoft. I'm one of the angels again!'

    One of the search brains hired by Microsoft through its $100m acquisition of Powerset to help build Bing against Google has become the latest executive to leave the company. Barney Pell has signed off after just three years, having joined Microsoft as co-founder and chief technology of natural-language search specialist …

    Software 7 Sep 12:47

  • New trojan masquerades as Microsoft enforcement-ware

    Threatens to destroy everything and sue the remains

    Malware-makers have created a strain of ransomware Trojan which masquerades as a Microsoft utility. The Ransom-AN Trojan claims that a user's Windows machine is running an unlicensed copy of Windows and threatens to cripple the victim's computer unless marks pay €100 to obtain an unlock code, which can be purchased via credit …

    Malware 7 Sep 12:58

  • Dell woos rattled HP PC sales partners

    'We'll still be here', insists direct-sales mammoth

    Dell has accused archrival HP of unsettling channel partners by revealing its intention to spin out the PC biz, claiming it is a "stable" alternative for resellers. In the three years since Dell binned its direct-only mantra and formalised a reseller network, sales via partners have accounted for 30 per cent of its turnover …

    Channel Register 7 Sep 13:32

  • Atari-branded iPad gaming gadget debuts

    iCade alternative

    There's an Atari-branded alternative to the iCade iPad gaming gadget on the way. Ion Audio's offering sticks the iPad in an MDF-made cabinet that's a minature version of an original arcade unit. The joystick and control buttons communicate with the tablet over Bluetooth. Ironically, the main game available that supports the …

    reghardware 7 Sep 14:04

  • OFT boss: 'Google is fantastic and should be applauded'

    When watchdogs lose their teeth

    What happens when competition watchdogs lose their teeth – and roll over to have their tummies tickled? Via the influential chair of the Commons Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, John Whittingdale MP, comes a very interesting story today. Whittingdale relates a conversation with John Fingleton, the head of the Office of …

    Government 7 Sep 14:08

  • Cyber crime now bigger than the drugs trade

    Says cyber security firm

    The global cost of cybercrime is greater than the combined effect on the global economy of trafficking in marijuana, heroin and cocaine, which is estimated at $388bn, a new headline-grabbing study reported. The Norton Cybercrime Report puts the straight-up financial costs of cyberattacks worldwide at $114bn, with time lost …

    Crime 7 Sep 14:17

  • South Africa joins the call for BlackBerry messaging keys

    Miscreants don't care for the secure email, seemingly

    South Africa has joined the call for access to the BlackBerry Messaging service, quoting the usual security concerns and pointing out that the UK plans much the same thing. BBM, the BlackBerry messaging service, has become the medium of choice for the discerning ne'er-do-well, which is strange considering it is a good deal …

    Security 7 Sep 14:44

  • Why modern music sounds rubbish

    The Loudness Wars, illustrated

    A few year ago Bob Dylan echoed a complaint that many of you share with me from time to time: music sounds rubbish. Dylan hates recording these days, because the outcome is too loud and it's too bright. As he said: "You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of …

    Entertainment 7 Sep 15:01

  • Court bans man called Peter from calling himself Peter

    Because he is accused of being Anonymous

    A man called Peter has been banned from using the name "Peter" on the internet as a bail condition after being charged today with unauthorised use of a computer. Peter David Gibson, 22, from Hartlepool, was among three men and one unnamed 17-year-old charged at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court this morning for …

    Law 7 Sep 15:16

  • HP opens 'private' Cloud beta party for limited numbers

    Velvet rope briefly unhooked

    Hewlett Packard is inviting developers to a private beta party for its HP Cloud Services from today. The beta program is on offer so people can test HP's initial cloud services: HP Cloud Compute and HP Cloud Object Storage. The first of these lets you "deploy compute instances on demand", while the latter gives you scalable …

    Infrastructure 7 Sep 15:22

  • Much of the human race made up of thieves, says BSA

    You wouldn't nick stuff out of shops, would you? Er...

    Almost a half of all PCs in operation worldwide use pirated software, according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA). The industry body came to the number after tasking research firm Ipsos Public Affairs with a poll of 15,000 users in 32 countries, albeit a tiny fraction of the more than one billion clients used across the …

    Crime 7 Sep 15:31

  • How Apple's Lion won't let you trash documents

    Comment The operating system for the nanny state?

