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2nd November 2011 Archive

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  • Invasion of the radio snatchers

    Spotify, Rdio heading to Australia

    Global digital music subscription players Spotify and Rdio will be rocking their way to Australian shores in coming months. The entry of Sweden’s Spotify to the Australian market has been one of the worst kept secrets in the music industry, with Spotify representatives courting carriers such as Telstra and Optus for months. …

    Music and Media 2 Nov 01:59

  • NASA funds laser tractor beam research

    Shifting particles, not the Enterprise, using SciFi staple

    NASA has awarded a $100,000 grant to three boffins who are investigating a tractor beam trifecta. Principal Investigator Paul Stysley and team members Demetrios Poulios and Barry Coyle at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center received the grant to research three methods of using lasers to collect particulate samples without the …

    Physics 2 Nov 05:00

  • CloudSigma invites Solaris to frolic on its cloud

    On the heels of US launch

    CloudSigma, an infrastructure cloud operator based in Zurich, is letting customers run Solaris and the ZFS file system on its cloud, giving it full peer status with Linux and Windows operating systems. But don't get too excited, Sparc/Solaris shops. Robert Jenkins, CloudSigma CTO, tells El Reg that the company is not putting …

    Infrastructure 2 Nov 06:00

  • HTC Titan WinPho 7.5 smartphone

    Review Mango at large

    The HTC Titan is big, really big and yet the Taiwanese manufacturer has managed to make this sizeable WinPho 7.5 smartphone look manageable. Much of that is down to the thinness of the handset, making it feel less massive than it actually is. The big picture: HTC's Titan It helps that there’s nothing on the front of the …

    reghardware 2 Nov 07:00

  • IT pros not lacking for employment, but may need to move

    Inhouse or outsource = same number of BOFHs (or more)

    The government is cutting back on IT recruitment and so are communications companies, but job prospects across the IT industry as a whole rose on the back of a recruitment boom in software houses, says a report from CWJobs. Adverts for permanent IT jobs in the public sector are down 40 per cent since last year as part of the …

    Public Sector 2 Nov 08:02

  • Koreans get touchless gesture-controlled Android phone

    Ideal if your hands are covered in gunge

    Pantech, Korea's third handset manufacturer, has taken the jump into gesture-based recognition with its latest handset, which incorporates technology from eyeSight. What that means is that users can answer a call, navigate though images and generally interact with the handset using nothing more than a flick of the wrist, even …

    PCs & Chips 2 Nov 08:33

  • It's time to end the Windows Wait

    Blocks and Files End this interminable hourglass purgatory!

    Flash memory is going to turn back time - in a good way. Once upon a time in a galaxy far away, PCs started up instantly: lean operating systems leapt from chips in machines that were not saddled with obese software and weighed down with bloatware. We've all got so used to drumming our fingers on desks, waiting for the …

    Storage 2 Nov 09:00

  • Nokia dips toe in free Wi-Fi waters, again

    Londoners to get free network off the Finns

    Nokia is paying for free Wi-Fi access at 26 sites across London, with a view to rolling out a capital-wide service next year in conjunction with Spectrum Interactive. The access is truly free, and not restricted to Nokia handsets. Users do not need to sign up for an account, or identify themselves, but they will be required to …

    Wireless 2 Nov 09:19

  • NetApp punches Isilon right in the scaled-out clusters

    No short-stroking necessary to crush low hanging fruit

    NetApp doesn't do scale-out clustering, everyone knows that. Oh but it does, and it has whacked Isilon firmly in its scaled-out cluster with a SPECSfs2008 benchmark that is 36 per cent faster using half the disks and 116 fewer nodes. EMC Isilon was the top SPECsfs2008 NFS dog with 1,112,705 IOPS recorded from a 140-node S200 …

    Infrastructure 2 Nov 09:38

  • The Olympics mobile network clampdown that wasn't

    London Games to be covered by all operators, actually

    The Telegraph has reported that O2 has struck a deal requiring all corporate hospitality at the London Olympics to have an O2 contract, which would be very serious if it wasn't cobblers. The story ran in The Telegraph on Monday, and reports that all other networks will be blocked from operating within corporate entertainment …

