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28th November 2011 Archive

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  • Oz gummint looks into seniors’ cyber-safety

    Fogies fear phishers

    Older Australians, it seems, have better sense than people think: concerns about Internet security is crimping their enthusiasm for getting online, so the government is launching an inquiry. The parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety says it’s going to run the inquiry between now and 17 February 2012, in response …

    Security 28 Nov 00:01

  • Future of computing crystal-balled by top chip boffins

    Bad news: It's going to be tough. Good news: You won't be replaced

    If you thought that the microprocessor's first 40 years were chock full of brain-boggling developments, just wait for the next 40 – that's the consensus of a quartet of Intel heavyweights, past and present, with whom we recently spoke. At the 4004's 40th birthday party in a San Francisco watering hole on November 15, The Reg …

    PCs & Chips 28 Nov 06:00

  • Jawbone Up wearable health sensor

    Review Tech tag that fights the flab

    Jawbone is known for its excellent Bluetooth headsets and a very cool, if pricey, portable speaker called the Jambox. By any standards, its new product is pretty out there. It’s a rubberised wristband with a motion sensor in it. When you connect it to its free companion iOS app, it becomes something to help you become healthier …

    reghardware 28 Nov 07:00

  • Randy plods plundered police records just to get a date

    Data violator cops busted

    Checking out women "for sexual purposes" was just one of the ways Welsh police have breached people's data protection rights. Having all that knowledge at their fingertips proved too much for some in Wales' four police forces, leading to 85 recorded breaches since 2006, the BBC found out in a Freedom of Information request. …

    Policing 28 Nov 08:09

  • Dawdling EU countries smacked over telecoms reforms

    Citizens were supposed to get rights to info on ISPs and cookie-tracking

    The European Commission has sent formal requests to 16 EU countries asking them to completely transpose the EU's Telecoms Package of reforms into national law. The "reasoned opinions" have been issued six months after the countries were supposed to have fully implemented the new laws. The reforms gave individuals several new …

    Telecoms 28 Nov 08:31

  • Online store offers secondhand MP3 marketplace

    ReDigi to recycle digital music

    One of the most disappointing aspects to the digital music era is the decline of the secondhand CD and LP trade. Startup ReDigi claims to have addressed that issue by opening what it reckons is "the world's first online marketplace to legally recycle, buy and sell, used digital music files". Only files that have been …

    reghardware 28 Nov 08:47

  • Wales relaunches bilingual online traffic info service

    Cymru car crashes detailed on Microsoft Bing Maps

    The Welsh government has relaunched Traffic Wales, its online traffic management and information service, with new features aimed at helping motorists plan their journeys. Among the new features on the revamped bilingual website are a calendar to view planned roadworks or events and a freight section aimed at road hauliers. …

    Government 28 Nov 09:03

  • Intel preps Thunderbolt docking tech for Ultrabooks

    Desktop friendly

    Intel is developing a would-be standard docking connector for Ultrabooks. The technology is based on its Thunderbolt bus. The spec, revealed by VR-Zone, calls for a chunky plug that combines a mini Thunderbolt port and a proprietary connector for power and other data buses. What vendors connect the other end to is up to them …

    reghardware 28 Nov 09:09

  • Smith's tablet turns web into jumbo reading club

    Gather 'round the Fire, er, Kobo, everyone

    Kobo's new e-book reader not only tells everyone what you're reading, but lets them share your margin notes too, just as Amazon once predicted its Kindle would do. The UK launch of the Vox eReader early last week garnered little attention – a £170 Android tablet with a 7in screen to be sold by by WH Smith doesn't set the world …

    Music and Media 28 Nov 09:16

  • Devs tempted to hit the source at appMobi's free bar

    Celebration or desperation from cloudy crowd?

    Mobile developers with an AJAX leaning can now get free access to the source for appMobi's development toolkit, allowing them to incorporate bits of appMobi tech into their own apps. AppMobi provides wrappers around the already open-source PhoneGap toolkit, enabling AJAX apps to access native APIs. The cloudy mobile tools …

    Developer 28 Nov 09:31

  • Irish banks settle with Oracle over banking software 'fiasco'

    Bankers spunked millions on Flexcube

    Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has settled its lawsuit with Oracle over Flexcube, a product the bank claimed was "beset with serious technical problems". AIB signed a deal to deploy Oracle's Flexcube Universal Banking software and Flexcube Messaging Hub software back in 2007 – the deal was inked with subsidiary Oracle Financial …

