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20th September 2011 Archive

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  • Google opens digital Wallet on Nexus S phones

    Tap-phone-to-pay tech goes live

    Google and Sprint have officially unveiled Google Wallet, an Android "digital wallet" that enables payments with a smartphone in much the same way people use credit cards today. Rather than swiping a credit card at the cash register, you tap your phone on a retailer's NFC (near-field communications) reader. The Wallet app can …

    Mobile 20 Sep 00:18

  • Mellanox goes to Wall Street for cash

    Updated Chests filled for war and development

    InfiniBand and Ethernet networking chip and equipment maker Mellanox Technologies announced after the market closed in New York on Monday that it would be issuing up to 3 million shiny new shares to raise some cash for working capital and strategic investments. The offering, which has J.P. Morgan Securities, Credit Suisse …

    Data Networking 20 Sep 00:26

  • Games review site goes titsup at launch

    Topless reviewers to jiggle the console

    A pair of adult industry personalities who also happen to like games are set to combine their interests with a site offering topless game review videos and walkthroughs. Pwned By Girls (probably NSFW), according to Escapist, features Alana Evans and Misti Dawn, and its launch is apparently timed to coincide with Gears of War 3 …

    Media 20 Sep 00:30

  • Yes, there's a Tech Bubble. But that's OK

    Open...and Shut Facebook will live. Groupon will pop

    Even as Silicon Valley sages Marc Andreesen and Peter Thiel pooh-pooh the notion of a tech bubble, there are clear signs that tech is frothier than may be sustainable. Competition for engineering talent is fierce, and startups sprout too quickly. In addition, there's something incongruous about a world where everything is …

    Media 20 Sep 00:57

  • EA shutters another Oz studio

    In Dead Space, nobody can hear you swear

    Visceral, contributor to games like Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno, has followed Team Bondi and two THQ studios into the void with the loss of 21 jobs. The studio’s owner, Electronic Arts, is yet to make a statement on the closure. Australia’s rising dollar has crimped international developers’ operations down under by …

    Financial News 20 Sep 01:00

  • Arduino to add ARM board this year

    Pre-release developer version on sale within days

    The DIY hardware enthusiast’s platform of choice, Arduino, will be shipping a new ARM-based platform this year. The organization showed off the new version in time for the New York Maker’s Faire, with a 96 MHz clock speed, 256 KB of flash memory, 50 KB of SRAM, five SPI buses, two I2C interfaces, five UARTs and 16 12-bit …

    PCs & Chips 20 Sep 01:30

  • ScaleMP (finally) glues together 128 Opteron servers

    The 8,192 core, 64TB AMD behemoth

    Servers are going virtual these days, so maybe it is time for server chipsets and interconnects to do the same. With Advanced Micro Devices not building any chipsets that go beyond four Opteron processor sockets in a single system image – and no one else interested in doing chipsets, either – there is an opportunity, it would …

    Servers 20 Sep 04:00

  • Cisco's virtual switching comes to Hyper-V 3.0 next year

    Not just for VMware any more

    It looks like Microsoft's Hyper-V server virtualization hypervisor is maturing enough at the jump to Windows 8 Server next year that Cisco Systems needs to make it a full peer to VMware's ESXi hypervisor, which has been the preferred virtualization layer on the "California" Unified Computing System servers from Cisco for the …

    Virtualization 20 Sep 04:00

  • More high-tech firms 'will merge to escape financial risk'

    Revenues recover, but rising debt sparks bankruptcy fears

    Nearly half of high-tech firms are still at risk of financial distress after the recession, prompting the latest spate of mergers, acquisitions and downsizing, according to AlixPartners. The business advisory firm said that 44 per cent of companies face the likelihood of default or bankruptcy in the next two years if they don' …

    Financial News 20 Sep 05:00

  • Skype for iPhone makes stealing address books a snap

    Just add JavaScript

    If you use Skype on an iPhone or iPod touch, Phil Purviance can steal your device's address book simply by sending you a chat message. In a video posted over the weekend, the security researcher makes the attack look like child's play. Type some JavaScript commands into the user name of a Skype account, use it to send a chat …

    Malware 20 Sep 05:08

  • Philips GoGear Muse 3 PMP

    Review The iPod alternative?

