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16th September 2011 Archive

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  • After hack nightmare, Sony bars lawsuits with new TOS

    Class actions verboten

    After getting the pants sued off it for security breaches that exposed personal information connected to more than 100 million online accounts, Sony is requiring subscribers to waive their right to wage class-action lawsuits for almost any reason. Sony dropped the bombshell in an updated terms of service and user agreement (PDF …

    Security 16 Sep 00:52

  • RIM profits nearly sliced in half

    Blackberry maker circles the drain

    Research in Motion’s shares have fallen sharply after the Blackberry maker reported that profits were down 47 per cent for its second quarter of the fiscal year. Adjusted net income for the quarter was $497 million, down from $797 million this time last year. Revenue fell 15 per cent compared to last quarter, to $4.2 billion, …

    Financial News 16 Sep 03:00

  • How gizmo maker's hack outflanked copyright trolls

    Chumby NeTV: A triumph for mankind

    When the master encryption key locking down millions of Blu-ray players and set-top boxes was mysteriously leaked last year, Hollywood moguls worried their precious high-definition movies would face a new flurry of piracy. Instead, it spawned the Chumby NeTV, a tiny, Wi-Fi-connected box that sits between a television and a set- …

    Security 16 Sep 04:00

  • Google shamed by Apple in race to HTML5

    Open...and Shut Now that's embarrassing

    If ever there were a company made to beat Apple in mobile, it's Google. Apple, with its rigid devotion to a native app experience, is the perfect target for Google, king of the web. After all, the web and its rising standard, HTML5, threaten to cut Apple's estimated operating profit growth by 30 per cent over the next four …

    Developer 16 Sep 04:23

  • Windows 8: Half million previews downloaded in 24 hours

    Ballmer chuffed with Windows for Fondleslabs

    Half a million previews of Windows 8 have been downloaded by developers since the software became available on Tuesday, Microsoft has announced. Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer stated that it showed the strong developer interest in Windows 8, the re-imagining of Windows for the brave new world of fondleslabs. Built to re- …

    Developer 16 Sep 05:00

  • Sixty-seven WIMPs spotted in the wild, maybe

    Dark matter has slim evidence, cautious optimism

    It’s not quite enough evidence to constitute a discovery, but scientists working on the CRESST experiment think they may have spotted Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). WIMPs are one of they key theories to account for the “missing stuff” of the Universe. The amount of baryonic matter we observe with telescopes is …

    Physics 16 Sep 05:54

  • Dell XPS 15z 15.6in Core i5 notebook

    Review How to clone a MacBook...

    When the 15z was announced there was no small amount of fanfare, not least due to Dell’s interesting claim that this was the thinnest 15in laptop in existence. In no time at all, it had been pointed out that the accompanying asterisk needed to be the size of an actual star, since the machine the 15z was aping, the Apple MacBook …

    reghardware 16 Sep 06:00

  • ICO slates local authorities on data protection compliance

    Graham: You've been 'very bad'. Bend over

    The Information Commissioner has called for the commencement of the custodial element of the section 55 offences and expressly criticised data protection compliance by local authorities as being “very bad”. He also criticised data controllers, especially in banks and financial services, as being uncooperative in relation to …

    Government 16 Sep 08:01

  • Newzbin2 pirates prepare to sink BT web block

    App weighs anchor to scuttle censoring landlubbers

    Pirate site Newzbin2 has cooked up a software client that it says will help UK users defeat a block on the site that is due to be enforced in October. Hollywood studios and the Motion Picture Association won a case in the High Court in July that sought to force BT to stop Britons from accessing Newzbin2. It was presumed that …

    Telecoms 16 Sep 08:28

  • Privacy watchdog publishes e-privacy laws compliance guidance

    No help for biz on getting users to accept their nasty cookies

    The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has gathered its guidance on electronic privacy laws in one place. The UK's data protection watchdog's guidance includes amendments made to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) in May. The changes transposed an EU Directive into national law. The amendments …

