The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

4th October 2011 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Giants gear up for the business analytics challenge

    Big spenders go shopping

    Business analytics is the latest IT takeover battleground, driving mergers and acquisitions among major corporate IT vendors as enterprises look to turn their data into valuable information that will give them a competitive edge. IBM, one of the vendors scrapping for supremacy in this space, expects the market for business …

    Data Warehousing 4 Oct 00:00

  • EMC goes virtual with in-house Oracle apps

    'We have failed' says EMC headman. The cloud to the rescue

    EMC was in the house at Oracle's OpenWorld extravaganza in San Francisco on Monday, with not-quite-yet-retiring CEO Joe Tucci playing elder statesman with his 42 years in this racket, and talking a bit about clouds and the storage and virtualization giant's use of Oracle software to run the EMC business. Tucci started out by …

    Infrastructure 4 Oct 00:07

  • EMC Project Lightning flash cards promised 'this year'

    OpenWorld Weighing in at 320GB, for starters

    Oracle divulged at OpenWorld that the Project Lightning server flash card is in beta right now, and weighs in at 320GB of capacity in its initial configuration. EMC's Project Lightning server flash cache This device plugs into a PCI-Express peripheral slot – hopefully a PCI-Express 3.0 slot with its high bandwidth – just …

    Servers 4 Oct 00:08

  • Check your machines for malware, Linux developers told

    Kernel.org reopens under hacking pall

    Following a series of embarrassing intrusions that hit the servers used to maintain and distribute the Linux operating system, project elders have advised all developers to check their Linux machines for signs of compromise. Emails sent Friday by Linux kernel lead developers Greg Kroah-Hartman and H Peter Anvin arrived as …

    Malware 4 Oct 00:15

  • Microsoft updates Hotmail to deal with grey spam

    Redmond strives to remake its web mail as (somehow) relevant

    Microsoft is making a series of changes to its Hotmail service aimed at cutting down the amount of old mail stuck on servers, falsely labeled spam. Redmond reckons that only about two per cent of inbox email is actually bona fide spam, with the bulk unwanted newsletter deals and alerts that were signed up for and are now …

    Spam 4 Oct 00:29

  • Thailand PM's Twitter account breached

    Suspect faces 5 years in prison

    The Twitter account belonging to Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been suspended after someone took control of it and used it to send messages critical of her administration. A government official said that investigators believe a Thai citizen broke into Yingluck's email account and used it to access her Twitter …

    ID 4 Oct 00:30

  • Innovatio targets Wi-Fi users with patent suits

    Promises not to sue individuals. For now

    Having found Cisco and Motorola (prior to its Google borgification) in the mood for a vigorous fightback, Innovatio IP Ventures is changing tack and filing lawsuits against Wi-Fi users for patent infringement. The company kindly promises not to target individuals; rather, its filings look for payoffs from corporate Wi-Fi …

    Wireless 4 Oct 06:44

  • Crystal Acoustics MediaMatchBox

    Review Tiny media player with fantastic format support

    This minuscule media player from home theatre specialist Crystal Acoustics combines a go-anywhere form-factor with play-anything decoding. Indeed, if there's a file suffix the MediaMatchBox can’t manage, then it probably isn’t worth playing. There are basic controls on the player's tum As befits a box that weighs just 40g …

    reghardware 4 Oct 07:00

  • Gov to spread mobile masts to remote corners of Blighty

    We'll each pay £2.42 to hook up the shepherds

    The UK's Chancellor has confirmed that the government will sink £150m into buying up cell sites with the intention of extending rural coverage to 99 per cent of the population. Ofcom will advise the government on how it should go about spending our cash on sites for base stations to be utilised by multiple operators, with the …

    Mobile 4 Oct 07:55

  • UK.gov goes back to school to avoid future IT blunders

    GCHQ level of expertise needed across government

    Whitehall's waste of £470m on a botched attempt to modernise fire service control rooms in England begs questions about what UK plc is doing to prevent a similar haemorrhage of money in the future. A scathing report on FiReControl by parliament's public accounts committee said the project was flawed from the outset and blamed …