    Mobile 2 Nov 09:52

  • UK biz: Fax us and explain what this cloud thing is

    Small firms stuck with crap tech, unware of data laws

    Forty per cent of workers in Britain's small businesses still use fax machines on a daily basis, a report into the IT habits of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has found. The paper was published today by Intel. While the fax machines are running full tilt, only 16.2 per cent of IT users in small business used a smartphone …

    Small Biz 2 Nov 10:01

  • Assange loses High Court appeal against extradition to Sweden

    Arrest warrant stands, Supreme Court option open

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange™ has been ordered by a High Court judge to return to Sweden to face rape and sexual molestation allegations brought against him by two women. Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Ouseley handed down the judgment this morning, the AP reports. The court's judgment will appear here shortly. The …

    Law 2 Nov 10:15

  • Is Auto-tiering storage really as good as it sounds?

    Imperfect optimisations

    Storage arrays are getting so good at managing data that they can now move it between different types of drives in the array so you don't store low-value data on expensive drives. Is it really as easy as this? Let's suppose that you yourself are running this part of a hypothetical block-access drive array's operation. You can …

    Enterprise Tech 2 Nov 10:30

  • Logitech outs Bluetooth boombox

    Rock on

    Here's Logitech's Mini Boombox, a Bluetooth-connected speaker and amp combo it wants you to be rocking out to when it goes on sale later this month. It'll tune in to any gadget that streams songs using Bluetooth A2DP tech. Not intended merely for audio output, the MB also sports a mic and support for Bluetooth's hands-free …

    reghardware 2 Nov 10:38

  • UK cops must justify using new mobile interception tech

    Plods' purchase means they don't need telcos' help anymore

    The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has bought technology that will allow it to intercept and shut off communications without the help of telecoms companies, according to media reports. The MPS has acquired a surveillance system that enables data sent over a communications network to be intercepted within an area …

    Mobile 2 Nov 10:44

  • Buffalo intros Pogoplug-powered personal cloud drive

    DIY Dropbox

    Storage specialist Buffalo has hopped onto the "personal cloud" bandwagon, launching a big, black box you can use to create your own answer to Dropbox. And no mere 2-5GB of free storage here: this boy comes with either 2TB or 4TB of storage capacity - and no annual subscription, either. Buffalo's CloudStation uses tech …

    reghardware 2 Nov 10:50

  • Motorola to launch 8in Xoom 2 for Xmas

    Stock for stockings

    Details of the Motorola Xoom 2 have been leaked ahead of launch. Where? In a Carphone Warehouse Ireland sales brochure, which has a page devoted to Moto's latest fondleslab, Engadget reports. Source: Engadget The price is apparently set at €400 (£344) for a 16GB Wi-Fi only edition with an 8.2in display. Any hopes that the …

    reghardware 2 Nov 10:59

  • Five... great games for the Xperia Play

    iGamer Top titles for the 'PlayStation phone'

    Touchscreen gaming on a small screen has two inherent problems. Firstly, the very act of controlling the game involves obscuring the view with your fingers and, secondly, with no physical controls you can sometimes end up pressing furiously at entirely the wrong part of the screen as you get cut down like a dog, squashed flat, …

    reghardware 2 Nov 11:07

  • Cops cuff London Apple Store 'scooter raiders'

    Teen girl and pals charged for part in 48 robberies

    The Met has attempted to smash a network of suspected young burglars who are accused of hitting 48 retail premises in London over a seven-month period - including last month's raid on the Apple Store in Covent Garden. As revealed by El Reg, seven moped riders and motorcyclists, most carrying pillion passengers, smashed their …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 11:11

  • Systemax blows £250k on ex-CEO legal probe bills

    Misco parent turns profit despite retail meltdown

    Rising biz sales fuelled Systemax's third quarter even though the consumer spending freeze showed no signs of thawing. The parent of the Tiger Direct, CompUSA, Misco and WStore recorded a 4 per cent rise in turnover for the period ended 30 September, raking in $901m (£562.5m). The firm's operating income climbed 58 per cent to …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 11:21

  • Is your old hardware made of gold, or just DIRT?