    Apple's Mac OS X 10.7 is branded Lion. The Lion may be king of the jungle, but from where we sit, it's the king of bungles. A case in point. Someone emails you a document, and you open it in, say, Apple's Pages app for a look. You read it through then, having done with it, you quit Pages. You no longer require the document so …

    reghardware 7 Sep 16:02

  • Revenues double at Facebook, says source

    That's $1.6bn in the first half of the year... bitch

    Facebook's first half revenue has nearly doubled to $1.6bn, despite the advent of new rivals like Google+. Net income for the half was almost $500m, a source told Reuters, adding that they did not want to be named because privately-held Facebook doesn't have to tell anyone what it makes. The results can only help any …

    Business 7 Sep 16:25

  • Seagate pulls out the biggest hard one in the industry

    Mighty 4TB fatness plonked down on desk

    Hot on the heels of Hitachi's terabyte platter drives comes Seagate's 4TB GoFlex Desk external drive, a terabyte fatter than the previous version. It is the highest capacity hard drive in the industry and is a 3.5-inch SATA unit, spinning at 7,200rpm. Seagate is carefully not saying how many platters there are inside it. Has …

    Storage 7 Sep 16:28

  • Sun rises over .xxx smut domain

    Morning glory period for owner-operators

    Businesses in the adult entertainment industry – and outside of it – from today have the opportunity to register or block .xxx domain names that match their trademarks. ICM Registry, which has operated .xxx since it signed a contract with ICANN earlier this year, has launched a three-pronged "sunrise period" that will run for …

    Hosting 7 Sep 16:37

  • AMD ships 'Interlagos' Opteron 6200 chips

    Ramp to Q4 servers underway

    Let the next battle in the x64 server wars begin. Advanced Micro Devices is shipping its 16-core "Interlagos" processors and generating revenue from it, the company announced today. In fact, the Opteron 6200s, as the chips will presumably be called at launch in the fourth quarter, started coming out of the 32 nanometer wafer- …

    Servers 7 Sep 16:44

  • Skype: Microsoft's $8.5 billion identity tool

    Open...and Shut With VoIP on the side

    In 2005, eBay bought Skype for $2.6 billion to bring voice communications to the online auction site, claiming the combination would "revolutionise the ease with which people can communicate through the internet." Four years later, eBay sold Skype for $2.75 billion because no one wanted to talk to the other party in a …

    ID 7 Sep 17:26

  • Ex-Microsoft accountant jailed for $1.1m Redmond theft

    Stole to 'expose flaws in system'

    A former Microsoft accountant has been sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to repay over a million dollars after pleading guilty to theft and money laundering. Randal Ray Seal stole the money from Microsoft after working in the company’s accounting department for nearly a decade. He said the thefts were initially …

    Crime 7 Sep 18:08

  • IBM, 3M glue chips into silicon skyscrapers

    Build tower of Power

    IBM and adhesive maker 3M are teaming up to cook up the packaging goo that will be needed to stack up chips into 3D arrays. There is a growing consensus in the computer industry that more compact and three dimensional packaging of chips is necessary to keep increasing the performance and reducing the power draw of everything …

    PCs & Chips 7 Sep 18:31

  • DigiNotar hacker says he stole huge GlobalSign cache

    The man behind attack that minted 500 certs

    An internet user with proven ties to the DigiNotar hack claims he stole email, customer data and other sensitive data from two competing web authentication authority that will be released publicly soon. In a statement posted Thursday, an individual calling himself Comodohacker expanded on previous claims that he breached the …

    Enterprise Security 7 Sep 20:48

  • Apple seeks product security boss after iPhone loss

    Horse, meet stable door

    Apple is advertising for a new head of product security, following the second loss of an iPhone prototype. The new hire, based at Cupertino, will be required to handle “the protection of, and managing risks to, Apple’s unreleased products and related intellectual property,” the job ad reads. Given that not one but two iPhone …

    Mobile 7 Sep 20:51

  • SAP snaps up Kiwi software firm

    Processing Right Hemisphere

    SAP is giving its business intelligence (BI) capabilities a boost with the acquisition of Right Hemisphere, a New Zealand 3D software vendor. Right Hemisphere makes software for manufacturers to visualise business processes and SAP aims to add these technologies to core products. The software giant said the Kiwi firm will help …

    Applications 7 Sep 22:31

  • Righthaven struggles in court and at home

    Rumours of death 'exaggerated'

    The notorious patent copyright troll Righthaven, founded on a premise that newspapers could assign their rights to sue for copyright infringement without actually assigning copyright, is suffering on multiple fronts. In US District Court in Denver, Colorado the US firm's latest setback is following a now-familiar pattern: a …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 22:58

  • Oracle suit outs Google's closed source Android tactics

    'Do not develop in the open,' Google tells self

    Oracle's lawsuit against Google over its Android mobile operating system has turned up an internal Google presentation that plainly shows how the web giant shares closed source Android code with select partners to ensure they play by its rules. "If we gave [Android] away, how do we ensure we get benefit from it? [We] create …

    Mobile 7 Sep 23:30