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20th October 2011 Archive

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  • Gulf of California terrorized by ONE-EYED MUTANT SHARK!

    Boffins say ‘not a hoax’

    Scientists have decided that the “Cyclops shark” caught in the Gulf of California back in June is the real deal: a mutant rather than a hoax. First coming to light on the Pisces Fleet Sportfishing Blog, the images of the one-eyed dusky shark – actually a fetus found inside someone’s catch – were originally dismissed as a hoax …

    Science 20 Oct 2011, 00:03

  • Japanese take World Solar Challenge

    Dutch and USA fill the podium

    Tokai University has taken the World Solar Challenge after one of the tightest last days in the history of the race. After 3,000km and five days, just over an hour separated first and second place, with The Netherlands' Nuon team running a close second. In a race disrupted by bushfires and rather unusually marred by a …

    SPB 20 Oct 2011, 04:21

  • LaCie LaPlug

    Review Share USB devices on your network

    Networkable drives are widely available and affordable these days, but the LaPlug could come in handy if you have a stack of existing USB hard drives or memory sticks that you want to share with other people on your home or office network. LaCie's LaPlug delivers network sharing capabilities to portable USB storage devices …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2011, 06:00

  • War boffin: Killer cyber attacks won't happen

    Die Hard 4 is just a movie, kids

    People worried about a cyber-war should calm down and stop worrying because it will never happen, a war studies academic has said. In the paper Cyber War Will Not Take Place Dr Thomas Rid confidently argues that hacking and computer viruses never actually kill people. An act of war must have the potential to be lethal, says Dr …

    Security 20 Oct 2011, 07:31

  • Dixons stores knock £150 off RIM PlayBook

    Enough to drum up demand?

    PC World and Currys have knocked 150 quid off the price of RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook in a bid to encourage sales of the 7in tablet. Previously priced at £399, the 16GB PlayBook can now be had for £249. Likewise, the once £479 32GB model is now just £329. The cuts come just a few weeks after RIM knocked $200 off the US price …

    Tablets 20 Oct 2011, 07:34

  • JANET and modern data centre dreams

    Live Today Hybrid approaches to Cloud?

    Live at 10 am(BST) today, Dr Phil Richards from Loughborough University heads into The Reg studios 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 old …

    Cloud 20 Oct 2011, 07:42

  • Are IP addresses personal data?

    ACS Law ruling raises some interesting questions

    Let’s revisit that old chestnut: “Is an IP address you use in an internet session personal data about you?” The reason: I have just come across two legal references which relate to copyright infringement where the argument that an IP address is personal data was accepted. The first reference I found was the Monetary Penalty …

    Law 20 Oct 2011, 08:03

  • Nexenta flogs virtual storage to High Street bank

    VMworld Won't say which...

    ZFS storage system supplier Nexenta has dived into the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) pool, with an automated storage provisioning product, claiming that what took days now takes minutes. The NexentaVDI product deploys NexentaStor as a virtual storage appliance – the software running inside a virtual machine – across a …

    The Channel 20 Oct 2011, 08:32

  • Oracle vs Google court showdown delayed

    Java bust-up pushed aside by real crim trial

    The trial date for the Oracle versus Google patent battle has been postponed, as expected, and may get a new judge. Judge William Alsup announced that an unrelated criminal trial he had previously thought might push back the date for Oracle to make its case against the Chocolate Factory would indeed delay the IP punch-up. The …

    Law 20 Oct 2011, 08:49

  • The Guardian iPad Edition

    iOS App of the Week First UK paper to hit iOS 5's Newsstand

    As well as launching a brand new app specifically designed for the iPad, The Guardian is also the first proper UK newspaper to appear in iOS 5's Newsstand feature. The Guardian iPad Edition gives us interesting look at how the newspaper industry could develop in the next few years. Newsstand is the magazine and newspaper …

    Phones 20 Oct 2011, 09:00

  • Retailer intros cut-price 10in Android tablet

    Yours for £151 - for now...