    CIO 28 Nov 09:44

  • BMW, Fiat join Connected Car Consortium

    Smartphone, meet in-car system

    Fiat and BMW have joined the Car Connectivity Consortium, a body developing a standard scheme for linking smartphones to in-car entertainment and navigation systems that already numbers Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and VW among its members. The group will promote the so-called "Terminal Mode standard" - a Nokia- …

    reghardware 28 Nov 09:49

  • Pocket Boom portable vibration speaker

    Geek Treat of the Week Make cardboard boxes, brollies sing

    There are a number of these little ‘vibration speaker’ gadgets that allow you to turn everyday objects into speakers, but the Pocket Boom is cheaper and a bit more portable than many of its rivals. Works best with hollow objects Currently priced at £24.95 – although that’s due to come down to just £20 in early December – …

    reghardware 28 Nov 10:00

  • Intel readies Xeon E5 mobo assault

    CPU, chipset, networking, motherboard – complete

    Cast your mind way back to when Intel was more or less content to be a server CPU maker and let the system makers adopting its Pentium, Xeon, and Itanium processors decide the defining characteristics of the computers that used those x86 and IA-64 processors. Not so any more. Intel may not call itself a server-maker, but for all …

    Servers 28 Nov 10:11

  • iPhone 4/4S 'self combusts' in airliner inferno

    Jesus mobe 'glowed red', belched smoke

    An iPhone caused a small emergency in an Australian airplane after it inexplicably started to glow red and emit "significant amounts of dense smoke" as the craft touched down in Sydney airport. A flight attendant extinguished the phone immediately, reported the Regional Express Airline news service, and no passengers or crew …

    Mobile 28 Nov 10:22

  • Flood-hit Sony snubs shoppers to shore up sales

    Sets sights on £17bn of non-consumer kit by 2017

    Sony is aiming to drive up sales in non-consumer products, including medical equipment, to an annual ¥2 trillion ($26bn, £16.7) from ¥1.5 trillion within the next five years. The Japanese company, whose profits have been suffering at the hands of the yen exchange rate and the greatly reduced appetite for TVs and other consumer …

    Financial News 28 Nov 10:32

  • Chancellor to raid pensions, Whitehall to revamp UK broadband

    £30bn pledge backed by China's deep pockets

    The Chancellor of the Exchequer is expected to deliver a gloomy autumn statement to MPs tomorrow when he will unveil the Treasury's gambit to boost the economy by pumping £30bn into the UK's ageing infrastructure - which includes more cash for broadband. To do that, cuts of around £5bn are planned for Whitehall and George …

    Government 28 Nov 10:41

  • Stonehenge finds hint at rituals far more ancient than the stones

    Engima of the 'Heel Stone' partially unravelled

    Scientists using the latest in modern boffinry to peel back the layers of time report that they have made important new discoveries at Stonehenge, hinting that the site was already a very ancient centre of ritual when the stones were erected more than 5,000 years ago. In particular, archaeologists are excited by the discovery …

    Bootnotes 28 Nov 10:51

  • Psst, kid... Wanna learn how to hack?

    Analysis The £25 computer to teach youngsters real computing skills

    Despite all the excitement and expectation encompassing the RaspberryPi, the most remarkable thing about this low-power credit card-sized computer is its price tag: little more than £20 for a fully functional system capable of, among many things, 1080p video playback and hardware-accelerated graphics. The British-designed Pi …

    Developer 28 Nov 11:00

  • HTC faces Xmas sales ban misery in Germany

    3G patent surrender could send Santa packing

    HTC has withdrawn its appeal against a decision in favour of patent-hoarder IPCom, which is now pitching to get HTC handsets off the shelves in Germany by Christmas. HTC claims it has withdrawn the appeal because of last December's ruling that one of the contested patents was invalid. Both sides are appealing that ruling (HTC …

    Mobile 28 Nov 11:12

  • Radio hams pick up Mars rover Curiosity's signals

    German enthusiasts collaborate with NASA

    Amateur radio enthusiasts using a restored dish antenna in Germany say they have successfully picked up telemetry from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, now outward bound for Mars carrying a one-ton nuclear powered robot rover named Curiosity towards a date with destiny in the Elysium Planitia. Volunteer space-tech …

