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6th October 2011 Archive

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  • HPC 2.0: The monster mash-up

    Blog When Big Data gets big, data centres should get nervous

    This is the second of a three-part series on the convergence of HPC and business analytics, and the implications for data centers. The first article is here; you’re reading the second one; and the third story is coming soon. The genesis of this set of articles was a recent IBM analyst conference during which the company laid …

    Data Warehousing 6 Oct 00:00

  • Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is dead at 56

    Creative genius revolutionized computers, music, phones

    Steve Jobs, Apple's cofounder and former CEO, has died. He was 56 years old. His death was reported late Wednesday in a brief statement on Apple's website. Apple's homepage featured a black-and-white photo of Jobs with a closely trimmed beard bearing his name and the years 1955-2011. "Apple has lost a visionary and creative …

    PCs & Chips 6 Oct 00:01

  • Attack on Apache server exposes firewalls, routers and more

    Reverse proxy bug may haunt rival webservers, too

    Maintainers of the open-source Apache webserver are warning that their HTTP daemon is vulnerable to exploits that expose internal servers to remote attackers who embed special commands in website addresses. The weakness in 1.3 and all 2.x versions of the Apache HTTP Server can be exploited only under certain conditions. For one …

    Enterprise Security 6 Oct 00:57

  • Microsoft! touted! to! buy! Yahoo!

    Redmond may be ready to pick over the carcass

    Microsoft is mulling the purchase of Yahoo! according to published reports that pushed up the share price of the declining portal site by about ten per cent in Wednesday's trading. Reuters quotes a high-ranking Redmond executive as saying that the company is considering a bid for Yahoo!, possibly in association with another …

    Media 6 Oct 01:17

  • Oracle floats Fusion apps, puffs up public cloud

    OpenWorld Salesforce.com 'stickier than a roach motel'

    Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff probably didn’t want to be at Oracle's OpenWorld extravaganza in San Francisco today, even after making a fuss about Oracle yanking his keynote on Wednesday. That's because Salesforce.com and SAP were the punching bags this afternoon while Oracle CEO and Benioff's former boss, Larry Ellison …

    Infrastructure 6 Oct 01:32

  • The life and times of Steven Paul Jobs, Part One

    From grade-school hellion to iMac redemption

    When sober, F. Scott Fitzgerald may have been devastatingly intelligent, but he got it dead wrong when he wrote "there are no second acts in American lives". Think Elvis, for example. Or lefty sinkerballer Tommy John of the eponymous surgery. Or, for that matter, Grover Cleveland, whose two acts as US president were separated …

    PCs & Chips 6 Oct 01:57

  • Android malware under blog control says Trend Micro

    Beware the Chinese e-book reader

    Trend Micro is reporting a Chinese Android malware that operates partly under the command and control of a blog. The ANDROIDOS_ANSERVERBOT.A malware is disguised as an e-book reader offered on a third-party Chinese app store. It uses two command and control servers, one of them served out of a blog with encrypted posts. Posts …

    Malware 6 Oct 03:07

  • Iomega Mac Companion external hard drive

    Review iMac-friendly storage and USB hub

    If the name of this hard drive isn’t explicit enough, one look at it will tell you exactly who it’s aimed at. The brushed aluminium surround and smoky black top mean that it looks right at home sitting beneath an iMac or Apple Cinema Display. Iomega's Mac Companion: storage plus USB hub Iomega’s attempt to woo style- …

    reghardware 6 Oct 06:00

  • BT superfast home fibre plans fall behind schedule. Again

    Telco now upgrading six (not 12) exchanges by end of 2011

    BT won't hit its target of kitting out 12 exchanges with its new fibre network by the end of this year as originally hoped. The company's broadband programme director Johnny McQuoid admitted to The Register in May this year that BT had been forced to delay the rollout of its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology, after …

    Data Networking 6 Oct 08:53

  • Quantum bigs up entry dedupe

    Capacity on demand style

    Quantum has a new entry-level deduping product with capacity-on-demand upgrade by licence key. The DXi4510 is the existing entry-level in a 3-tier range featuring the DXi6000 mid-level systems, starting at 8TB capacity, and DXi8500 high-end products. All you have capacity-wise with the DXi4510 is 2TB. The latest DXi4601 comes …

    Storage 6 Oct 09:24

  • Geeks chip in to fund nerd's space station gizmo launch

    Astronomy graduate raises $18k for ISS 'detector' lamp

    A self-described rocket nerd will be able to turn his International Space Station 'detector' gizmo into a product after fellow geeks chipped in thousands of dollars of investment. Nathan Bergey wired up a microcontroller to a set of lights so that they illuminate when the orbiting space lab passes overhead. Rather than …

    Science 6 Oct 09:26

  • 'Hey, Tories, who knows what a nontrepreneur is?’