    Why it's not worth much, unless it's really old

    So you want the money to pay for the office Christmas party, naturally. We're all told endlessly that all those piles of old electronics and high tech'n'stuff are denuding the planet of valuable metals, so you should be bundling up your kit and sending it off to people like me who will melt it down for the dosh, yes? I'll send …

    Hardware 2 Nov 11:30

  • Assange brings down British justice system

    Six-fingered WikiLeaker-in-chief sticks it to THE MAN

    The Judiciary.gov.uk website went spectacularly titsup this morning, minutes after WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange lost his appeal against being extradited to Sweden. The interwebs hive brain quickly started spreading the rumour that hacktivist group Anonymous was responsible for the website's little lie-down. However, it was …

    Law 2 Nov 11:35

  • Palestine fingers Israel for blasting Gaza off the net

    Services wiped out in DDoS attack

    A Palestinian minister is blaming foreign hackers for taking out internet services and servers in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian communications minister Mashur Abu Daqqa blames the Israeli state for what is describes as a coordinated DDoS attack against core communication systems. “Since this morning all Palestinian IP …

    Security 2 Nov 11:43

  • Voda to plug not-spots with mini-masts in boozers

    Self-configuring kit to fill mobile blackholes

    Vodafone hopes to improve coverage in 12 communities by popping small base stations into pubs, clubs and telephone boxes or nailing them to telegraph poles. The trials will start next year and will use the internet to backhaul connections made to the femtocell boxes, thus providing mobile connectivity to any Vodafone customer …

    Wireless 2 Nov 11:52

  • Panasonic DMR-PWT500 3D BD Freeview HD DVR

    Review A bit of a show-off

    In the Twilight Zone between Blu-ray players and DVRs you’ll find Panasonic’s DMR-PWT500 that boasts a combination disc spinner and digital TV timeshifter. Space-saving convenience is main USP of this hybrid, so if you want one box that can do it all, it’s certainly worth an audition. Box clever: Panasonic's DMR-PWT500 The …

    reghardware 2 Nov 12:00

  • Experts: Firms need to come clean about cyber attacks

    LCC Dutch counter-terrorism head says gov was last to know on DigiNotar hack

    Businesses need to ‘fess up when they’ve been the victims of cyber attacks, experts at the London Conference on Cyberspace (LCC) said today. Government and biz bosses said that even though companies didn’t really want to own up to having been breached, they needed to start sharing information with officials to protect critical …

    Security 2 Nov 12:11

  • Acquisitive reseller plots 'buy and build' trajectory

    Fragmented Microsoft SME channel in need of consolidation, says m-hance

    The boss at acquisitive software reseller and managed service provider m-hance claims the Microsoft mid-market channel is ripe for consolidation. Mark Thompson was brought on board as CEO by Fiona Timothy, chairman at Calyx – acquired by Better Capital in September 2010 – having previously worked together in the management …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 12:11

  • Broadcast television is 75 years old today

    London calling

    Television celebrates a monumental anniversary today: it has been exactly 75 years since the first public service broadcast was transmitted. On 2 November 1936, the BBC began filling the airwaves, broadcasting from its Alexandra Palace facility in North London. The one station started with just two hours of programming a day …

    reghardware 2 Nov 12:13

  • Civil servants cough up more lost BlackBerrys

    Whitehall sofas must be chock-full of smart devices

    Further evidence of civil servants' apparent inability to hold onto their BlackBerrys emerged yesterday as ministers' revealed further losses of the smart devices. Gareth Thomas MP has been conducting a crusade to expose Whitehall losses of IT kit. Yesterday, it was the Scotland Office and Department of Communities and Local …

    Government 2 Nov 12:21

  • Three touts dongle-sharing DIY hotspot box

    Immobile broadband

    Yes, you can use your Android or iOS 5 smartphone as a hotspot, but that hasn't stopped Three buying in a stack of ZTE-made 3G dongle-sharing Wi-Fi boxes anyway. The MF10 supports up to five devices within 30m of it. Three said it'll support HSPA+ dongles capable of 21Mb/s download speeds, and - surprise, surprise - the …

    reghardware 2 Nov 12:24

  • Gadget Shop kingpin cuffed in nightclub 'toilet sex' incident

    Gorman OBE and wife 'found in bogs' with another bloke

    Police in Orlando have confirmed they arrested Scottish technology entrepreneur Chris Gorman and his wife following an alleged tryst in the toilets of Roxy Club in Orlando, Florida. According to the arrest reports seen by The Register, officers working in an off-duty capacity at the nightclub in August were informed that a …