    Space 28 Nov 11:19

  • Apple preps updated 11, 13, 15in MacBook Airs

    Ultrabook challengers in pipeline

    There'll be new Apple MacBook Airs out in Q1 2012, component supplier sources have claimed. Expect update 11.6 and 13.3in models - and a new 15in model, they say. The moles add that pilot production of parts has already begun for the smaller models, DigiTimes reports. Work will commence on the 15in machine in due course. It's …

    reghardware 28 Nov 11:29

  • HTC: Apple and Samsung won't steal our lunch

    Talks up mystery mobes to soothe flighty investors

    HTC is insisting it'll do better next year as its shares plummet amid fears over its profits. The smartphone maker's stocks have fallen 32 per cent since 15 November as the company gives ground in the highly competitive sector to rising stars like Samsung and well-established dominators like Apple, both in market share and in …

    Mobile 28 Nov 11:33

  • Feds seize 130 sites in Cyber Monday crackdown

    Bogus handbags no longer threaten the web

    US feds seized control of more than 130 websites last week as part of a crackdown on counterfeit goods ahead of the Christmas shopping rush. The seizures make up the largest individual haul yet under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's ongoing Operation In Our Sites campaign. According to online records, 131 …

    Hosting 28 Nov 11:42

  • Panasonic to punt smartphones in Europe

    Blower up the business

    Panasonic is drawing up plans to launch mobile phones in Europe. The company has allegedly held talks with a major European telco and aims to release handsets over here as early as spring 2012, Japanese business paper Nikkei reports by way of Reuters. If the move to Europe goes without a hitch, the company will attempt to …

    reghardware 28 Nov 11:43

  • Phoenix sales and profits falling as UK economy burns

    Boss calls for divisional overhaul to cut costs

    Phoenix IT Group is set for a structural revamp after the loss of major contracts in each of its operating divisions forced down sales and profits for the half year to 30 September. The IT services group recorded a 4.4 per cent decline in sales to £132.2m, operating profits fell 12 per cent to £13.9m and profit before tax …

    Channel Register 28 Nov 11:51

  • Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android smartphone

    Review Ice Cream Sandwich, anyone?

    The much-anticipated new Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first phone to feature Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich – or ICS if you’re being very 'now' – the latest version of Google’s mobile OS. It also includes one of Samsung’s top of the range HD screens, a dual core processor and 1080p HD video recording – not too aspirational then …

    reghardware 28 Nov 12:00

  • Humans saved from EXTINCTION by Viv Westwood

    Well, do you fancy a bleak future shivering in the Arctic?

    Fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood is handing over £1m of her nest egg to science, convinced that humans will become extinct. Westwood said she was persuaded to part with so much of her wealth on being told that the human population would fall to 1 billion in 90 years. “That just shocked me so much. It just made me feel …

    Energy 28 Nov 12:11

  • Vodafone coughs to Galaxy S II GPS glitches

    Lock-less monster to be dealt with

    Vodafone has acknowledged complaints from Samsung Galaxy S2 owners who claim their handsets' GPS functionality was adversely affected by a recent firmware update. Dozens of customers wrote to Reg Hardware last week, flagging the issue that their GPS services were taking a long time to lock onto satellite signals - if they get …

    reghardware 28 Nov 12:16

  • Spooks take the wheel in UK's £650m cyber-war operations

    Analysis GCHQ to lead info sharing with govt and biz

    The British government's Cyber Security Strategy is giving the intelligence agencies a greater role than ever in defending business and the public against internet threats. The policy, released by the Cabinet Office on Friday, sketches a detailed framework on how the government aims to organise law enforcement efforts and …

    Enterprise Security 28 Nov 12:17

  • Reg Hardware Awards 2011 declared OPEN

    Reg Hardware Awards 2011 Cast your vote for the best - and the worst - kit of 2011

    Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of the year again. The annual Reg Hardware Awards are here and, once again, we need your help finding the best - and the worst - consumer electronics and infotech products of 2011. Over the coming weeks, we'll be asking you to name your favourite kit from among this year's releases. We've …

    reghardware 28 Nov 12:33

  • LG names smartphone Android 4.0 recipients

    Optimus update list announced

    LG has named the smartphones that will gain the in-demand Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS upgrade. Specifically, LG will make the new Google operating system available for its Optimus 2x, Optimus Black and Optimus 3D. They may not be the only ones. LG said on its Facebook page: "We are also continuing to evaluate the ICS OS …

    reghardware 28 Nov 12:36

  • Ken Russell dies aged 84

    Obit RIP Tommy helmsman

    Filmmaker Ken Russell, the controversial helmsman who brought the world Women in Love and Tommy, died yesterday aged 84. Russell passed away in his sleep in hospital following a long illness. His son Alex Verney-Elliott said: "My father died peacefully. He had had a series of strokes. He died with a smile on his face." Fellow …