    Special report Andrew does the Conservative Party Fringe

    To Manchester, where I had been invited to liven up a Conservative Conference Fringe discussion on digital policy. I shared the panel with influential moderatrix Dominique Lazanski, a former Yahoo!er who recently got the Pirate Party into the Culture Ministry; a young parliamentary candidate called Nick Pickles who had worked …

    Policy 6 Oct 09:28

  • Gas bill climbed £13,000 after correct online reading given

    Online calculator's crazy shenanigans

    Reg Reader and Stockport dweller Rob was shocked to find that trying to save his mother a few pounds on her gas bill ended up pushing the tab up £13,088.43, rather than down the 20 quid he was expecting. It was the unlikely result of entering a meter reading on Southern Electric's website. Utility companies have a patchy …

    Applications 6 Oct 09:29

  • Users shut down Italian Wikipedia to protest Wiretapping Act

    Wikimedia consigliere backs them up as mooks in Parliament debate law

    Italian Wikipedia has been hidden in protest at a new Act making its way through the Italian Parliament. The Wiretapping Act or "DDL intercettazioni" could make Wikipedia legally untenable in Italy if it passes into law. Visitors to any page of the Italian Wikipedia site yesterday were redirected to a letter signed "from the …

    Policy 6 Oct 09:41

  • BBC iPlayer, Lovefilm, 4OD aim for Xbox

    MS' Live service to gain TV content for Xmas

    Microsoft has signed up video-on-demand companies Blinkbox and Lovefilm, and Channel 4's catch-up viewing service 4OD, to bring their offerings to the Xbox 360 this year. BBC iPlayer will be coming too. So will Channel 5's catch-up service. The channels will be made available through Xbox Live. They'll be joined by a number …

    reghardware 6 Oct 09:44

  • Facebook scammers exploit Steve Jobs' death

    Offer of non-existent iPads lures thousands

    Facebook scammers have wasted little time in exploiting news of the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs as a theme for survey scams. The conmen's marks are told that an unnamed firm is giving away 50 iPads in memory of Cupertino's billionaire gadget baron. Applicants are invited to complete an online survey to "qualify" for the …

    Business 6 Oct 09:52

  • Dell updates Inspiron all-in-one desktop

    Sandy Bridge, Nvdia chippery added

    Dell has upgraded its Inspiron One all-in-one desktop PC, ditiching the old model's Pentium P6100 processor for shiny new second-generation Core i Sandy Bridge chippery. The Inspiron One 2320 is based around a 23in, 1920 x 1080 display, which can be a touch-sensitive panel if you're willing to pay extra and pick that option at …

    reghardware 6 Oct 09:54

  • Lovefilm Player for iPad

    iOS App of the Week Video on demand for your fondleslab

    Well it’s about time. LoveFilm may be the UK’s main disc rental and video-on-demand service, but it’s taken it a disappointing amount of time to get its act together as far as iOS is concerned. Apple’s loathing of Flash video isn’t Lovefilm's fault, of course, but plenty of other companies have already produced iOS-specific …

    reghardware 6 Oct 10:00

  • Obama+world pays tribute to Steve Jobs

    US president joins global outpouring for Apple co-founder

    US President Barack Obama has joined the outpouring of tributes to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died last night. "Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs," the statement from the White House read. The statement went on to praise the Apple co-founder and billionaire effusively, saying he " …

    Media 6 Oct 10:02

  • Unity: 'We'll make a terabit chip by 2014'

    Semiconductor firm touts NAND flash successor

    Unity Semiconductor thinks its CMOx technology can be the silver bullet the storage industry needs, succeeding NAND with next-generation memory combining DRAM speed and flash non-volatility – with Micron's help. EEtimes reports that Unity COO and co-founder Christophe Chevallier will present a CMOx (Complementary Metal Oxide) …

    Storage 6 Oct 10:19

  • ICO: NHS data security breaches are just 'plain daft'

    As bad as gossiping about patients down the pub, says watchdog

    NHS staff should be more aware of data security risks as patient confidentiality "is at the heart of what they do", Jonathan Bamford, head of strategic liaison at the Information Commissioner's Office has said. Speaking at an event on healthcare efficiency, he said that he was confounded by the disconnect between staff …