    Government 4 Oct 08:27

  • Amazon to whup Apple rivals when Kindle Fire hits UK

    Brits' ideal tablet price: £250

    Apple's tablet rivals will face "almost impossible competition" when Amazon brings its Kindle Fire to the UK, pollster YouGov has predicted. Having talked to more than 3000 Brits about their fondness for fondleslabs, YouGov found that 72 per cent of punters planning to pick up a tablet in the near future said they will pick an …

    reghardware 4 Oct 08:52

  • Scotland Yard cyber-crime squad 'saved £140m'

    ePlods predictably feel they're too valuable to cut

    The Metropolitan Police’s e-crime busting squad claims to have saved £140m in its last six months of fighting cybercrime. The figure, based on the theoretical earnings of the ne'er do wells collared by the team of cybercops, is ahead of the unit's full year target and 30 per cent of its four-year £504m goal. The Cabinet …

    Crime 4 Oct 08:58

  • HP finally swallows Autonomy

    Looks a bit queasy, starts doing little eggy burps

    HP has finally concluded the $10.24bn acquisition of Cambridge-based enterprise search and BI software firm Autonomy. The £25.50-per-share offer was given the green light by 87 per cent of Autonomy's shareholders last night - a whopping 79 per cent premium on the stock price on 18 August when HP first lodged the bid. Reaching …

    Financial News 4 Oct 09:12

  • New iPhone offered for sale via unauthorised outlets

    'Expect shortages', says man punting $1000 Jesus mobes

    An unauthorised market in Apple's next-gen Jesus mobe is emerging ahead of today's much anticipated launch with price tags that would reduce most desperate fanbois to tears. Suppliers in Europe have been contacted by broker Rainbow Concepts Inc, peddling the 16GB model at $925 and the 32GB version for $1,025 with minimum order …

    Channel Register 4 Oct 09:26

  • Core facts: Windows 8 truthiness dissected, Mango sliced

    MicroBite Black swan for Microsoft's Sinofsky?

    With 500 new features, Mango's a juicy release for Microsoft's Windows Mobile team: third-party application multi tasking, HTML5-compliant browser and video voice mail. But with the iPhone 5 looming, technology alone won't help Microsoft close the gap on Apple or on Google's Android. In this MicroBite The Register's software …

    Microbite 4 Oct 09:40

  • SanDisk Memory Zone

    Android App of the Week Take charge of your phone, cloud storage

    SanDisk is a name more associated with memory cards than apps, but its new Memory Zone offering should prove useful to anyone who wants to manage and monitor their local and cloud storage from one place. The app gives you an instant snapshot of how much stuff you have on your phone - system and SD card - as well as your …

    reghardware 4 Oct 10:00

  • Fusion-io deploys PCIe flash toaster

    Self-healing powers claimed if you play the magic card

    Fusion-io has refreshed the whole of its ioDrive product range with smaller flash chip dies and new controller firmware to produce high performance, longer lasting flash using less silicon. CEO David Flynn said the current ioDrive technology was introduced four years ago and Fusion was now "introducing something that will …

    Storage 4 Oct 10:13

  • Facebook to scrub itself clean of filthy malware links

    Websense to sniff out stinky URLs on social network

    Facebook has recruited Websense to scan its vast social network for links to malicious sites. Scammers are increasing using Facebook as a means to drive traffic towards malware and exploit portals or internet scam sites. In response, Facebook is tapping Websense for technology that will soon analyse the jump off points to …

    Malware 4 Oct 10:31

  • Sony: all new PS3 titles will require PSN Pass for online play

    Taxing secondhand-game buyers

    Sony has officially extended its tax on gamers who buy secondhand PlayStation titles, confirming that all future Sony games with network functionality will be mediated through an online pass system. The company told Destructoid that the PSN Pass system will be incorporated into all upcoming Sony Computer Entertainment PS3 …

    reghardware 4 Oct 10:32

  • Ballmer: Uninspiring performance and a small package

    Head Microsoftie leaves board members unsatisfied

    Steve Ballmer has failed to dazzle the Microsoft board in the last year, and his pay cheque seems to reflect that fact. The Redmond firm's CEO bagged just a $685,500 bonus, which on top of his $682,500 salary and other compensation brought his total package up to June 2011 to just $1.38m, a figure that pales in comparison to …

    Financial News 4 Oct 10:43

  • HTC Evo 3D Android smartphone

    Review 'D' is for dud?