    Any portable media player has to contend with the entire smartphone market. If you don’t mind running down the battery, mobiles can be as good as dedicated players. New PMPs need extra frills to stand out. With its third-generation GoGear Muse, Philips has added some interesting tweaks. But are they enough? The bundled noise- …

    reghardware 20 Sep 07:00

  • EU recording copyright extension 'will cost €1bn'

    Academic: Record companies, not artists, will benefit

    Extending the term of copyright protection for sound recordings from 50 to 70 years will cost the general public more than €1bn, an intellectual property academic has claimed. Earlier this week changes were approved to the EU's Directive on the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights. The change means music …

    Law 20 Sep 08:06

  • NHS loses CD of 1.6 MILLION patients' records

    'We reassure you it was old data'. Sure, my DOB's changed

    An NHS trust has told patients that it is acting to improve its data handling practices after a rebuke from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for losing a CD containing details on 1.6 million people. Chief executive of NHS Kent and Medway Ann Sutton said that information is now more secure following the …

    Government 20 Sep 08:27

  • Mobile voice revenue slowdown predicted from 2013

    Who'll pay for all the data traffic then?

    Ovum reckons revenue from voice will start dipping within two years, and the increasing data revenues won't be enough to replace it either. That's not to say that people are making fewer calls, but in developed markets we've long seen voice traffic rising as revenue remains static. Ovum's latest predictions are based on that …

    Mobile 20 Sep 08:57

  • How to go from the IT dept to being a rogue trader

    Remember, the successful ones are still out there

    How to be a rogue trader As a City headhunter I’m repeatedly asked to explain how lone traders find themselves flushing billions of dollars down the toilet. Rogue traders can pop up just about anywhere, and so I’ll share this curriculum for you to follow, which is not specific to any bank: this is just the way it works. Being …

    Developer 20 Sep 09:30

  • 'iPhone 5' chippery captured on camera

    Scaled up to A5

    Another week, another influx of next-gen iPhone rumours and speculation. This time, though, we have images of what appears to be the chipset that'll be used within Apple's upcoming handset. The first image - spied on Chinese-language site Weibo - shows off the A5 chip widely expected to be included in Apple's next-gen handset …

    reghardware 20 Sep 09:47

  • Elixir 2

    Android App of the Week Android's Swiss Army Knife

    It’s hard to know where to begin with the Elixir 2 toolkit because it does so many different things. It’s part user interface, part system status indicator and part control panel. For me, the option to put widgets into the status bar is the killer feature. It’s a great way of saving screen real estate and means you have …

    reghardware 20 Sep 10:00

  • Reseller Insight gobbles consultancy biz

    Services outfit Ensynch snapped up

    Reseller giant Insight Enterprises has swallowed US-based professional services outfit Ensynch. Ensynch, which employs 65 field engineers and 70 contractors, turned over $16.2m (£10.3m) last year. It carries Microsoft's Gold badge for virtualisation, ID and security, and portal and collaboration. Ken Lamneck, Insight CEO, …

    Business 20 Sep 10:28

  • US Matrix-style Cyberwar firing range moves forward

    Sim-people's endlessly repeated armageddon draws nearer

    The US military's plans to create a cyberwarfare firing range in which to test cyber weapons and train the cyber warriors of tomorrow is to continue, with a further $10.77m of funding just announced. Under the National Cyber Range project, the wacky weaponeers of DARPA have long planned to create a walled-off network …

    Software 20 Sep 10:41

  • Getting to grips with SSD performance

    Deep dive Lies, dammed lies and SSD performance claims

    Ever been annoyed that solid-state disk (SSD) performance can drop off precipitately once the wretched thing has gone through a few writes, erases and re-writes? That's because the fresh-out-of-the-box (FOB) performance can bear no relation to the steady state performance – none at all. This deep dive explains what's going on …

    Storage 20 Sep 11:00

  • Motorola seven-inch slate snapped

    Xoom Jr?

    Motorola has suggested in the past that the 10in Xoom won't remain its only tablet, so it was only a matter of time before some daring mortal went all MI5 with a spy camera and uploaded some shots of the bloomin' thing. Here's the first, which, although blurry, allegedly shows the unknown Moto slate with angled corners and a …

    reghardware 20 Sep 11:02

  • The data centre on your terms

    On Demand Four practical management tasks

    On September 15th Reg Broadcast Editor Tim Phillips was joined by Reg reader and Inframon founder Gordon McKenna to talk about four ways in which you can manage the datacentre on your terms. Freeform Dynamics’ Dr. Stats’ aka Tony Lock and Microsoft’s Lucas Searle joined the panel for this event and addressed some of your …

    Data Centre 20 Sep 11:03

  • Hunt for long-lost Apollo 10 moon lander adrift in space

    UK schoolkids to search skies for 'Snoopy' module

    Kids have been invited to join the hunt for a NASA mooncraft that has been lost in space for more than 40 years. Snoopy as seen from Charlie Brown. Picture by NASA Astronauts jettisoned the lunar module Snoopy into solar orbit from Apollo 10 before splash-landing in the Pacific in command module Charlie Brown in 1969. NASA …