    Policing 2 Nov 12:29

  • UK.gov needs fresh law to protect taxpayers' ID

    Exclusive Offloading data to private biz already racks up £10m bill

    The Cabinet Office's grand plan to farm out the handling of taxpayers' online identities to the private sector will almost certainly be subjected to primary legislation, The Register can reveal. Earlier this week, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude earmarked £10m for his department's ID assurance project. That cash is …

    Government 2 Nov 12:41

  • India uncloaks new thorium nuke plants

    Won't have to look far for fuel, either

    India has revealed its plan for a new nuclear reactor design using the thorium fuel cycle. The Advanced Heavy Water design differs from China's molten salt or liquid fluoride designs. But Indian scientists expect the AHW reactor to be operational before China's, certainly by 2020, and are confident enough to seek buyers for …

    Energy 2 Nov 12:52

  • Record flight is step toward HYPERSONIC SPACE AIRSHIP

    Ion-drive dirigibles to orbit from aerial 'Dark Sky' base

    Inventors in America are claiming an altitude record for airships after a recent test flight in which an unmanned electrically-propelled helium dirigible successfully manoeuvred under power at 95,085 feet above the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The "Tandem" craft is intended to demonstrate the first stage of radical plans which …

    Space 2 Nov 13:02

  • The storage boom and bust cycle

    Broadcast Save cash, manage better

    Tomorrow at 11:00 GMT we'll be broadcasting live from our St Paul's studio with a program, and some experts, that look at the challenge of improving storage management without just throwing money at it. You can join us for free from the comfort of your desk – just make sure you bring your questions along because we've got a …

    Storage 2 Nov 13:16

  • Hard-up Big Biz's docs lobbed into cheap cloud

    EMC OnDemand forced to go virtual

    EMC has countered claims that the price of its enterprise-grade document handling software exceeds business value – by offering them as on-demand cloud services. Customers tap into the content management services from whichever gadget is to hand by accessing an on-premise installation managed by EMC or an off-premise setup in …

    Cloud Business 2 Nov 13:31

  • Opera updates Jesus phone, BlackBerry browser versions

    Data counter to help those on stingy data plans

    After what seems like an eternity, iPhone users can download a new version of Opera. Two weeks ago the Norwegian web company updated its Mobile and Mini versions just for Android, but now it has brought those updates to other platforms – including the Jesus Phone. There are many small tweaks, including more efficient …

    Mobile 2 Nov 13:44

  • Supersleuthing BOFHs could help crack cybercrimes

    LCC MS exec: Sysadmins should gather evidence for the cops

    System administrators should be the detectives in cyber investigations, a top Microsoft security bod said. It wasn’t helpful for cops to go blundering into companies’ networks to look for evidence in cybercrimes, because the sysadmin will know where to look for that information, said Scott Charney, VP of trustworthy computing …

    Security 2 Nov 13:45

  • BlackBerry nicks iPhone's UK smartphone crown

    Barely 100,000 units between 1st, 2nd, 3rd place in Q3

    Smartphone sales went backwards in the UK during Q3 as customers abandoned Nokia and Apple. The figures don't look good when compared to last year's storming sales, and it's clear shoppers held off buying new gear during the build up to the latest iPhone launch. According statistics from abacus fondlers Canalys, shipments …

    Mobile 2 Nov 14:02

  • Eggheads use Twitter to work out if it's raining

    Also reveals when flu season begins

    Maths boffins of the University of Bristol's Intelligent Systems Lab have found another great use for Twitter – to work out if it's raining. They can also use the social network to monitor the prevalence of flu, according to freshly published research. Using "state of the art" algorithms, Professor Nello Cristianini and …

    Science 2 Nov 14:16

  • Fondleslabs are next on Lenovo chief's hit list

    Juggernaut thunders into second place in PC biz

    The unstoppable force that is Lenovo recorded double-digit sales and profit gains in fiscal Q2 as its operation in mature markets outweighed its homeland market in China for the first time. The firm, which has locked onto market leader HP, grew sales by more than a third (35 per cent) to $7.8bn, operating profits were up more …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 14:29

  • PlayStation 3 sales catch up with Xbox 360 total

    Neck and neck

    Almost five years since it was first launched, Sony's PlayStation 3 has nearly caught up with Microsoft's Xbox 360 - when it comes to sales figures. Sony's latest financial numbers reveal the company has sold 56m units so far. Microsoft said last month that 57.3m Xbox 360 consoles had been sold. Don't forget that it has been …

    reghardware 2 Nov 14:44

  • Report: Popular CAPTCHAs easily defeated

    Researchers build CAPTCHA dispatcher Decaptcha ...