    Policy 6 Oct 10:39

  • Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 91z all-in-one PC

    Review Tidy desktop

    It may not match the sleek, silvery elegance of Apple’s iMac, but Lenovo’s ThinkCentre Edge 91z is a far more affordable option for people who want a compact all-in-one desktop computer. Lenovo’s ThinkCentre Edge 91z: available with Intel Core-i3, i5 and i7 CPU options The black plastic design of the ThinkCentre is fairly …

    reghardware 6 Oct 11:00

  • Dell hoists resellers into the clouds

    This stuff is hard, cries exec

    Box shifter Dell is assembling a cloud component for its channel programme with a launch set for the end of January. The Texan tech monster is working on the addition to the PartnerDirect framework but admitted defining cloud competency in third parties is more difficult than drawing up previous reseller certification …

    Channel Register 6 Oct 11:14

  • Oracle v Google patent punchup probably postponed

    Move along lads, an actual crime needs sorting out

    The first day of the Oracle versus Google patent trial is likely to be postponed from its current Halloween date to make way for an unrelated criminal case. In a court filing on Wednesday, US District Judge William Alsup said the date would not yet be vacated "in hopes that the October 31st trial in the instant case can still …

    Software 6 Oct 11:29

  • Report: Web firms must do better for foreign punters

    Trade wonks tut at absent warranty and contact info

    More companies need to participate in cross-border online trading in order to improve competition and help attract more consumers with lower prices, a new report by consumer organisations has said. The report said the online shopping experience has improved for consumers, with 94 per cent of cross-border orders being …

    Networks 6 Oct 11:44

  • Facebook SIM brings social network to dumb phones

    South America ahoy

    Personal Argentina is the first operator to deploy a Facebook-enabled SIM, bringing the social network to any GSM handsets, and into hitherto unexploited markets. Getting Facebook working on a SIM means using the SIM Toolkit commands, which limits interaction to a cascade of text menus, but it does mean that any GSM handset …

    Networks 6 Oct 12:01

  • Call routing scam costs telcos $150m a year

    Victims often unaware of complex phone swindle

    Fraudulent call termination is costing operators huge amounts of money, though the victims are often unaware they've been tricked. The elaborate scam involves routing international calls onto local numbers, then using promotional offers offered by local telcos to connect the call without handing over the termination fee. UK …

    Networks 6 Oct 12:14

  • Future Firefox to slurp updates silently

    Updated Mozilla concedes enterprises might matter

    Mozilla is changing the way Firefox installs on computers in an apparent concession to enterprise users it previously ruled were irrelevant. Future versions of the open-source browser will download and install silently on your machine, saving you the bother of downloading and authorising the update. It is hoped switching to …

    Software 6 Oct 12:29

  • Survey: Most TV viewers surf while they watch

    Bad news for ad-slingers: 75% are scanning two screens

    A shade under three-quarters of TV viewers with broadband are surfing the web while they watch, with 38 per cent of them discussing what they're watching on social media. The figures come from Ovum, and are based on 8,000 survey respondents across eight countries. They show that more than half of TV viewers are checking …

    Media 6 Oct 12:44

  • Deduplication: a power-hungry way to streamline storage

    Data wants to stay single

    Windows Server 8 is coming, and it is bringing storage enhancements with it. Data deduplication in particular has caught my eye: it is something I have wanted on my Windows file servers for a long time. This technology is nothing new; ZFS has had deduplication for a while now, and this technology is (experimentally) available …

    Enterprise Tech 6 Oct 13:00

  • Fujitsu TS axes channel boss role

    Musical chairs continues as Martin Smith quits for Microsoft

    Fujitsu Technology Solutions has removed a layer of management after head of channel Martin Smith left the firm to join former colleagues at Microsoft. Talking to El Reg, Fujitsu TS boss Michael Keegan insisted Smith had opted to leave after six years of service, but that he was using the opportunity to shed some costs and …

    Channel Register 6 Oct 13:20

  • News of Steve Jobs' death causes market jitters

    Shares back up in Germany after early fall, down slightly in NY premarket

    Apple stocks are now trading higher on the Frankfurt market, after falling earlier today on news of Steve Jobs' death. The stock was down 5 per cent this morning to around €270 at one point, but the Germans have since recovered from their initial dismay and sent the stock up 1.9 per cent to almost €284. Shares of the company …

    Business 6 Oct 13:41

  • BBC One and bureaucracy spared in Auntie cuts

    2,000 Beebsters face axe in £700m savings plan

    The BBC has safeguarded Radio 4 and BBC One from moves to slash £700m from its £5bn annual budget, but it will axe a further 2,000 jobs. Director General Mark Thompson made good on his pledge not to ditch any specific services – but BBC supporters and critics alike will be disappointed that the top-heavy bureaucracy isn’t being …