    Space 20 Sep 11:05

  • f8: Facebook Zucks in video and music for content king crown

    f8: Read. Watch. Listen up... bitch

    Facebook wants its social network to become a platform churning out video, music and news feeds – and the company is expected to reveal just how much it wants to be the content king of the interwebs later this week at its f8 developer conference. A raft of features and partnerships are likely to be announced on Thursday in San …

    Developer 20 Sep 11:14

  • Microsoft delays LAR deal registration programme

    Wants it to work from the off

    Microsoft has delayed implementation of its deal registration programme for Large Account Resellers (LARs) until March as the systems required to make it work are not ready. Redmond had planned to launch the programme from 1 October to coincide with sweeping changes being made to the fee structure from that time, but teething …

    Channel Register 20 Sep 11:20

  • MPs: 999 HQ revamp FAIL cost £469m

    Public Accounts Committee slams fire service IT project

    Failure to understand IT was one of the core reasons for what the Public Accounts Committee has called "one of the worst cases of project failure in many years". FireControl – the attempt to rationalise 45 fire service control rooms into nine regional control centres – was cancelled in December 2010 after six years and the …

    Government 20 Sep 11:24

  • Windows 8 fondleslabs rock up on eBay

    Premium price for Microsoft fiddling

    Can't wait to touch and poke a Windows 8 fondleslab? Well now you can, but it'll cost you big bucks. A trio of Samsung tablets running the developer preview of Windows 8, which were dished out to 5,000 attendees of Microsoft's BUILD Conference, have popped up on auction site eBay. Microsoft has not yet given a release date …

    Operating Systems 20 Sep 11:44

  • Gears of War 3

    Review Get the rounds in

    When it comes to goodbyes, Gears of War 3 proves that parting truly is the sweetest of sorrows. A swansong of bewildering scope and ambition, it's a near-flawless conclusion to Epic's highly acclaimed series. Fire in the hole With only a handful of games able to rival it for intensity, action and drama, and even fewer for …

    reghardware 20 Sep 12:00

  • Crooks push fake anti-virus via Skype calls

    Robot on line 1 demands $19.95

    Scareware pushers have turned to Skype with automated messages to pressure marks into buying worthless 'security' software. The scam is promoted via unsolicited calls on Skype during which a machine-generated message warns potential victims that their computer security is "out-of-date". Victims are invited to visit a website …

    Security 20 Sep 12:00

  • Round two for Larry vs Larry Java face-off

    Google-Oracle patent case goes into second day of mediation talks

    The two Larrys will be back in mediation tomorrow, after a day of talks failed to come to any resolution in the Oracle versus Google case over Java patents. Ellison and Page, Oracle and Google CEOs respectively, were ordered to resolve their differences in front of a federal judge in California on 19 September, and will be …

    Business 20 Sep 12:11

  • Amazon's app store spotted outside US

    Downloading ANYTHING proves tricky

    Amazon users around the world are reporting that the retailer's Android store is now selling apps worldwide, despite the company's denials and our own failure to buy anything. Amazon's alternative app store was launched in the US only, and the company tells us that this remains the case. However users from Australia, India, …

    Media 20 Sep 12:19

  • DfE probed over Gmail use for official business

    Whitehall wonk: 'I will only answer things that come from Google accounts'

    Education Secretary Michael Gove was under fire this morning after it was revealed that his department used private email systems for official business that – it is claimed – included sensitive information. Officials at the Information Commissioner's Office have written to the Department for Education (DfE) asking for more …

    Government 20 Sep 12:29

  • Baltimore 'toilet bomber' acquitted

    Robot, sniffer dogs deployed against Throne of Terror

    The mysterious "toilet bomb case" which has held the city of Baltimore gripped since February has reached its close, as a jury found Duane Gerald Davis Senior not guilty of leaving a fake exploding toilet outside a courthouse. Davis was charged by local law last February after depositing a modified lavatory "decorated with …

    Crime 20 Sep 12:36

  • Google Wallet pockets Visa

    Credit colossus joins digital cash service

    Visa will be joining MasterCard in Google Wallet, making the Chocolate Factory's service acceptable just about everywhere - if you have the right app installed. Google Wallet's US launch was limited to Citi bank accounts and its own prepaid card, and was only accepted on MasterCard's PayPass terminals. Visa has wasted no time …