    LG might have been first with its Optimus 3D, but HTC hasn’t wasted any time coming up with a glasses-free 3D phone of its own. From the front, the Evo 3D looks like a standard, snazzy HTC smartphone, but it’s one of the manufacturer's chunkier numbers. Its metallic casework is sturdy, but the paint on the edges where it sits …

    reghardware 4 Oct 11:00

  • Growing arrays need bigger pipes

    Be generous with bandwidth

    Storage array and disk drive vendors have excelled themselves and delivered the high-capacity goods. But some of us are still not happy, because although we have big fat data vaults they are being held back by anorexic pipes. What is going on here? Business is generating more data than ever before and wants to store and access …

    Enterprise Tech 4 Oct 11:00

  • Facebook: 'We didn't patent stalking logged-off users'

    We're just hunting unicorns ... bitch

    Facebook has rebuffed claims that a patent it was recently granted describes the ability to track logged-out users. A company spokeswoman told The Register that the “Communicating Information in a Social Network System about Activities from Another Domain” patent, which was granted by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) …

    ID 4 Oct 11:14

  • NHS claws back £170m refund on duff IT system

    'Lorenzo' snake oil found to be worthless

    An American IT company has returned £170 million to the NHS after a project they promised to deliver was declared impossible. Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) coughed up the refund last week after finally admitting that it could never deliver the Lorenzo computer system it was contracted to create for the NHS. The NHS made …

    Government 4 Oct 11:27

  • Premier League loses footie decoder case

    Euro court rules in favour of pub landlady

    The European Court of Justice has judged that Brits must be allowed to buy satellite TV smartcards and decoders from other single-market countries. National laws that forbid the importation and sale of such kit from other European nations are contrary to rules guarding the freedom of Europeans to trade across national borders …

    reghardware 4 Oct 11:39

  • Chrome browser 'is becoming Number Two'

    Could supplant Firefox, analysts predict tight finish

    Google's Chrome browser will edge past Mozilla Firefox in a matter of months, web stats poking firms have concluded. Irish company StatCounter foresees the Google browser becoming the second most used browser on the net by December. In the StatCounter predictions, relayed to Computer World, Chrome will sweep 26.6 per cent of …

    Applications 4 Oct 11:42

  • Lumison swallows DediPower Managed Hosting

    Hungry ISP gobbles another server babysitter

    Lumison has snapped up Reading-based cloud and co-lo player DediPower Managed Hosting for an undisclosed sum. This is the second deal this year for private equity backed, managed services provider Lumison, run by former Computacenter director Mark Howling, after forking out £22m for data centre co-location outfit Blue Square …

    Infrastructure 4 Oct 11:58

  • RIM invites BlackBerry users into MS Office cloud beta

    Get an early snort of Office 365 cumulus

    BlackBerry users wanting to get into Microsoft's cloudy Office 365 only have a few months to wait, and the properly impatient can sign up for the beta this month. The Office 365 service will be hosted by RIM and offered free to users; access will be granted to all comers next January, but an open beta launches later this month …

    SaaS 4 Oct 12:19

  • id Software's Rage

    Review Apocalypse wow

    Is it an RPG? Is it a first-person shooter? This is a question which reverberates around my mind while I wander through Rage’s wastes. Why the confusion? Because id’s latest shooter hovers somewhere in the middle of these genres, a chimera with, oddly enough, lashings of Motorstorm-esque racing thrown in for good measure. …

    reghardware 4 Oct 12:29

  • Hospital data boob: Records left in bin room got binned

    10,000 patients' records destroyed in NHS blunder

    Bungling hospital staff accidentally destroyed patient data after a worker put 10,000 records in the wrong room, an investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office [ICO] revealed today. The lost records were boxed up and put in a ward waste disposal room because there wasn't enough space in the proper storage room, the …

