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7th October 2011 Archive

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  • Chaos feared after Unix time-zone database is nuked

    Developer sued for copyright infringement

    The internet's authoritative source for time-zone data has been shut down after the volunteer programmer who maintained it was sued for copyright infringement by a maker of astrology software. David Olson, custodian of the Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Database, said on Thursday he was retiring the FTP server he's long …

    Operating Systems 7 Oct 03:56

  • Intellectual Ventures wages patent war on Motorola

    Claims 6 infringements of its property

    Intellectual Ventures, the patent holding firm set up by former Microsoft Chief Technical Officer Nathan Myhrvold, has filed suit against Motorola for patent infringement. According to court documents (PDF), Intellectual Ventures is claiming the violation of six patents it holds. These include patents for a file transfer …

    Law 7 Oct 04:02

  • Panasonic HM-TA20 underwater camcorder

    Review Taking a dip

    Pocket camcorders might have lost their appeal since the spread of HD-ready smartphones but the amphibious nature of the Panasonic HM-TA20 is still likely to grab the attention of holidaymakers. The HM-TA20 is an underwater pocket camcorder capable of shooting 1080p videos and 8Mp still images up to depth of 3m and also doubles …

    reghardware 7 Oct 06:00

  • Mixing network traffic types on Ethernet

    Expert Clinic A recipe for success - or disaster?

    Is Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) a panacea for the difficulties inherent in running separate storage and general networks? FCoE is not taking off and, indeed, there have been articles published that suggest it may die before it arrives. Let's look again at the idea of mixing general networking traffic and storage …

    Network Fabric 7 Oct 08:00

  • MoJ shops for ICT provider for Her Majesty's prisons

    3-year deal to give services to crim-managers

    The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is looking for a provider of ICT services for the National Offender Management Service (Noms), as part of a transition towards using its Future ICT Sourcing (Fits) model. It has published a tender for a three-year deal worth up to £300m to provide services for hardware, software and networks. It …

    Public Sector 7 Oct 08:21

  • TDK fires up LASERS to double hard drive capacity

    HAMR blow to disk heads

    Japanese disk drive head supplier TDK says it has added a laser heater to its platter licking devices to enable heat-assisted magnetic recording. In non-boffinry speak, this will double disk drives' areal density - and therefore double capacity. All suppliers have to do is come up with the right chemical mix for the platters. …

    Storage 7 Oct 08:41

  • Open Range rural broadband goes titsup

    WiMAX on satellite frequencies – what could possibly go wrong?

    Despite tapping the US government for cash and promising to connect six million people, Open Range has called it a day, laying off most of the staff and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The plan was to provide broadband to rural communities, using WiMAX and satellite frequencies leased from Globalstar. But Globalstar didn't …

    Networks 7 Oct 09:01

  • TomTom ties up traffic with Top Gear

    MORE POWER, insists Clarkson-voiced satnav

    It had to happen - it's just surprising it has taken this long. Yes, a satnav company - TomTom in this case - has launched a TopGear-branded unit. The Go Live Top Gear Edition features the voice of Clarkson himself, chirped TomTom this morning. Well, they couldn't very well have used the Stig, could they? And the flowery …

    reghardware 7 Oct 09:10

  • IBM attracts Crocus to magnetic RAM biz

    Big Blue wants stiffer poles

    IBM has drafted in Crocus Technology in hope of blossoming its long-running MRAM flash follow-on technology effort. Where this leaves Big Blue's racetrack memory effort is unclear. Crocus Technology is a developer of magnetoresistive memory and has devised a thermally-assisted Magnetic Logic Unit (MLU), which caught IBM's eye …

    Storage 7 Oct 09:21

  • Quote of the Week: 'I shave my balls for this?'