    Cheap 10in tablet, anyone? Aussie retailer Kogan - which also operates here in the UK - will have one out next month for 151 quid. Not an inherently bad spec, either. 10in, 1024 x 768 capacitive touchscreen; 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 derived processor; 512MB of DDR 3 memory; HDMI and USB portage; and a 2Mp webcam. Corners have been …

    Tablets 20 Oct 2011, 09:13

  • 0.5mm2 ARM chip offers 5X energy efficiency, jacks up performance

    big.Little extends Moore's Law

    ARM's new energy efficient Cortex-A7 processor will bring computing to a billion more people, its CEO claimed yesterday. Which may or not be a good thing. For the rest of us, harnessed to one of their most powerful processors, the A15, it will also form the basis for a System on a Chip that will make two processors work as one …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2011, 09:15

  • Motorola to fit fitness freaks with work-out watch

    Break sweat with a strap-on

    While the company was busy unveiling its latest Razr handset, Motorola also slipped out a new health and fitness gadget, the Moto Actv. The touchscreen-equipped, iPod Nano-esque device is essentially a multimedia watch with extensive fitness analysis tools. This sweat-proof, scratch-resistant jogging-buddy attaches to a …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2011, 09:20

  • Jobs was 'working on future product day before he died'

    Life of Apple baron celebrated by staff in ceremony

    Steve Jobs, whose life was celebrated by employees at Apple's Cupertino campus yesterday, was said to be working on the company's next product the day before he died. Jobs lost his lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer on 5 October, and the iPhone maker held a memorial service in his honour on Wednesday. Apple stores around …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2011, 09:35

  • Euro fraud cops crush garlic tax evaders

    Whistleblowing site roots out fraudsters

    The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) says its new whistleblowing website has helped it extinguish a cigarette-smuggling ring and sniff out falsely labelled garlic. Since OLAF launched the internet-based Fraud Notification System last year, the number of fraud tip-offs has increased: previously, whistleblowers could leave a …

    Law 20 Oct 2011, 09:48

  • Microsoft's saucy compiler exposes privates to devs

    All and sundry welcome to slurp build process data

    Microsoft has delivered early code for its "compiler-as-a-service" project for Visual Basic and C#, which lets developers hook into the software building process. Codenamed Roslyn, the project involved Microsoft completely rewriting the existing compilers for Visual Basic and C# from C++ to native Visual Basic and C#, …

    Developer 20 Oct 2011, 10:04

  • Tearful skin-beaters say good bye to the BumChum

    Low-end throb monitor now handled by BC Gigster

    If you're a veteran tub thumper and haven't secured your own BumChum, you're too late, with 2010's product of the year superseded by the much less interesting sounding BC Gigster. Session drummer JR Robinson likes playing with it... The launch of the BumChum last year left drummers excited by the possibility of monitoring …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2011, 10:20

  • WD: Thai floods will force hard drive prices up

    Shortages predicted, hundreds dead, fabs shutdown

    WD has warned disk drive shortages will linger well into 2012 and price rises are inevitable as it deals with the aftermath of the severe flooding in Thailand. The country's worst floods in over half a century have so far claimed the lives of at least 317 people, affected more than nine million, and inundated 700,000 homes: 14 …

    Storage 20 Oct 2011, 10:39

  • Yahoo! refuses! to! sell! as! buyers! flash! cash!

    What kinda cheap portal do you take us for?

    Yahoo! is still trying to work out if it can survive without having to be sold to any number of bidders said to be circling the troubled internet company. "The intent going in is not to put ourselves [up] for sale," the firm's co-founder Jerry Yang told All Things Digital yesterday. "The intent is to look at all the options …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2011, 10:49

  • WTF is... Bluetooth 4.0?

    It's in the iPhone 4S, but does it matter?

    Apple's iPhone 4S, which went on sale last week, is the first phone to support version four of the Bluetooth standard. That makes it something of a flag-waver for the technology. But with most users happy to make do with Bluetooth 2 - Bluetooth 3 is out but seemingly little used - does this matter? And what the heck does …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2011, 11:00

  • This just in: Brussels shatters CRT cartel

    Party like it's 1999 – we can afford glass monitors at last

    The European Union has squeezed a settlement out of CRT glass manufacturers it accused of operating a cartel back in the days when people used glass screens. Three vendors will cough up a total of €128m (£111m) to settle the investigation. Nippon Electric will pay €43.2m, Schott AG will pay €40.1m and Asahi Glass will pay €45. …