    Security researchers have discovered the vast majority of text-based anti-spam tests are easily defeated. Computer scientists from Stanford University discovered 13 of 15 CAPTCHA schemes from popular websites were vulnerable to automated attacks. The CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans …

    Spam 2 Nov 14:46

  • What is wrong with the Data Protection Act?

    FOI infraction saga hits the buffers

    Bad news guys! I have just received my Tribunal Decision which throws out my attempt to find out what is wrong with the UK’s Data Protection Act. The decision means that 60 million data subjects and one-third of a million data controllers will not fully understand why the European Commission thinks that the UK’s implementation …

    Law 2 Nov 15:03

  • Catholic Bishops: 'Would you mind not bringing guns to church?'

    Wishy-washy response on Wisconsin's weapons rules

    Wisconsin's Catholic hierarchy have told the faithful that they'd really prefer them not to pack heat when they go to Mass, after the state enacted a new law authorising the carrying of concealed weapons. But, the Bishops add, if parishoners do want to come to mass with guns, tasers, knives and billy clubs, well, that's OK too …

    Odds and Sods 2 Nov 15:14

  • Fujitsu busts K super through 10 petaflops

    When will this monster machine go commercial?

    The massive Sparc64-based K supercomputer built by Fujitsu for the Japanese government has been fully deployed and has, as hoped, broken through 10 petaflops of sustained performance, the first such machine to do so. Fujitsu's time at the top of the HPC charts may be short-lived, however, with IBM and Cray firing up 20 …

    HPC 2 Nov 15:29

  • Mars probe crippled by buggy SSD successfully jury-rigged

    Exclusive Ingenious space BOFHs overcome memory fault

    A space probe in orbit above Mars, crippled by a fault in its solid-state memory, has been brought back on line and is now once again handling scientific data. The Mars Express spacecraft, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003, has been suffering problems since August in which it has repeatedly gone into "safe mode …

    Space 2 Nov 15:46

  • Let's build some better HPC benchmarks

    SC11 Sustained performance in, Peak out

    As part of our preview of the upcoming SC11 event, I had a conversation last week with Jim Costa and Bill Kramer, the co-chairs of the SC11 Technical Committee. Conveniently, I recorded this conversation and even ran up some slides to guide us through various topics. The resulting webcast covers a lot of ground and shows the …

    HPC 2 Nov 16:00

  • Virtualisation turns PCs into personal clouds

    Desktops break free

    If IT managers had had it their way decades ago, we would have never been allowed our own personal computers. The whole idea of giving end-users their own computing resources runs counter to the philosophy that data processing is a centralised function best left to professionals. PCs took off, and dragged IT departments into …

    Enterprise Tech 2 Nov 16:00

  • Grand Theft Auto V trailer drives onto interweb

    Game to be download only?

    The trailer for GTA V has finally arrived, confirming rumours that the game will be set in a modern-day Los Angeles-like setting. Developer Rockstar last week teased us with a holding page that said the trailer was due today. Here's the video in all its glory: Ahead of the reveal, there has been speculation that Rockstar …

    reghardware 2 Nov 16:09

  • Minnow Android slab maker BEATS Apple in court

    Spanish biz countersues after year-long ban on sales

    Spanish computer maker NT-K had its Android tablets impounded, at Apple's request, but has been vindicated by a local court and is seeking damages from Cupertino for lost earnings and reputation. Apprecasts the A91 tablet, made by Nuevas Tecnologías y Energías Catalá - you must have heard of them - is a rip-off of the iPad …

    PCs & Chips 2 Nov 16:21

  • Appro goes to extremes with new Xtreme-X supers

    Machines? Check. GPUs? Check. New x86 CPUs? Er ... soon.