    ID 4 Oct 12:37

  • HTC to plug private data backdoor leak slurp vuln

    Fix on the way for promiscuous Droid system app

    HTC has admitted some of its Android handsets have a flaw which could allow malicious apps to read customer locations and account details, but a fix is on the way. The flaw was spotted last week and HTC were alerted to the flaw; now the mobe maker has admitted the problem exists and is working towards developing a fix that …

    Enterprise Security 4 Oct 12:57

  • Ten reasons why you shouldn't buy an iPhone 5

    Comment The thing is an insult in phone form

    Here we are again on iPhone day, and once more the world waits on the edge of its seat to see what the fruitchomp masterminds of Cupertino have in store. We'll tell you what they've got in store - and none of it's good. Without further ado, here are ten points you should ponder before you even think of buying a new iPhone 5. …

    Mobile 4 Oct 13:15

  • Oracle to NetApp: 'I'm a faster, cheaper storage lover'

    OpenWorld Take a look at what my box can do, baby

    Oracle says it has scored an SPC-1 benchmark win over NetApp; its ZFS storage box delivers twice the SPC-1 speed of a NetApp array for less than half the cost. The ZFS 7420 recorded 137,066 SPC-1 IOPS at a cost of $2.99/IOPS. Oracle chose to contrast this with a NetApp 3270A result of 68,035 SPC-1 IOPS at a cost of $7.48/IOPS …

    Storage 4 Oct 13:42

  • Oracle's mighty column stuffs databases

    OpenWorld Enough grunt to pack a petabyte into 60TB

    Oracle says it can squeeze its databases in ZFS and Pillar Data arrays with Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC). HCC is applied to OLTP databases and data warehouses, with a claimed 10x to 50x compression for most datasets. Oracle says that by using HCC with ZFS or Pillar Axiom arrays its customers can throw out EMC or NetApp …

    Storage 4 Oct 14:02

  • Look who's talking ... about your Facebook Page

    New blabber analytics are wet dream for stats nerds

    Facebook has launched new ways to help its advertisers bank sackfuls of cash and no doubt cause privacy advocates to despair. The social network has introduced Page Insights tools, due to go into the wild in the next week or so, which let Page owners see the number of friends of fans of a page, the total likes of the Page, the …

    ID 4 Oct 14:24

  • GridIron fires up its turbocharged bandwagon

    OpenWorld That's the Big Data one - just happened to be passing

    GridIron says its way of turbo-charging SAN access means more database instances can be virtualised and run faster - like, say, 16 virtualised Oracle RAC nodes in a physical server juggling one million queries a second. The big idea is to accelerate big data access by using a TurboCharger data acceleration appliance sitting in …

    Storage 4 Oct 14:38

  • HTC's Mango handsets hit shelves in Blighty

    Next-gen WinPhos to go

    HTC's pair of impending Windows Phone handsets have gone on sale in the UK ahead of time. The HTC Radar and Titan - the company's first push into WinPho 7.5 Mango - both went on sale this weekend at Phones 4U after the retailer received their stock a little early. The HTC Titan features a 4.7in display and an 8Mp camera, …

    reghardware 4 Oct 15:02

  • McAfee, IBM gobble rival security-intelligence firms

    SIEMs like a good idea to tool up

    McAfee and IBM have both bought into the expanding security intelligence market with the acquisition of start-ups NitroSecurity and Q1 Labs, respectively. Financial terms on both deals, announced Tuesday, were undisclosed. Both NitroSecurity and Q1 Labs make software tools that allow enterprises to make sense of security logs …

    Enterprise Security 4 Oct 15:03

  • Fedora 16: Linux home for lost Ubuntu GNOMEs

    Review What lies beneath the Jules Verne submarine art?