    Law 16 Sep 08:58

  • App lets NFC BlackBerrys open electronic locks

    Now you can lose phone, wallet and keys in one go

    HID Global, makers of electronic locks for everything from server keyboards to student halls, has created an app that allows NFC-equipped BlackBerrys to be used instead of ID cards. The application will launch next year, but only runs on RIM's Bold 9900/9930 and Curve 9350/9360 handsets, as they have the necessary NFC hardware …

    Enterprise Security 16 Sep 09:14

  • PayPal's 'delightful' intrusion into meatspace: You wish

    Comment It's not like this stuff hasn't been tried

    PayPal reckons its mobile payment system will take us into a new way of managing our money, and PayPal into the real world of real things, but disrupting world banking ain't that easy. The plans, announced yesterday, made huge play of being superior to the nascent NFC-based payment systems, which require replacement phones and …

    Financial News 16 Sep 09:32

  • Microsoft merges Windows 8 with Xbox Live

    Mental multiplayer

    Microsoft has demonstrated how the forthcoming Windows 8 will communicate with the Xbox platform, in its first showing of how the company aims to bring "everything you know and love on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live to Windows." Program manager Avi Ben-Menahem took to the stage at Build 2011 yesterday and talked up features such as …

    reghardware 16 Sep 09:44

  • BOFH: I'll get my bonus even if it kills, well, someone

    Episode 13 Goals, reviews ... unexpected tragedies

    "Okay, so we'll just work our way through last year's review and then move onto this year's one," the Boss says, fingering a couple of chunky wads of paper. I hate review time. The only consolation I get from it is knowing that Bosses hate it as well. Everyone hates them - except for the drones from HR for whom this is …

    BOFH 16 Sep 09:54

  • Scosche BoomCan mini travel speaker

    Accessory of the Week Tubular belle?

    There is no shortage of small speakers for phones and music players, but few deliver much in the way of welly, or even sound quality. Not that you should expect a pristine hi-fi experience when you're using an ad hoc speaker such as Scorche's new BoomCan, but it's capable of pumping out a reasonably loud sound. The BoomCan …

    reghardware 16 Sep 10:00

  • LOHAN deluged with Reg readers' interjections in REHAB

    Revised hypobaric chamber plan for your delectation

    The Special Project Bureau's elite Hypobaric Evaluation And Design (HEAD) team has spent the last couple of days contemplating your suggestions as to how we might get LOHAN to suck more more effectively. To rewind a bit for Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator virgins, we're planning to build a hypobaric chamber to test …

    SPB 16 Sep 10:11

  • Judge gives Google more time for digital library talks

    Web giant's plan to make orphans work for it delayed

    Google and American authors and publishers have been given an extra nine months to come up with a solution to the ongoing legal dispute over the web giant's proposed digital library. The Chocolate Factory had already come to a settlement in the case, originally brought by the publishers against Google's plan to scan loads of …

    Law 16 Sep 10:24

  • Blue Screen of Death gets makeover for Windows 8

    Please turn me off then on again :(

    Windows 8 doesn't just put Microsoft's operating system on finger-friendly tablets, it also gives the notorious Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) a touchy makeover. Known officially as a bug check, the BSOD has been overhauled so it can take its place in an age of brevity and emoticons. The Windows 8 BSOD still features the …

    Operating Systems 16 Sep 10:30

  • Schoolkids learn coding at GCSE level in curriculum trial

    'Basic skill for 21st century human beings' - Willetts

    Teenagers could be taught to write their own software programs at GCSE as part of a major overhaul of the UK schools' IT curriculum. The new approach is being trialled with 100 students in a two-term experiment that will be rolled out across the UK if it proves successful. Launching the “Behind the Screen” scheme, science …