    Boutique supercomputer maker Appro International is previewing its third generation of Xtreme-X blade-based supercomputers – but "previewing" is just about all it can do without some help from Intel and AMD. The company has carved out some nice business from the major supercomputer labs in the United States as well as other …

    HPC 2 Nov 16:23

  • Symantec looks steady as biz spends on security

    But services sector let it down in Q2

    Services revenues prevented software giant Symantec recording excellent results across the board in its second fiscal 2012 quarter. Symantec recorded revenues of $1.68bn in the quarter, ending 30 September, 14 per cent higher than a year ago. Net income was $182m, a satisfying 36 per cent higher than the year-ago quarter. The …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 16:40

  • US Navy in new electromagnetic railgun milestone

    New model can fire more than once before destroying self

    US Navy boffins are chuffed to announce that they have managed to fire their thousandth shot from a test electromagnetic railgun, addressing one of the most serious weaknesses of such weapons: that they tend to damage or wreck themselves after only a few shots. "A railgun weapons system must be able to launch hundreds of …

    Physics 2 Nov 17:04

  • Steve Jobs named most influential game guy – ever

    Most influential platform? Guess...

    Who has been most influential person in gaming history? The late Steve Jobs. What is the product that has most influenced game development? The iPhone. No, those aren't the opinions of mere fervid fanbois; they're the considered conclusions of 1,000 gaming-industry executives surveyed in the run-up to next week's London Games …

    Music and Media 2 Nov 17:06

  • All change at top of HP storage biz

    Richard Masterson taking on sales director role for global accounts

    HP is trying to find an heir to its StorageWorks division (SD) in the UK and Ireland following an internal move from boss man Richard Masterson to become sales director of global accounts. In the interim, Warren Duke – HP storage sales manager for the top accounts – has assumed the SD country manager role "whilst we finalise …

    Storage 2 Nov 17:16

  • Fujitsu makes biggest Eternus even bigger

    Dual controller array with ambition

    Fujitsu is taking on EMC's VMAX, saying its series 2 DX8700 storage array extends modular array technology into the monolithic array space. Typically, monolithic arrays like EMC's VMAX and HDS's VSP have multiple controllers linked to many, many drive enclosures by a high-speed internal interconnect fabric, such as VMAX' …

    Storage 2 Nov 17:21

  • iPad 2 made from T-Rex fossils costs £5m

    Extreme bling

    We've seen hardware go so overboard with gem-encrusted bling, that it was difficult to imagine it getting any more expensive. Insert some dinosaur fossils though and - hey presto! - you can sell an iPad for £5,000,000. The iPad 2 Gold History takes blingage to new extremes. Not only are these slabs covered in two kilos of 24 …

    reghardware 2 Nov 17:44

  • Spectra builds MONSTER TRUCK of tape libraries

    Tape-osaurus Rex: Upgraded T-Finity beats 'em all

    SpectraLogic has built the biggest, baddest mother of a tape library you can imagine, a 400,000 slot T-Finity monster with a 3.6 exabyte capacity. It's upgrading its T-Finity tape library with 8-node clustering and new BlueScale software to support exabyte capacity levels with RAID protection across tape cartridges. Spectra …

    Storage 2 Nov 18:01

  • Tech Data sues LCD panel makers over price-fixing

    Distie giant seeking damages from cartel

    Tech Data is suing several LCD panel makers, alleging that they formed an international cartel to fix prices over at least a decade. The IT distie giant claims from the start of 1996 to the end of 2006 the manufacturers conspired to "fix, raise, stabilise and maintain prices" in a lawsuit filed with the federal court in Tampa …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 18:29

  • Thousands of WordPress sites commandeered by Black Hole

    Webmasters, update TimThumb now!

    Mass attacks that exploit a known vulnerability in the WordPress publishing platform have continued to bear fruit for hackers, with thousands of websites claimed in the past few weeks, a researcher said. The security bug, in a widely used image resizing utility known as TimThumb, allows attackers to seize control of WordPress …

    Malware 2 Nov 18:48

  • Anonymous confusion in clash with Mexican drug cartel

    'It's WAR' - Anons far away. 'No it's not' - Mexicans

    Plans by Anonymous to expose members and associates of a Mexican drug cartel have reportedly been abandoned, at least locally, amid doubts whether a member of the hacking collective was ever really kidnapped by the group. In an ultimatum posted on YouTube on 6 October (and much later in English), Anonymous threatened to …

    Crime 2 Nov 18:58

  • AOL foresees long-spooned rush to sup with 'Project Devil'

    Web giant covers (some of) its bloggers in gold

    AOL still believes there's money to be made in local journalism, while revealing that they are shelling out big bucks - $40.9million projected for this year - to keep on names from the media outfits they've bought up including Huffington Post and Techcrunch. Their strategy hasn't been an unreserved success with net revenues …