    The Fedora Project has released the first beta of Fedora 16. Dubbed "Verne" and sporting desktop artwork that echoes Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Fedora 16 is shaping up to be a worthwhile alternative to Ubuntu 11.10, particularly for those that aren't happy with Canonical's home-brewed Unity shell. Among the …

    Operating Systems 4 Oct 15:16

  • HP anoints Mayer in global networks boss role

    Praised for her history of biggening

    HP has confirmed that Bethany Mayer - caretaker of its global networking biz for the last four months - will get the job on a permanent basis. Former Mirapoint and Blue Coat exec Mayer arrived at HP in March 2010 as veep for marketing and alliances in the Enterprise Server, Storage and Networking (ESSN) division but got the …

    Networks 4 Oct 15:37

  • Put down the Java manual

    ...Step away from it now

    Apparently, there is a perceived shortage of C# and Java programmers. Certainly a good percentage of all job ads are for these languages. That’s good if you already have these skills, but a much weaker signal when deciding what to learn if you’re a newbie. As far as I can tell you’re not allowed to graduate from high school in …

    Jobs 4 Oct 16:00

  • HP confirms Ansell as UK networking head

    Polishing desk nameplate ahead of November takeover

    HP Networking sales director John Ansell is set to take control of the entire UK business unit by month end when current incumbent Barry Bonnett exits the role. As exclusively revealed by The Reg last week, Bonnett is leaving the role after less than a year in charge amid suggestions in the channel that sales were below …

    Channel Register 4 Oct 16:15

  • Symantec alliance with Huawei put on countdown

    Symantec Vision There can be only one, or many, but not two

    Symantec CEO Enrique Salem said the Huawei-Symantec joint venture will have its fate known by the end of the year: either one of the partners will buy it or there will be an IPO. Salem, answering questions at Symantec Vision, said his company entered into the pact, in which it holds 49 per cent after a $150m investment, for …

    Storage 4 Oct 16:26

  • Systemax fills hole left by shamed US boss

    David Sprosty to don the cursed hat of Fiorentino

    Systemax has hired former Best Buy exec David Sprosty as the CEO of its Technology Products division in North America, finally filling the role that was vacated by shamed exec Gilbert Fiorentino earlier in the year. The responsibilities were assumed on a short-term basis by Systemax vice-chairman Robert Leeds after long- …

    Channel Register 4 Oct 16:29

  • Why grill Google over web dominance? It has none

    Open ... And Shut Nobody wants Chocolate Factory chocolate any more

    Google chairman Eric Schmidt was recently hauled before the US Senate to answer antitrust inquiries. After all, Google dominates the online search market, with 64.8 per cent of the market in August 2011, according to comScore (and much higher market share, according to Net MarketShare), and increasingly abuses that power to …

    Policing 4 Oct 16:58

  • Red Hat snatches storage Gluster file system for $136m

    What's inside Pandora's box, in fact

    Commercial Linux distributor Red Hat is paying $136m to acquire Gluster, the privately held maker of the GlusterFS cluster file system that is used by some hot properties on the intertubes. Gluster is a spin-off from California Digital Corp, a supercomputer maker that was tapped by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to …

    Storage 4 Oct 17:22

  • iPhone 5 a no-show at Apple's 'Let's talk iPhone' event

    iPhone 4S, however, not exactly chopped liver

    Apple surprised nearly every pundit who was breathlessly following its "Let's talk iPhone" event – it didn't introduce an iPhone 5. The event, held on Apple's Cupertino campus in, spent over an hour and a half detailing iOS 5 and iCloud, which had both been described in great detail at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in …

    Mobile 4 Oct 18:39

  • Apple stuffs Intel desktop CPU into iPhone 4S ad

    Quad-core Core i7 reborn as A5? Surely not...