    QuoTW Our weekly round-up of what the tech world says

    This was the week when Apple cofounder and technology titan Steve Jobs sadly passed away, aspiring geeks were told they shouldn't bother leaving their bedrooms to go to school, Amazon's decision to lose money on the Kindle Fire made good business sense, overzealous Microsoft anti-virus software classed Google's Chrome browser as …

    Bootnotes 7 Oct 09:30

  • Gay.xxx sells for $500,000

    Smut site address commands stiff price

    The internet address gay.xxx has been sold for $500,000, making it the most expensive domain name sold in an extension that is not yet publicly open for registration. The deal was made as part of the Founders Program offered by .xxx operator ICM Registry. The buyer is Liberty Media Holdings, aka Corbin Fisher, a Las Vegas- …

    Business 7 Oct 09:41

  • MS kills, un-kills Zune HD media player

    Posts death sentence, pulls it, denies it

    So why doesn't Microsoft just come out and say Zune - its iPod wannable MP3 player - is dead? Actually, earlier this week it did. It put up a note on the Zune support site re-iterating past comments that its focus is now on Windows Phone 7 - which contains a Zune section for media playback. It also said it will no longer be …

    reghardware 7 Oct 09:53

  • Altec Lansing iMT630

    Accessory of the Week Rocking all over the world

    The first set of iPod speakers I ever bought was Altec Lansing’s inMotion iM3, a paperback-sized unit that could nonetheless produce a very respectable sound. My iM3 has been around the world a couple of times since then and it’s getting a bit frayed around the edges now. However, I’ve never found a better set of travel …

    reghardware 7 Oct 10:00

  • ISPs must be honest to keep net neutrality alive, say watchdogs

    Being transparent is now a good thing

    Providing consumers with transparent information about the quality and restrictiveness of their internet service is "fundamental" if net neutrality it to be achieved, European telecoms regulators have said. The Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) said that national regulators must ensure that …

    Business 7 Oct 10:19

  • HTC brings Beats to bigger blower

    Sensational sound and size

    HTC officially unveiled the Sensation XL today, the manufacturer's second smartphone to be equipped with Beats Audio. The HTC Sensation XL is large and narrow, with a 4.7in, 400 x 800 display and a 9.9mm-thick body. It runs on a 1.5GHz processor with 768MB of Ram. It sports Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread spruced up with the …

    reghardware 7 Oct 10:19

  • Samsung predicts galactic profits

    Huge smartphone sales drive third quarter earnings

    Samsung Electronics said its third quarter profits should be up 12 per cent on the previous quarter, as its Galaxy line-up continues to haul in tonnes of won – despite its ongoing disputes with Apple. The Korean group pegged its approximate consolidated operating profit at $3.5bn (4.2 trillion won), up from $3.1bn (3.75 …

    Business 7 Oct 10:41

  • HP denies shipping TouchPad tablets with Android

    Probe launched

    HP is investigating why an unknown number of TouchPad WebOS tablets may have been sold with Android on board. It denies shipping TouchPads with Android installed, even in error. Claims that some TouchPads had gone out with Android loaded in place of HP's WebOS recently did the rounds on the internet. That prompted not …

    reghardware 7 Oct 10:43

  • Cambridge Audio iD100 hi-fi dock

    Review Digital-only interface for audiophiles

    The Cambridge Audio iD100 is a dock with apparent delusions of grandeur. Brushed aluminium bodywork and a surfeit of serious connectivity signal a determination to squeeze every last drop of performance from any iOS device that comes its way.

 Clearly it takes the music on my iPod far more seriously than I do. Cambridge …

    reghardware 7 Oct 11:00

  • Sony tempts Potter fans with free 3D BDs

    Buy a Sony player, get Deathly Hallows discs

    Desperate to flog some 3D gear, Sony is to give away copies of the last to Harry Potter films - the Deathly Hallows pair - to entice punters to part with cash for one of its 3D BD players. 'I nose more about magic than you' Of course, unless the viewers also have 3D TVs, they'll miss the full “Harry Potter 3D Experience”, …

    reghardware 7 Oct 11:04

  • El Reg drives Cloud Summit

    Event Possibly more accurate: Cloud Summit drives us

    On December 5, London's increasingly popular annual Business Cloud Summit features a Technology and Developer stream helmed by The Register’s own Tim Phillips. For you, dear reader, that means finely tuned, guff-free content. The theme for this year is ‘The Practical Cloud', so expect techies in suits, talking about real …