    Law 20 Oct 2011, 11:15

  • Acer UK sales slashed in HALF in Q3

    One-time Taiwanese juggernaut in free fall

    Notebook giant Acer fell fastest and hardest in a UK market dogged by weak consumer, SME and public sector spending. The vendor saw shipments decline 52 per cent in Q3 as the overall sales in the UK dropped by 11 per cent, with just over 2.8 million units pushed into the channel, according to IDC's quarterly PC tracker. This …

    The Channel 20 Oct 2011, 11:29

  • Crap alchemist jailed for poo-into-gold experiment

    From Dumbledore to prison door

    A Northern Ireland man has been jailed for three months for causing £3,000 of damage to his flat after attempting to turn his own faeces into gold using an electric heater. Paul Moran, 30, admitted arson and endangering the lives of others, the Belfast Telegraph reports. He will spend 12 months on licence upon his release. …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2011, 11:46

  • Hands on with the Motorola Razr

    First Look Fix up, look sharp

    Motorola let me have a play with its latest smartphone, the Razr, at the handset's launch event in Berlin yesterday. I should first point out that its 7.1mm body feels incredibly thin and impresses from the start. As you can see, it bulges out a bit at the top, thanks to the 8Mp camera and flash, but it doesn't make the phone …

    Phones 20 Oct 2011, 12:03

  • Nokia still in the red in Q3 sales bloodbath

    Windows mobes couldn't come soon enough

    Microsoft newlywed Nokia stayed in the red with an operating loss of €71m (£62m) in its third quarter ended 30 September 2011. That's a smaller figure than the company's Q2, when Nokia lost a gigantic €487m (£425m), which CEO Stephen Elop at the time blamed on its new strategy bringing with it "ambiguity" for the firm's …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2011, 12:14

  • Symantec blusters FileStore's new cluster thruster

    Clones as it dedupes and caches

    Symantec has updated its FileStore N8300, adding more cluster nodes, primary data deduplication and virtual machine/desktop cloning. It says the machines perform better in virtualised environments, store data more efficiently, and cope better with growth. The Filestore N8300 is based on Huawei's OceanStor N8300 hardware. This …

    The Channel 20 Oct 2011, 12:29

  • Spooks still prefer BlackBerrys for swapping secrets

    RIM mobes trusted with restricted info despite service meltdown

    BlackBerry is to retain its status as the government's favoured mobile device for transferring restricted information, despite the network problems that led to a widespread breakdown in its service for three days last week. Different versions of the device have been approved for use at IL3 (restricted) level when configured …

    Broadband 20 Oct 2011, 12:46

  • Android mobes sneak into enterprise pockets

    While the world was waiting for the iPhone 5

    The last three months provided an unprecedented opportunity for Android devices to get themselves integrated into enterprise systems while the world waited for the iPhone 5, according to the latest figures from Good Technology. Good tracks devices that have been registered with its push email infrastructure, generally …

    Software 20 Oct 2011, 13:00

  • Logicalis hires industry veteran as UK sales boss

    Chris Miller moves to integrator

    Logicalis has brought in former CA Technologies big cheese Chris Miller as sales director, The Reg can reveal. During more than 14 years at the security vendor, Miller was UK sales manager, senior veep of EMEA operations and a senior veep upon returning to the UK and Ireland. Most recently he was the CEO at DediPower Managed …

    The Channel 20 Oct 2011, 13:14

  • Virtualisation on the cards in VMAX revamp

    Version two by year-end whispered

    El Reg is hearing from a couple of well-placed sources that version two of VMAX will arrive by the end of the year. VMAX is EMC's high-end storage array, the latest iteration of the Symmetrix line. It was introduced in April 2009. A version 2 is expected by year-end, with the possibility of support for SAS disk drives inside …

    Virtualization 20 Oct 2011, 13:29

  • Flood-hit WD could lose HDD leadership

    Seagate may regain leadership position

    WD has announced very good results for its first financial 2012 quarter, ending September 30, with revenue of $2.7bn (£1.7bn), 12 per cent or so up on the year ago quarter's $2.4bn. Net profit was $239m (£151m), satisfyingly higher than the $197m recorded a year ago, and 58 million disk drives were shipped – that's seven million …

    The Channel 20 Oct 2011, 13:45

  • Ubuntu daddy bets on desktop polish, ARM clouds

    Who's with me? Anyone?