    Mobile 20 Sep 12:48

  • HP axes up to 525 webOS hardware staff

    Tech titan also mulling over PC division's fate

    HP is laying off up to 525 staff from its global webOS hardware biz, according to reports. The tech titan confirmed last month it is shuttering the unit that produced the ill-fated TouchPad and Pre3 devices. “As communicated on 18 August, HP will discontinue the development of webOS devices within the fourth quarter of fiscal …

    Channel Register 20 Sep 12:58

  • Antitrust settlement over Big Blue's big iron nears

    IBM agrees to supply commitments to other firms

    Big Blue has almost settled its differences with the European Commission over the supply of mainframe spare parts to third-party maintainers. The EC launched an antitrust probe into IBM on its own initiative, alleging that Big Blue was keeping potential competitors out of the maintenance services market for its System z …

    Servers 20 Sep 13:31

  • Why was Duke Nukem Forever s**t?

    Developer demands answers

    Game developer Gearbox has put together an online survey asking for feedback on its widely-panned game Duke Nukem Forever. When the shooter was released in June after 14 years of delay after delay and almost unflagging anticipation, it was hit by stonkingly bad reviews. Aside from the super cool launch party, we weren't too …

    reghardware 20 Sep 14:09

  • DigiNotar goes titsup: Disgraced certificate firm is sunk

    Secrecy caused as much trouble as getting hacked

    Disgraced digital certificate firm DigiNotar has filed for bankruptcy in The Netherlands. Hackers broke into DigiNotar's systems in June before creating forged digital certificates in the names of Google and other high-profile targets. The forged Google.com SSL credentials were used to spy on 300,000 Iranian internet users, …

    Enterprise Security 20 Sep 14:29

  • Hitachi GST flashes HP 3PAR OEM deal

    My SSD plus your array equals happiness

    HP 3PAR has picked Hitachi GST flash drives to speed array data access. HP 3PAR F-Class, T-Class, and V-Class (P10000) can ship with a 3.5-inch version of Hitachi GST's SSD400S, the 2.5-inch solid state drive (SSD) co-developed with Intel and using 34nm single level cell flash. It was first announced in November 2010 but OEM …

    Storage 20 Sep 14:30

  • US survey: 1 in 5 telecommuters work an hour or less a day

    And a third of them stay in their PJs

    Almost one in five Americans who work from home only clock in for an hour or less a day, according to a survey, while a third stay in their pyjamas. Forty per cent of telecommuters say they work between four and seven hours, 17 per cent are doing the bare minimum and just 35 per cent are working eight or more hours, the …

    Odds and Sods 20 Sep 15:01

  • SAP gobbles Facebook-for-biz firm

    Enterprise software giant gets social

    A Munich-based company that provides secure "social networking" for business has just been snapped up by German enterprise software giant SAP. Crossgate offers a social networking setup for its customers, along with secure communications channels that allow users to transfer documents and data. Users can join the network, set …

    Applications 20 Sep 15:07

  • Lib Dems vote for pirate-friendly 'one-speed net'

    Hug a hoodie freetard

    Liberal Democrats yesterday passed a motion approving the party's radical new internet policy – including a technically-challenged proposal to make all internet traffic flow at one speed. That should make Skype calls interesting... The IT policy threatened legislation "to provide a level playing field – where traffic flows at …

    Policy 20 Sep 15:23

  • Adobe tosses more big deals dosh at resellers

    Bring in some business, earn a small cut

    A shakeup of deal registration payments by Adobe could help its links with hard-pressed resellers. A classic four-tiered partner scheme – Registered, Certified, Gold and Platinum – goes live on 3 October and as part of this Adobe is raising fees for deals logged on its system. "Resellers are facing an increasingly competitive …

    Channel Register 20 Sep 15:30

  • Off-the-shelf servers spar with million-dollar storage arrays

    VMworld 2011 Cheap-as-chips Nexenta squares up to EMC and NetApp over performance

    Cheap and cheerful storage from Nexenta matched EMC and NetApp's multi-million-dollar systems in VMworld 2011's Hands On Lab, and took up some of the slack from its rivals when difficulties arose on the first day. EMC and NetApp have cooly brushed off Nexenta's claims it outperformed them. The storage infrastructure for the …

    Servers 20 Sep 16:01

  • Microsoft milks Casio for using Linux

    Go penguin, you're often paying Redmond

    In the latest news from the tech world's ongoing global hunt to find someone to sue over/deal with on patents, Microsoft has signed a licensing agreement with Casio. The "broad, multiyear" contract, which neither party will put a price to, will help protect Casio devices that use Linux. While Linux is supposed to be open …