    Apple's new iPhone 4S contains a chip the Mac maker calls the A5. But if a pic of the beast included in the 4S advert shown at the handset's launch is anything to go by, the A5 actually contains a pair of Intel 'Nehalem' processors - aka the first-gen Core i7. Here's a snap from the Apple event, taken during the commercial …

    reghardware 4 Oct 19:08

  • Tuesday's iPhone event more than Apple.com can bear

    Apple.com implodes under its own weight

    Apple may be an unstoppable force in the eyes of its competitors, fans and pretty much everyone else, but no one more so than the webmasters running Apple.com. A couple of hours into the company's "Lets talk iPhone" event Tuesday, trying to access Apple's homepage, online store, and most other sections of its website was like a …

    Mobile 4 Oct 19:32

  • Rumors of iPod classic's death prove exaggerated

    Updated The clickwheel lives on, touch-based iPods upgraded

    The lack of an iPhone 5 announcement at Apple's "Let's talk iPhone" event wasn't the only pundit–defying act performed by Apple CEO Tim Cook and his merry men: despite rumors to the contrary, the venerable iPod classic also lives. As does the iPod shuffle, Apple's $49, 2GB bare-bones digital music player. Those two iPods, …

    Music and Media 4 Oct 19:50

  • Oracle previews Solaris 11, due in November

    OpenWorld Clarifies Ellison's position on x86 servers

    If you expected Solaris 11 to be announced at the OpenWorld extravaganza taking over San Francisco this week, you probably weren't alone. But you're going to be a little disappointed, at least for a while. It won't be launched until sometime in November. Solaris 11 was previewed by John Fowler, executive vice president of …

    Operating Systems 4 Oct 20:31

  • Apple outs iPhone micro USB adaptor

    Euro-standard power feed

    It's not only the iPhone 4S that will ship on 14 October - so too will Apple's long-promised dock-to-micro-USB adaptor. Punters eager to "use third-party micro USB cables and chargers to sync or charge your iPhone" will be able to do so for a mere consideration of £8. Apple promised in February 2011 that it would add micro …

    reghardware 4 Oct 21:05

  • Apple snubs Samsung's Oz patent peace offering

    Cupertino wants Galaxy kit banned ASAP

    Apple has rejected Samsung's peace deal in an Australian court, preferring instead to go to trial where a win could influence its other lawsuits around the world. Last week, Samsung offered an undisclosed compromise aiming to halt the battle in Oz, which is now focused on just one disputed patent. Neither manufacturer let on …

    Business 4 Oct 21:30

  • Dell building its own Exadata killer

    OpenWorld Runs Oracle on PowerEdge 12G servers

    Way back when, before Oracle bought Sun Microsystems, and even before Hewlett-Packard became hardware buddies with Big Red with the original Exadata Database Machine, Dell was Oracle's chosen buddy for running parallel Oracle databases using Real Application Cluster on top of Linux. But now Oracle is in the hardware business, …

    Servers 4 Oct 21:34

  • Silver! Lake! Digital! Sky! also! in! Yahoo! play!

    Jack Ma lining up partners

    With Alibaba chief Jack Ma’s interest in Yahoo! already on the record, it now seems that the owner of the Chinese online giant is considering a partnership for its bid. According to this Bloomberg piece in Business Week, the potential partners – private equity outfit Silver Lake and Russian Internet company Digital Sky, in …

    Business 4 Oct 22:30

  • Accelerating universe expansion discovery snags Nobel Prize

    Long time coming for Oz-US astronomers

    A discovery first published in 1998 has won the Nobel Prize for Physics for three astronomers, including Brian Schmidt of the Australian National University. Competing with Saul Perlmutter of the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and working with Adam Riess of the Johns Hopkins University …

    Space 4 Oct 23:00

  • The cat came back: Cubrilovic spots another Facebook 'tracker'

    Facebook preps yet another fix

    If nothing else, Australian blogger Nic Cubrilovic is giving Facebook a sense of what it feels like to have someone watching you all the time. No sooner is one Facebook cookie drama damped down than he triggers another. In that latest to-and-fro, Cubrilovic asserts that the Facebook ‘datr’ cookie, which sparked a drama earlier …

    Music and Media 4 Oct 23:53