    Developer 16 Sep 10:43

  • Nokia dumps Dragon in major UK channel revamp

    Rumours aswirl of attempts to lock down distributors

    Nokia has terminated its distribution contract with specialist comms disties 20:20 and Data Select in a revamp of its UK channel. Filling the chasm, the Finnish giant is ushering on board Micro-P to target consumer and biz telco dealers, broadline giant Ingram Micro will handle sales to IT resellers and Kondor will become …

    Channel Register 16 Sep 10:57

  • Flattening Ethernet

    Expert Clinic Moving back to Layer 2

    Ethernet needs to become a lean, mean networking machine, and the way to do that, we're told, is to flatten the fabric, avoid layer the processing and keep as much as possible down in Layer 2. Is this real? What does it mean for performance, network management and open Ethernet standards? Three experts tell you how they see it …

    Data Networking 16 Sep 11:00

  • First Google Plus API released to developers

    'People.get' lets you trawl the public shoals

    Coders can now get their hands on a single Google+ API (application programming interface). Over time, Google will be opening up more of its platform to developers, presumably in a similar fashion to Facebook's API – which allows third parties to build apps for the network. "Google+ gives users full control over their …

    Developer 16 Sep 11:10

  • Canon perks up Powershot pair

    CMOS in, CCD out

    Canon has unveiled two additions to its Powershot cameras range, both powered by the latest Digic 5 image processor which enhances colour, reduces noise and increases white balance accuracy. First up is the PowerShot S100, a quality compact snapper that builds on the S90/S95 heritage of good low light sensitivity and manual …

    reghardware 16 Sep 11:20

  • Poskett signs up to lead Huawei UK enterprise channel

    Enter(prise) the Dragon

    Former long-serving HP reseller and distie boss Dave Poskett is heading up the UK enterprise channel for Chinese network infrastructure vendor Huawei. Poskett left HP at the start of 2010 after it effectively disbanded the over-arching Solution Partner Organisation by creating specific channel teams in each of its business …

    Channel Register 16 Sep 11:29

  • Firm claims it can put NFC tap-cash tech in a SIM card

    And that it will still work buried in a phone's guts

    SK Telecom has announced that it will launch an NFC-capable SIM card next month, achieving something hitherto considered impossible while skipping over the need for technical explanation. The company reckons that come October it will be able to offer SIMs with Near Field Communications capabilities built in, and is keen to …

    Mobile 16 Sep 11:43

  • Resistance 3

    Review Hostile virus

    It's hard to know whether to blame its own over-bearing derivation or the over-saturation of FPS games in general: either way, Resistance 3 is an anticlimatic end to a series that has struggled to rise above mediocrity. Holey smoke That's hardly surprising. The greatest achievement of the first two Resistance games was …

    reghardware 16 Sep 12:00

  • Nigerians panic over killer calls

    Unlucky numbers

    The Nigerian public has been reassured by authorities that answering a phone call cannot cause death, after widespread rumours raised concern. According to viral text messages, a number of people had died when answering the phone to the ID 09141, BBC News reports. The Nigerian Communications Commission issued the reassurance …

    reghardware 16 Sep 12:19

  • Spanish feds mend website clobbered by Anonymous

    Prime ministerial bodyguards outed by hacktivistas

    Spanish national police have reactivated their website following attacks by hacking supergroup Anonymous. The assault on policia.es on Thursday coincided with the publication of the names of 30 bodyguards working for Spanish prime minister Jose Rodriguez Zapatero. The hacktivists also threatened to reveal mobile phone numbers …

    Enterprise Security 16 Sep 12:29

  • Big Apple fake Apple stores agree to rat out suppliers

    Yes it's made in China, that doesn't mean it's genuine

    A New York gadget shop called Apple Story has agreed to change its name, hand over any counterfeit stock bearing Apple logos or slogans, and name its dodgy suppliers as part of a court settlement with the fruity tech giant. Apple Story and another store, Fun Zone, were taken to court last July by Apple for trademark …