    Operating Systems 20 Sep 16:27

  • Google+ opened to world+dog

    You too can embrace Google's Facebook envy

    Google has allowed world+dog onto Google+, its latest attempt to turn itself into Facebook. Mountain View launched a "Google+ field trial" in late June, letting users join by invitation only. But after making "99" different improvements to the social networking service, the company has announced that anyone can now sign up …

    Media 20 Sep 17:08

  • Stallman: Android evil, Apple and Microsoft worse

    GNU founder: 'Show me the source'

    Android isn't free software but the mobile operating system is better for developers than Microsoft's Windows Phone and Apple's iOS. That's the view of GPL author and Free Software Foundation (FSF) founder Richard Stallman, who's cautioned developers on the perils of building code for Google's Android. His argument, though, …

    Operating Systems 20 Sep 17:40

  • Microsoft faces fresh antitrust probes in Ireland and Spain

    Company not expecting the Spanish Inquisition

    Microsoft is facing more antitrust scrutiny as Spanish competition authorities announced an 18-month review of Redmond’s licensing practices in Spain and Ireland. The Comisión Nacional de la Competencia (CNC) said that the investigation will look into possible restrictions on operating systems licensing in the two countries, …

    Operating Systems 20 Sep 18:25

  • Watching hurricanes

    Data center design titbits

    America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) put the cart before the horse to some degree when purchasing a new supercomputer to track hurricanes. As it was packed to the rafters in its existing data centers, NOAA built a new center to house this new 383 TF (teraflops) box. However, it didn't know exactly …

    HPC 20 Sep 19:00

  • Samsung bakes lower-voltage server memory

    When every watt counts

    Those hyperscale data centers that are trying to cram 10 pounds of servers into a 5-pound rack have gotten a little more help from Korean memory maker Samsung Electronics. The leading edge, low-voltage DDR3 main memory runs at 1.35 volts and burns a bit less juice than normal 1.5 volt memory modules. And now, Samsung is …

    Servers 20 Sep 19:00

  • Android bug lets attackers install malware without warning

    Google patch cycle puts users at risk

    It's been more than a month since researchers reported two serious security vulnerabilities in Android, but so far there's no indication when they will be purged from the Google-spawned operating system that's the world's most popular smartphone platform. The first flaw allows apps to be installed without prompting users for …

    Malware 20 Sep 19:40

  • Google defends itself before Senate antitrust hearing

    Chocolate Factory blogs answers to anti-competition allegations

    Just ahead of its grilling in front of the Senate in Washington, Google has set up a blog page answering some of the anti-competition allegations against it. Set up as a point-by-point statement and rebuttal, the webpage answers some of the accusations levelled at the search engine behemoth by business group Fairsearch, which …

    Media 20 Sep 20:00

  • Dell shrinks vStart cloud boxes

    50 VMs for the heavenly SMB

    Dell has put its vStart cloudy infrastructure bundles in the marketing dryer and shrunk them down to a size more suitable for a small and midsized businesses. The vStart 100 and vStart 200 prefabbed "chunks-o-cloud" came out in April, and as the name suggests, were aimed at equipping companies on the journey to the heavens …

    Infrastructure 20 Sep 21:26

  • Dimension Data opens big digs in Sydney

    Invests $AU107m in local ops

    Dimension Data has invested in a global service centre worth $AU107 million in Sydney. The new facility opened with a headcount of 130 people but it is anticipated that this will expand to 300 employees over the next five years. Dimension Data Australia’s CEO Rodd Cunico said “we have also been able to both win and retain …

    Financial News 20 Sep 22:09

  • On-net customers drive TPG growth

    DSL, fibre outperforming mobile

    Junior telco TPG is the latest in the sector to announce strong customer and profit growth in an Australian economy constantly being warned about downturn, with after-tax net profit growing to $AU78.2 million. With 77,000 new “on-net” customers (those connected to TPG DSL infrastructure rather than resold Telstra …

    Financial News 20 Sep 23:00

  • Prosecutor calls poker site 'global Ponzi scheme'

    Full Tilt poker accused of defrauding players of $330m

    Directors of one of the internet's biggest gambling sites have been accused of running a massive Ponzi scheme that bilked players out of about $330 million. In court documents filed Tuesday, federal prosecutors accused those operating Full Tilt Poker of withdrawing more than $443 million from players' bank accounts and …

    Crime 20 Sep 23:34

  • Microsoft exec departs after tweet about Nokia phone

    Should have given it higher marks

    A Microsoft manager has left the company after tweeting a less-than-raving review of a forthcoming Nokia handset running the Windows Phone OS. Joe Marini, until recently a principal program manager for web activities on Redmond’s smartphone operating system, is thought to have run afoul of Microsoft’s strict social media …

    Mobile 20 Sep 23:48