    Media 6 Oct 14:01

  • Thai prime minister Twitter hack suspect charged

    Cops ferry student to a press conference with gov minister

    Thai police have arrested a man suspected of hijacking the Twitter account of the Asian country's newly elected prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. Aekawit Thongdeeworakul, 22, an architecture student, allegedly broke into Shinawatra's account to post tweets accusing her of cronyism and failures in office. The hapless prime …

    Security 6 Oct 14:29

  • HP EMEA: No plans on global deal-stealing policy

    Nothing from HQ on how we'd implement these 'comments' – says manager

    HP UK will not adopt a kiss-ass policy of firing staffers found pilfering services deals from resellers. The action was slated for launch on 1 November – by Ken Archer, global veep for channel and alliances at HP's Technology Services biz – to build confidence among resellers that once they have been registered, deals will be …

    Channel Register 6 Oct 14:45

  • Steelie Neelie stares down telcos over fibre sharing

    Opinion Euro digital queen will make them ditch copper

    Telco operators have a wonderful habit of neither listening nor being rational when local loop unbundling is ever mentioned. The reactions, spread across the European press, to the two consultations announced by Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda, mostly accuse her of being mad and her ideas …

    Telecoms 6 Oct 15:01

  • Samsung and Google's next Nexus specs leak

    Ice Cream Sarnie flagship to be be unveiled next week

    Samsung and Google have yet to announce the next of their Nexus handsets - the debut is expected to take place next week - but the smartphone's spec has already leaked out. Samsung cranked expectations up a notch when it released the following teaser video yesterday which claims "Something BIG is coming" above an image of an …

    reghardware 6 Oct 15:04

  • LibreOffice fixes virus-friendly Word import flaw

    Free and clear

    LibreOffice users ought to update their software: a security hole has been discovered in the code used to import Microsoft Word documents into the open-source productivity suite. The latest version of the software contains a fix for the problem. A memory corruption-related vulnerability in the import code creates a possible …

    Security 6 Oct 15:29

  • OCZ buys PLX PCIe design smarts operation

    Snaps up UK R&D centre, IP licences and a 40-person research team

    Consumer and business solid state drive supplier OCZ is buying a UK development centre, IP licences, and a 40-person team from PLX Technology, possibly for a song. OCZ gets to strengthen its research and development (R&D) capabilities, with additional resources for controller design. It reckons it can bring new SSD products to …

    Storage 6 Oct 16:01

  • SpyEye banking trojan: now with SMS hijacking capability

    One-time passwords zapped to fraudsters

    The SpyEye banking trojan has acquired the ability to reroute one-time passwords sent to victims' cellphones, a measure that bypasses protections more and more financial institutions are adopting. According to a blog post published Wednesday by a researcher from security firm Trusteer, SpyEye was recently observed trying to …

    Malware 6 Oct 19:45

  • Gay-bashing cult plans picket of Steve Jobs funeral

    Tweets the news via an iPhone in irony fail

    Members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) have announced their intention to protest at the funeral of Steve Jobs, in a Twitter message sent via an iPhone. The group, best known for their rainbow "God hates fags" signs and web page, are claiming the action is in response to Jobs not using his wealth to promote their …

    Odds and Sods 6 Oct 20:47

  • Can general relativity explain the OPERA neutrino result?

    Imperial College physicist looks at gravitational time effects

    CERN’s decision to release data about its “superluminal neutrino” experiments at an early stage is providing the world with a rare insight into the process of scientific peer review. Another small step in that process in relation to the fascinating OPERA results asks whether general relativity can be called in to help explain …

    Physics 6 Oct 21:12

  • Pay to watch free stuff on Xbox 360

    An offer too good to refuse

    There are many characteristics about Australia that people from other countries don’t get: dangerous animals, a big empty country, political angst over an economy that stubbornly fails to plunge into recession, and so on. But two I’d like to single out here are TV and the Internet. Unlike much of the world, we remain …

    Media 6 Oct 22:30

  • Primus deploying capital city DWDM

    Junior telco plots Oz fibre upgrade

    Primus Australia has announced the start of a rollout that it hopes will eventually reach five Australian mainland capital cities. The company says it has already upgraded its business fibre networks in Sydney and Melbourne with OTN/DWDM endpoints, based on Huawei OSN 8800 kit, and hopes to add its Brisbane, Adelaide and …

    Telecoms 6 Oct 23:04