    Ubuntu fans are being coaxed into accepting a new emphasis on design in the next desktop release and breaking the umbilical link to old server hardware for the cloud. Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has judged that "the nail-biting transitions to Unity and GNOME 3 are behind us" and that Ubuntu 12.04 LTS – due in April next …

    Cloud 20 Oct 2011, 14:01

  • FCO rep: Best argument for net freedom is cold hard cash

    LCC Economics is a language everyone speaks

    When a country restricts its population's freedoms on the internet, and you want to do something about it, point out to the heads of state how much money their nation is potentially losing as a result of the web clampdown - that's the advice from a top UK Foreign Office bod. John Duncan, who is the Foreign Secretary’s Special …

    Hosting 20 Oct 2011, 14:29

  • Asus names Eee Slider release date

    Tablet-cum-netbook comes to Blighty

    Asus' Eee PC Slider - described by the company as a tablet, but really a hybrid device - goes on sale in the UK next week. First demo'd way back in March 2011 - we tried it out back then - the Slider is a 10.1in, 1280 x 800 screen on the back of which Asus has built a slide-forward base unit, complete with Qwerty keyboard. …

    Tablets 20 Oct 2011, 15:02

  • The road to Office 2010

    Worth the shoe leather?

    Office 2010 is something of a conundrum. First the good news: it is the fastest selling version of Office in history, according to US analyst Forrester. Half of the businesses the firm surveyed in March had started the migration process, and the “vast majority” of the rest planned to upgrade in the future. According to Gartner …

    Desktop 20 Oct 2011, 15:06

  • VMware rejiggers acquired Shavlik tools for SMBs

    VMworld Europe Go enhanced, NetChk becomes Protect Essentials Plus

    During the VMworld Europe shindig in Copenhagen, Denmark this week, server virtualization juggernaut VMware gussied up two management tools it gained back in May when it acquired partner Shavlik Technologies, and promptly slapped its brands on them. Shavlik was founded in 1993 by one of the hotshot programmers who worked at …

    Virtualization 20 Oct 2011, 15:09

  • Spamhaus and ISP spar over 'email DoS' blacklisting

    Analysis How the spam row erupted

    Spamhaus and a Dutch ISP that was temporarily slapped on the anti-spam organisation's blacklist continue to be at loggerheads – even after the service provider was removed from the list. The row between A2B and Spamhaus came after the Dutch ISP allegedly provided connectivity services to CB3ROB (AKA Cyberbunker), an outfit …

    Security 20 Oct 2011, 15:31

  • Gaddafi death reports likely to spawn multiple scams

    'Sirte pics' for dirty clicks

    Early reports that deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi may have died after being injured during the fall of his home town of Sirte are likely to become a theme of cybercrime attacks, if past experience is anything to go by. The execution of Saddam Hussein in 2005 as well as the supposed capture of Osama Bin Laden later the …

    Security 20 Oct 2011, 16:00

  • Devs still frozen out of Android ice cream source

    Code release by end of the year?

    Google's Ice Cream Sandwich has been served, and it looks destined to give live-free-or-die open sourcers continued indigestion for now at least. Android 4.0, as it's officially known, was announced this week boasting updates and features intended to make life easier for developers and more social for phone users. For …

    Developer 20 Oct 2011, 16:31

  • Next-gen Xbox set for 2013 release

    720 reasons to believe

    A new Microsoft Xbox system is apparently under development and will be ready for release in late 2013, with a reveal expected a few months before during the E3 Expo in LOs Angeles. That's according to coders' mag Develop, which says multiple sources from processor chip makers to middleware firms have all confirmed it. The …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2011, 16:50

  • Coraid scoffs cloud platform startup

    ATA-over-Ethernet piped into the skies

    Coraid, the developer of the simplest Ethernet SAN storage, has bought cloud orchestration software maker Yunteq. Coraid's Ethernet SAN uses the AoE (ATA over Ethernet) protocol, which is more straightforward than iSCSI, and the company's newish and busy management is trying to establish. The firm now has more than 1,400 …