    Entertainment 28 Nov 12:41

  • Biology miss punts homemade smut to pupils

    USB stick blunder unleashes X-rated personal vids

    A group of Argentinian schoolkids copped a righteous eyeful of smut last week when their female biology* teacher handed them a USB memory stick containing a couple of vids of her going hammer and tongs with her boyfriend. According to the Diario Democracia, innocent kiddies at the La Escuela Media Nº 1 "Manuel Dorrego", in the …

    Bootnotes 28 Nov 12:51

  • Word and Excel creator: How Gates, Jobs and HAL shaped Office

    Simonyi on the code, people and films that inspired Microsoft

    Films, according to Charles Simonyi – the man behind Microsoft's Word and Excel used by 500 million people – are great for showing the future of computing. Simonyi reckons Kubrick's seminal 2001 a Space Odyssey from the moon-landing days of 1969 foreshadows the kind of video calls now in Skype. Minority Report does much the …

    Developer 28 Nov 13:00

  • Phobos-Grunt 'crippled by US aurora station', 'is a bio-weapon'

    Medvedev 'I'm not saying put someone up against a wall, but ...'

    "As to Mars - it is a planet that does not like earthlings. Only 30 per cent of Soviet-Russian launches to Mars were successful, the Americans have had 50 per cent success, while all attempts by Japan and Europe have failed so far" - Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity may have …

    Science 28 Nov 13:09

  • Ebuyer knocked out by own £1 deals site

    Servers stunned by stampede of bargain-hunters

    UK gadget retail site Ebuyer has been knocked offline as its £1 laptop deals caused an online stampede that flattened the site's servers. Ebuyer failed to shore up its web systems ahead of the customer rush and the site was offline for several hours even before the offers officially opened at 11am today. The tech site's " …

    Small Biz 28 Nov 13:21

  • World may be short 70 MILLION disk drives

    HDD death by flood supply strangulation this quarter

    Tied in a strangling knot by the Thai floods, the world could be shy of 70 million disk drives this quarter, sending retail prices rocketing, limiting PC supplies and creating an opening for flash drives. Taiwanese manufacturers in the PC supply chain reckon we will see 110 to 130 million hard disk drives (HDD) this quarter …

    Storage 28 Nov 13:31

  • Galaxy Nexus audio bug patched... unofficially

    Beta code from Samsung, Google leaked

    Owners of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone awaiting the official fix for the handset's spontaneous volume reduction bug may want to avail themselves of an unofficial fix in the meantime. Courtesy of one of the founders of the MoDaCo forum, the release, which hasn't been sanctioned by either …

    reghardware 28 Nov 13:34

  • UK.gov to build child army of software coders

    Presumably they will all be supping on Silicon Roundabout milkshakes soon

    IT and computer science in schools is in serious need of reform, the creative industries minister Ed Vaizey said today, thereby indicating that changes to the school curriculum were on the agenda. The government needs to invest in video games and visual effects talent to help keep the UK "at the forefront" of that business …

    Developer 28 Nov 13:41

  • Manila AT&T hackers linked to Mumbai terror attack - cops

    Four alleged line-jackers cuffed with aid from FBI

    Police in the Philippines have arrested a group of four suspected hackers accused of funnelling profits from attacking corporate telephone networks to an Islamic terrorist group blamed for the attacks on Mumbai three years ago. The four suspects allegedly targeted PBX systems maintained by AT&T and gained access to corporate …

    Security 28 Nov 13:47

  • Networking integrator Redstone staggers back to its feet

    Down but not out after new bosses fire staff, flog assets...