    Channel Register 16 Sep 12:44

  • Former Acer CEO heads to Lenovo as a consultant

    Lanci knows how to handle big Germans

    Former Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci is joining Lenovo as a consultant to help steer the firm's consumer biz worldwide, particularly the integration of recently-acquired German PC maker Medion. The exec left Acer in March following a disagreement over future direction of the troubled Taiwanese PC maker and has been on a six-month …

    Channel Register 16 Sep 13:25

  • Smut domain scores big bucks for not handling smut

    If you exist, there might be porn of you

    Thousands of companies, far more than expected, are handing over hundreds of dollars each to block their brands in the new .xxx internet domain. According to ICM Registry, the company behind the adults-only extension, porn-shy firms have applied to defensively block more than 10,000 trademarks in just the first week of its " …

    Hosting 16 Sep 13:38

  • Celebrating the 55th anniversary of the hard disk

    The platters of Big Blue spawn that changed the world

    All anniversaries are special, and so is this one. It's particularly special because a billion or more people have been and are being affected by it every day. They switch on their PCs and take advantage of Intel processors and Microsoft's Windows, or Mac OS, thinking nothing of it. But before these, and providing a foundation …

    Storage 16 Sep 14:00

  • VMware juices Roo for big Java clouds

    Hypervisor hammering in the Cloud Foundry

    VMware's SpringSource unit has released Java tooling making it faster and easier to build big clouds using its parent's Cloud Foundry project. SpringSource has released a Spring Roo 1.2.0 milestone build it claims is 10 times faster than the earlier version, making it run smoother and faster on very large projects. Roo is a …

    Platform 16 Sep 14:27

  • 'Leaked' FBI Anonymous/LulzSec psych profile is bogus

    Feds say Anons wrote it: 'narcissism' comment may be true

    Supposed psychological profiles of senior members of hacking horde Anonymous are almost certainly a work of fiction. The bogus paperwork created a buzz last week when it showed up on Tugaleaks. Allegedly written by the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit, the profiles suggested that LulzSec kingpin Sabu is a narcissistic nihilist …

    Enterprise Security 16 Sep 14:58

  • Valve pushes Portal freebie

    Doors open for game giveaway

    Valve is making the original Portal available for free this weekend on Steam. For those of you unaware of the innovative game, Portal is a first-person platformer, in which one has to solve a series of puzzles using a teleportation device. Launched in 2007, Portal was critically acclaimed as one of the most innovative games …

    reghardware 16 Sep 15:15

  • RIM share price nosedives following stinky numbers

    PlayBook suffers fruity fondleslab smackdown

    Research In Motion's share price crashed quite spectacularly in the first hour and a half that the market was open in New York, dropping 20 per cent off its price. The BlackBerry and PlayBook maker's shares are now trading at $23.46, down from $29.40 at the previous day's close, after it announced that its profits had nearly …

    Financial News 16 Sep 15:24

  • Rich List tycoon's reseller biz faces winding up order

    ITopia owes us cash, alleges distie

    The phone lines at ITopia Group, which faces a winding up order sought by distributor Computer 2000 amid allegations of unpaid debts, have rung unanswered for the fourth consecutive day. The London-based outfit - whose operations include network and storage reselling, managed services and a consultancy - is majority owned by …

    Channel Register 16 Sep 15:28

  • Mozilla co-founder quits Firefox veep role

    'You were like a brick through a window' says, er, a mate

    A longtime Mozilla Corporation VP has quit the open source outfit he co-founded in 1998. Mike Shaver, who oversaw technical strategy for the past six years at the Firefox maker, confirmed he was hanging up his hot foxy boots in a blog post. Shaver was among those who founded the Mozilla Organization following the release of …

    Software 16 Sep 15:41

  • Fujitsu gov workers strike Monday: Unite on, PCS off

    PCS: 'Solidarity to Unite, but we're all right thanks'