    Cloud 7 Oct 11:15

  • Google Books app splurts 3 million titles in UK launch

    Book-grabber faces off with Kindle and iBooks in Blighty

    Android users will be able to browse 3 million books on their phones, after Google Books launched in the UK yesterday. The app has been out in the States for a while but will be available to British Android users from today. Google Books promises a vast array of titles from "favorite bestsellers, up-and-coming authors and …

    Music and Media 7 Oct 11:28

  • London 2012 Olympics: 17000 athletes, 11000 computers

    Updated Acer: 'It won't run on Vista like we said it would'

    Even if you don't care about people running quickly around in circles, it can't have escaped your notice that the Olympics is coming to London for 17 days in July 2012. As the world's biggest sports event of the year, it will involve 17,000 athletes, 20,000 members of the press, millions of spectators (10 million tickets sold - …

    Servers 7 Oct 11:39

  • Microsoft's €5.9bn Skype slurp to get EU rubber stamp

    Just Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Taiwan to convince

    The European Union is set to green-light Microsoft's €5.9bn acquisition of VoIP behemoth Skype, putting 145 million users under Redmond's control. An announcement is due today, but according to the Financial Times, approval will come and without interoperability requirements, as long as Microsoft commits to maintaining non- …

    Networks 7 Oct 11:51

  • Virgin extends network with Orange

    Roam onto Everything Everywhere

    Virgin Mobile customers can now hop onto the Orange network in areas where their own operator doesn't provide coverage for no extra cost. Virgin already had such a deal with T-Mobile. Now T-Mobile is owned, along with Orange, by Everything Everywhere, Virgin is rolling out the scheme to the third network. Slowly, though. …

    reghardware 7 Oct 11:59

  • Lightsabres to illuminate Christmas dinner

    Romantic lighting enjoy you will

    Here's a geek treat that'll leave Star Wars collectors feeling more at home than an Ewok in a treetop. Behold, the Lightsabre Candlestick from ThinkGeek. This licensed scaled reproduction of a lightsabre measures 21cm long and comes with three 25cm non-drip red candles. Of course, you can always use your own coloured candles …

    reghardware 7 Oct 11:59

  • Here come hypervisors you can trust

    Intel to the rescue?

    Virtualisation has always bothered me. This is perhaps an odd statement to make; after all, I am personally responsible for virtualising thousands of servers. But the truth of it lies in the special status the IT community has ascribed to hypervisors. When we nerds talk about virtualisation, especially with relation to …

    Enterprise Tech 7 Oct 12:00

  • Furious HP staff stage protest over job cuts

    Photo Laying down on the job ... at a trade show

    HP staff downed tools at the SIMO Network 2011 conference in Spain this week to protest against job cuts. If you're HP and you know it, wash your hands... An El Reg contact kindly took a photo as disgruntled workers took to the HP stand on 5 October only to lie down clasping placards urging their employer to "Stop Lay-Offs …

    Business 7 Oct 12:03

  • Samsung, Google delay next-gen Nexus launch

    iPhone 4S release noise would drown out their signal?

    Samsung and Google have reportedly cancelled next week's launch of the smartphone everyone expects will be the new Nexus. Samsung today said the two companies have "decided to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be …

    reghardware 7 Oct 12:18

  • Sony wants Ericsson's half of their mobile biz

    Firm fancies fighting Apple and Samsung all on its own

    Sony Corp is in talks with Ericsson to buy out its stake in their 50/50 mobile phone joint venture Sony Ericsson. The ubiquitous "people familiar with the matter" have been busy chatting to both the Wall Street Journal and Reuters about how Sony would like to bring the 10-year pact to an end so that it can integrate …

    Mobile 7 Oct 12:23

  • Starbucks extends gratis Wi-Fi to UK

    Not airport sites, though

    Starbucks has granted Brits free Wi-Fi access. Tweeted the coffee giant today: "All our customers can access Free Wi-Fi at hundreds of Starbucks locations throughout the UK. Just click 'Connect' and enjoy!" Well, not quite all of the beverage purveyor's punters: the company was later forced to admit that the deal doesn't …

    reghardware 7 Oct 12:34

  • Post-pub nosh deathmatch: Kapsalon v quesadillas

    We who are about to dine salute you

    Our piece a couple of months back on the comparative merits of parmo and poutine proved pretty popular with the gourmets among you looking for something new to wrap your laughing gear round after a robust night on the sauce. We're delighted, then, to offer another post-pub nosh deathmatch for your consideration, viz: kapsalon …