    Cloud Business 2 Nov 19:27

  • LightSquared CEO wants industry's 'dumbest' wireless pipe

    Open Mobile Summit You didn’t ask Edison to build toasters

    The CEO of LightSquared has said telecommunications firms are making a mistake in trying to build intelligence into their networks, and should instead go dumb. According to Sanjiv Ahuja, who is heading the company’s push to set up a new LTE mobile network in the US, there is no point in trying to build intelligence into the …

    Mobile 2 Nov 19:44

  • Americans to get five-year wireless tax freeze

    New Yorkers already paying more than UK

    The US House of Representatives has imposed a five-year freeze on new wireless taxes, forbidding states or municipal authorities from imposing any new taxes until 2016. The average American pays 16.3 per cent tax on wireless services, compared to 7.4 per cent on other products, according to the legislation's sponsor Zoe …

    Wireless 2 Nov 19:57

  • AMD pins exascale vision on Fusion APUs

    The rebirth of vector processing

    Because Advanced Micro Devices has not yet announced its 16-core "Interlagos" Opteron 6200 processors, it has to talk about something, and in situations like that, it is best to talk about the far-off future. And so AMD rounded up a bunch of its partners on Wednesday in San Francisco for a shindig to talk about the challenges of …

    HPC 2 Nov 21:19

  • Accused Hollywood hacker does about face, pleads not guilty

    Previously apologized for invading celeb's privacy

    A Florida man has pleaded not guilty to charges he broke into the email accounts of actresses Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis, and as many as 50 other celebrities, and made off with nude photos and personal information. Christopher Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, Florida, denied the allegations contained in a 26-count indictment …

    Security 2 Nov 21:22

  • NSW plods’ bugs jump

    ‘First state’ first in interception

    The Attorney-General’s Department has reported increases in the use of listening devices and telecommunications interception warrants in the year to June 2011, with NSW leading the way, according to reports tabled in parliament. The department’s surveillance and telecommunications interception reports show that NSW Police is …

    Policing 2 Nov 21:42

  • Negroponte plans tablet airdrops to teach kids to read

    Open Mobile Summit Market forces are failing the poor, he warns

    Nicholas Negroponte, the brains behind the One Laptop Per Child initiative, is detailing a new plan to inspire the world’s poorest children to teach themselves to read using tablet computers. The design for the tablet is simple. At its heart is a solar powered battery, built into the back of the tablet which can be charged on …

    PCs & Chips 2 Nov 21:54

  • Telstra wins fixed Indian licences

    Rolling out in seven cities

    Telstra has secured three new telecommunications licences in India via a joint venture with Microland. The licences allows the Australian carrier and its local partner to provide customers in India with international and national long-distance telecommunications and ISP services. The new licences will see Telstra …

    Business 2 Nov 22:30

  • Dick Smith faces tricky times

    Retailer faces review possible extinction

    Australia's iconic high street gadget, TV and computer retailer Dick Smith faces an uncertain future, following the announcement that parent company Woolworths will be conducting strategic review of the underperforming electronics chain. Woolworths has already closed seven Dick Smith in the 2011 financial year. Analysts are …

    Channel Register 2 Nov 23:00

  • Yahoo! apps! showcase! makes! social! media! moves!

    Provided you own an iPad, that is

    Yahoo!’s annual Project Runway new-product event has seen the introduction of several skinny bits of software and one plus-size model: Livestand – an iPad app designed to present you with content based on your personal whims. Livestand uses HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to build a news reader, in part generated from Yahoo’s own …

    Music and Media 2 Nov 23:16

  • Secunia jumps on vuln reward bandwagon

    First, catch your rabbit

    Secunia has launched yet another vulnerability rewards program, the Secunia Vulnerability Coordination Reward Program, which it says is designed to operate independently of particular software vendors. The company says the idea is to make life easier for researchers, by concentrating vulnerability reporting to a single entity …

    Security 2 Nov 23:30

  • Apple admits iPhone battery suckage, promises fix

    Special help on its way to Oz, as well

    Apple has admitted to battery-sucking bugs in its recently released iOS 5, has promised that a fix will be forthcoming, and has seeded a beta of iOS 5.0.1 to developers. Apple's admission comes to us via AllThingsD. Before The Reg told you about the battery suckage and a few suggested fixes, we asked Apple for confirmation and …

    Mobile 2 Nov 23:39