    Unionised Fujitsu workers have called off their strike set for Monday after bosses at the firm "doubled" the pot of money available for pay rises with an additional £500,000 brought to the negotiating table. This is according to the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union which following a ballot of its 720 members planned …

    Government 16 Sep 15:55

  • HP sued by investor over PC and TouchPad antics

    Didn't reveal shares were bumwad from Bank of Toyland

    HP is facing legal action brought about by a disgruntled shareholder who claims the tech titan hid plans to review ownership of the PC biz and flush the TouchPad down the toilet [causing it to suddenly catch fire - ed]. The PC business may be sold, kept or as seems most likely spun off with the backing of private equity …

    Financial News 16 Sep 15:57

  • Yahoo, Microsoft's Bing display toxic ads

    These aren't the downloads you're looking for

    Search engines from Microsoft and Yahoo! Have once again been caught displaying ads that direct users to malicious content, some that infects them with malware that's hard to detect and get rid of, researchers said. Queries such as “FireFox Download,” “Download Skype,” and “Download Adobe Player” typed into the sites returned …

    Malware 16 Sep 18:44

  • Irishman's coke-packed abdomen poses for police

    Impressive scan of São Paulo narcomule's light lunch

    Brazilian cops have released an impressive scan of the abdomen of an Irish chap who attempted to board a plane in São Paulo earlier this week packing 830g of cocaine. The stash of Bolivian marching powder was packed into 72 "bags", which in turn were stuffed into the guts of the 20-year-old man who was pulled at Congonhas …

    Bootnotes 16 Sep 18:54

  • Facebook plugs developer site into Heroku code cloud

    Sky-high app host debuts PHP, Python

    Facebook has plugged its developer site into Heroku, giving coders direct access to a "platform cloud" where they can deploy, host, and readily scale their Facebook applications. According to Heroku founder Adam Wiggins, this is a first for both companies. "We've spent the past four years building a platform for instant …

    Platform 16 Sep 18:55

  • Oracle offers commercial extensions to MySQL

    'It’s not the apocalypse'

    Oracle has released three new commercial extensions for MySQL, provoking fears that the company might be trying to take the project too far from its open source roots. The extensions for MySQL Enterprise cover thread pool scalability, a pluggable API for PAM and Windows authentication, and additions to Oracle VM and Windows …

    Applications 16 Sep 19:49

  • Oracle slates 'extreme' system kickoff

    Ellison vows to 'change the dynamics of the datacenter'

    Oracle has scheduled a systems announcement ahead of its early October OpenWorld conference, and has just released a patch for its Solaris 10 operating system ahead of the expected launch of the long-awaited Solaris 11. As usual, Oracle is vague about what the September 26 announcement will be about. "Oracle senior executives …

    Servers 16 Sep 20:53

  • Intel demos ultra low-juice chippery

    IDF 2011 Pentium rises from the dustbin of history

    Intel labs has created a prototype processor that achieves a high level of energy efficiency by running at voltages barely above those those required to light up its transistors. Intel's marketing folks trumpet that the processor, code-named Claremont, can be "run off a solar cell the size of a postage stamp", but at CTO …

    PCs & Chips 16 Sep 20:58

  • Google's Native Client goes live in Chrome

    The C++ code Mozilla never wants on web

    Google has officially launched Native Client – a means of securely running C and C++ code inside a browser – as part of a new stable version of its Chrome browser that activates this rather controversial sandboxing technology. Mountain View turned on Native Client, aka NaCl, in the Chrome beta last month, and on Friday, it …

    Applications 16 Sep 21:00

  • Boffins boost battery life with underclocked Wi-Fi

    Removing the idle listening energy tax

    Scientists from the University of Michigan have devised a power management system that can greatly improve the lifespan of radio devices such as smartphones and laptops. Engineering professor Kang Shin and doctoral student Xinyu Zhang have developed a technique for saving the battery life of Wi-Fi devices by clocking down the …

    Mobile 16 Sep 23:38