    SPB 7 Oct 12:44

  • IE security hole sewn up for Patch Tuesday

    It's that time of the month. Again

    Microsoft is planning eight security updates next week – two critical – as part of its regular Patch Tuesday programme. The obvious highlight of the batch is a critical update for Internet Explorer that affects all supported versions of Microsoft's ubiquitous web browser, including IE 9. The second critical update covers flaws …

    Security 7 Oct 13:01

  • BT hauls Digital Economy Act back to court

    Last chance for telco to slay the beast

    The Court of Appeal has today granted BT permission to appeal against the High Court’s judicial review of the Digital Economy Act. BT had attempted to get sections of the Act repealed in the High Court, but saw most of its arguments thrown out in April. It won a minor point on costs, but the five cornerstones of its argument …

    Music and Media 7 Oct 13:33

  • HP names Ubuntu top dog for OpenStack cloud

    Secure, scalable, "business class"

    Ubuntu has been named "lead host and guest operating system" on Hewlett-Packard's fledgling OpenStack-based cloud. Canonical has been working closely with HP during the tech juggernaut's cloud beta, which opened one month ago, to ensure Ubuntu provides a secure and scalable "business-class" cloud "for companies of all sizes …

    Operating Systems 7 Oct 13:41

  • Old Napster guy’s fan letter to Spotify upstart

    'Grasshopper. You are almost as cool as I once was'

    The original Napster was the greatest digital music service we’ve ever seen – and, into the bargain, was the first global social network. Choosing to close it, rather than financially exploit it, is something many people in the music business have regretted ever since. They had a new world of consumers in the palm of their hand …

    Music and Media 7 Oct 13:44

  • Visa muscles into Olympic pay-by-wave with microSD kit

    Non-NFC gadgets to join Samsung's 2012 phone for on-site payments

    Samsung's Olympic Phone won't be the only gadget able to make payments within the London venue next year, with Visa planning an operator bypass with microSD. Samsung's payment-enabled Olympic Phone will be sold around the world, according to Visa's latest presentation to European bankers that was attended by Pocket Lint, but …

    Mobile 7 Oct 14:02

  • 'Silent majority' is content with elderly Java, says startup

    Prise version 6 from cold dead hands

    Oracle might be looking at Java 7 and 8 to float clouds, but tech vendors are only just adopting Java 6 as a serious prop for web-based computing. Platform-as-a-service startup CloudBees has become the latest Java supporter to embrace a part of the Java Enterprise Edition 6 spec from two years ago for web development. …

    Software 7 Oct 14:38

  • Google hits the boozer with own brand of beer

    What ales thee?

    Google's investments over the years have pushed the company's foot through many a door. However, its latest venture still comes as quite a surprise. The Internet tech-firm is now producing beer. Google has joined forces with brewer Dogfish Head to produce a Belgian Dubbel beer called Urkontinent. While the brewing company …

    reghardware 7 Oct 14:39

  • AmEx 'debug mode left site wide open', says hacker

    Customer cookies 'at risk'

    An alleged vulnerability on American Express site exposed customers to a serious security risk before the credit card giant closed down a portion of its site on Thursday afternoon. Researcher Niklas Femerstrand claimed the problem arose because the debug mode of the americanexpress.com site had inexplicably been left on, thus …

    Enterprise Security 7 Oct 14:46

  • Samsung, Micron bake 3D chips for next-gen RAM

    Not-particularly-cube-shaped cubes prove faster

    We're hitting a memory wall, if you didn't know, and processor cores are going to be held up because DRAM can't scale up enough or ship 'em data fast enough. Samsung and Micron aim to fix that with 3D memory cubes and a consortium to define an interface spec for them. Samsung and Micron, asserting that existing 2D DRAM …