    Cloud 20 Oct 2011, 17:02

  • Microsoft debuts Holodesk to fiddle with balls

    Redmond boldly going where others have gone before

    Microsoft has released a video of what’s it’s calling a Holodesk – a 3D holographic display that allows users to virtually pick up and use software constructs such as balls and blocks. The system, built by Microsoft Research in Cambridge, uses a webcam and Kinect technology to follow the user’s hands and face, adds a set of …

    Media 20 Oct 2011, 18:12

  • Bug in Flash Player allowed Mac webcam spying

    Updated Adobe issues patch for 'clickjacking' hole

    Engineers on Thursday patched a hole in Adobe's ubiquitous Flash Player that allowed website operators to silently eavesdrop on visitors' webcam and microphone feeds without permission. To be attacked, visitors needed to do no more than visit a malicious website and click on a handful of buttons like the ones in this live …

    Security 20 Oct 2011, 18:22

  • Quickflix hits 'pause' button on ASX

    Updated: movies online to PS3

    Quickflix, Australia’s answer to Netflix, has entered into a trading halt pending a "significant announcement" regarding a partnership agreement for its digital movie streaming service. Quickflix has been building momentum in recent months, raising $AU4.7 million and acquiring Telstra’s snail mail DVD and Blu-ray library asset …

    Business 20 Oct 2011, 21:32

  • Microsoft reports record revenue, lackluster Windows sales

    Business apps offering most returns

    Microsoft has released its numbers for its most recent quarter, which show revenue growth of seven per cent over the same period last year. Its strongest growth on the back of sales of its Office suite. Overall revenues rose to $17.37 billion for the year, with Redmond's business division showing overall growth of eight per …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2011, 21:33

  • Ellison munches unstructured data with Endeca buy

    A massive Oracle big data/ e-commerce/analytics mashup

    Only weeks after announcing that it is going to create its own Hadoop distribution running atop its own Berkeley DB NoSQL database, Oracle has snapped up Endeca Technologies, which has cooked up a data store called the MDEX Engine and some analytics and e-commerce front ends to it that Ellison & Co. want to weave into their own …

    Cloud 20 Oct 2011, 21:47

  • Get your Fujitsu cloud free

    Bite-sized Linux servers for an eight-week trial

    Fujitsu is targeting SMEs and ISVs with a two-month trial of its cloud services. The trial program, open until the end of January, covers all of the company’s cloud offerings – infrastructure-, software- and platform-as-a-service models. The trial offer is hosted in Fujitsu’s data centre in Homebush, Sydney, with what it …

    Cloud 20 Oct 2011, 22:30

  • Security keeps LA cops away from Google Apps

    Chocolate Factory or chocolate teapot?

    Google has dismissed as a smear campaign the emergence of stories that its Google Apps implementation at LAPD is going pear-shaped. According to Consumer Watchdog, the rollout has hit snags, with the police deciding that security on the vaunted platform isn’t adequate for users in the City Attorney Criminal Branch, fire …

    Cloud 20 Oct 2011, 22:30

  • UK gov publishes IT action plan to back up previous IT plan

    'From what to how'... Maude still plotting gov tech future

    The Cabinet Office has published an action plan that details deadlines for when it hopes to implement the IT strategy it announced in March this year. By the end of this month Francis Maude's department will release strategies for "End User Devices, Cloud, ICT Capability, and Greening Government ICT". The minister said that …

    Policy 20 Oct 2011, 23:00

  • Kiwi software developer makes Deloitte fast 500

    Diligent takes tablets to the global boardroom

    New Zealand tablet software developer Diligent Board Member Services has earned a ranking on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 list of US technology businesses. Headquartered in New York but founded and listed on the New Zealand stock exchange, the software developer provides enterprise services for executive boards to manage …

    Business 20 Oct 2011, 23:00

  • Deep inside ARM's new Intel killer

    big.LITTLE bad news for Chipzilla

    ARM has swung a one-two punch at Intel's plans to muscle in on the smartphone and tablet space that's currently dominated by the plucky chip designers from Cambridge. At press soirées in London and San Francisco on Wednesday, ARM announced both a design for a tiny new chip, the Cortex-A7 MPCore, and a system-on-chip scheme …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2011, 23:12