    PCs & Chips 7 Oct 15:05

  • Geek girls lauded on Ada Lovelace Day

    Tweets, sites big-up world's boffins of the female persuasion

    Today was Ada Lovelace Day, a day for commemorating women's contribution to science and technology, named after the woman who is widely credited as being the world's first computer programmer. Augusta Ada King, the Countess of Lovelace and daughter of Lord Byron, was an English writer who collaborated with British …

    Science 7 Oct 15:32

  • Skye IT goes titsup

    Reseller hits the wall after credit dries up

    Skye IT has gone into administration today after running into financial difficulties, appointing Taylor Aitken to manage the wind-down. The Chelmsford-based reseller is a standalone business but CEO Paul Swords, remains the director at other brands in the Skye Group including Skye UAE, Recruit, Direct and Training, each of …

    Channel Register 7 Oct 15:49

  • Ellison's cloud conversion is good for business

    Open...and Shut Skeptic turned evangelist to win CIOs

    For those agnostics who continue to doubt the reality of cloud adoption, there are two clear signs: the adoption of Amazon's public cloud and Larry Ellison's public cloud creation. The first is a sign of the appetite for cloud while the latter is a suggestion that even the cloud laggards have eventually found their way to their …

    Cloud Business 7 Oct 16:04

  • Ofcom admits 4G auction will slip

    More consultation aimed at placating all parties

    Struggling to cope with responses to its consultation, Ofcom will refine its 4G auction proposals for the end of 2011, and seek feedback with a view to commencing in Q4 2012. The first proposals were published earlier this year, and generated huge amounts of feedback. Since then Ofcom has repeatedly claimed the process was on …

    Mobile 7 Oct 16:14

  • This Dianamania is a slur on Jobs

    Opinion Let's remember him properly

    Steve Jobs was a remarkable and fascinating businessman, and by some distance the most interesting and accomplished personality operating in an important corner of the economy. He had a respect for the intelligence of human beings and their ambition, and potential – showing an optimism which is rare in a cynical industry. And …

    Bootnotes 7 Oct 16:34

  • Cloud on the rise (Love JANET)

    Broadcast A Modular, hybrid success story

    Dr Phil Richards from Loughborough University heads into The Reg studios on October 20th at 10am (BST) to tell us how he's building modular hybrid clouds. Dr Richards has recognised numerous challenges with ageing data centres, some of which you'll recognise and some of which you won't. One of them was that doing things the …

    Storage 7 Oct 17:31

  • Galaxy Tab Oz ban ruling due next week

    Apple, Samsung wait with bated breath

    The Australian court's ruling on Apple's injunction request against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country is now expected next week. Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett had made no promises on the decision but said she would try to get it out as soon as possible. However Friday passed in Australia with no word on her …

    Business 7 Oct 18:03

  • Oracle settles with Feds over price gouging

    Larry loses one – actually, 199.5 million of them

    Software giant Oracle has settled a fraud suit launched by the US government to the tune of $199.5m, the US Department of Justice has announced. The DoJ complaint against Oracle was filed in June 2010 in the wake of a whistleblower lawsuit by former Oracle employee Paul Frascella, who was senior director of contract services …

    Software 7 Oct 19:01

  • Job creation better than expected in the US

    Pink slips for IT workers, though

    Some good news out of the US economy. Job creation was better than expected in September, according to a report released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Better still, more jobs were apparently created in July and August than expected. The job count is done by the BLS using surveys of businesses, but the unemployment …

    Business 7 Oct 19:06

  • Microsoft gets trademark for retail store plans

    Sadly no way to copyright cool

    Microsoft has been awarded a trademark on its design for a store selling all things high tech. Trademark registration 4036534 covers the design of “a retail store with four curved tabletops at the front and rear side walls and a rectangular band displaying changing video images on the walls.” The trademark covers stores …

    Channel Register 7 Oct 22:15

  • Homeland Security bungles 'pre-crime' tech test docs

    Minority Report surveillance didn’t submit the paperwork

    The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been testing its behavioral monitoring CCTV system on the public without the proper paperwork. The Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) system uses high-resolution cameras and other “non-invasive” sensors to monitor human behavior, including “cardiovascular signals, …

    ID 7 Oct 22:16