    Massive cost-cutting and restructuring activities have helped to reduce losses at networking integrator Redstone. The firm had featured highly on distributors' "at threat" list but during fiscal 2010 serial entrepreneurs Ian Smith and Tony Weaver took to the helm and rang in the changes, firing staff and flogging the Irish and …

    Channel Register 28 Nov 13:54

  • Free cluster for a good cause

    SCC11 system up for grabs

    Silicon Mechanics, a mid-sized manufacturer of rackmount servers, clusters, and storage arrays, is celebrating its 10th birthday by giving away a lot of stuff. First, the company did a great job sponsoring Boston University in this month's SC11 Student Cluster Competition in Seattle (SCC11). Fueled by Silicon Mechanics gear, …

    HPC Blog 28 Nov 14:00

  • Ball-gazer casts magic runes to heal HP's credibility

    Swallowing startups pushes up Gartner ranking

    HP has improved its Gartner Magic Quadrant rating by buying 3PAR - but Dell's rating has worsened following its Compellent buy, which has not compensated for its dropped EMC OEM deal. These changes are shown in Gartner's Magic Quadrant (MQ) for block-access, external controller-based, mid-range and high-end modular disk arrays …

    Storage 28 Nov 14:12

  • Ubuntu penguins build Linux TV challenge

    Turned to Microsoft and Google?

    Open-sourcers are taking Ubuntu Linux in the direction of Google TV and Microsoft's Xbox 360. A list of priorities for something called Ubuntu TV have been thrashed out by Ubuntu developers with the blessing of Mark Shuttleworth. The Ubuntu daddy has corralled the points here. "Good to see the level of interest in a TV …

    Developer 28 Nov 14:23

  • Black Friday: Bargain-hunting mobs on the rampage

    Sales are good, shoppers aren't

    Despite all the doom and gloom in the global economy, Black Friday online sales in the US jumped by 26 per cent from last year. Ecommerce sites bagged $816m worth of sales this year, compared to $648m in 2010. "Despite some analysts’ predictions that the flurry of brick-and-mortar retailers opening their doors early for Black …

    Financial News 28 Nov 14:32

  • Car safety agency sparks e-car battery probe

    GM Volt under scrutiny after post-prang fires

    Two further Chevy Volt lithium-ion batteries have caught fire during tests carried out by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after a separate crash-test Volt's battery burst into flames more than three weeks after the impact. The NHTSA said it was formally opening a safety defect investigation as a result. …

    reghardware 28 Nov 14:37

  • Won't someone think of the .children, begs Russian registry

    .ru operator to ask ICANN for kid-friendly TLD

    The company that runs Russia's .ru internet address has revealed plans to apply to ICANN for the right to operate ".children" in Russian. Moscow-based registry operator Coordination Center for TLD RU said it will apply for .ДЕТИ when ICANN opens the floodgates for unlimited new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) next January. …

    Hosting 28 Nov 14:41

  • Apple fanbois get app to summon store staff

    Want to catch gopher's eye? There's an app for that

    Cutting right back on the annoying wait for human interaction while in a shop, Apple stores in the US are test-driving an iOS app that lets fanbois hit a button to alert store employees that they want to talk to them. It should shave seconds off the whole "approaching a store employee and making eye contact" process. iPads …

    Applications 28 Nov 14:52

  • Time up for Oracle's HTML5 killer?

    Open-source Java: Part Three Message to Ellison: no more JavaFX reboots

    Sun Microsystems in 2007 announced a re-imagining of GUI platform Swing with JavaFX. Swing, Sun said, had reached an architectural dead-end and need a reboot to compete on modern, Rich Internet Application (RIA) platforms. As Sun pitched JavaFX, Adobe brought out Flex (which is based on its Flash Player plug-in) and Microsoft …

    Developer 28 Nov 15:00

  • Apple killer app Siri struggles with Indian regional accents

    Scottish can also scotch iPhone voice assistance

    Apple's voice-recognition app Siri – the big new feature on the iPhone 4S – doesn't work in India because it doesn't recognise all regional accents in the country, reports website DailyBhaskar.com. The iPhone 4S launched in India last night and at midnight there were queues of keen buyers around the Bangalore Apple store. But …

    Mobile 28 Nov 15:15

  • Google bows before Europe for Motorola's hand in marriage

    EC's approval needed in $12.5bn buy-up quest

    Google has applied to the European Commission for regulatory approval for its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Back in August, the Chocolate Factory announced its plans to snap up the smartphone maker for $12.5bn, but it needs permission from a number of groups before the deal can go through. The web giant got through one …

    Financial News 28 Nov 15:32

  • Second US Navy robot stealth bomber takes flight

    Yes, but can it sing You've Lost That Loving Feeling?

    A second X-47B unmanned stealth attack plane is now flying, and the US Navy expects the robot aircraft to demonstrate operations from an aircraft carrier on schedule in 2013. Maverick walked out onto the flight line ... and into a bad dream Northrop Grumman, delivering the X-47B demonstrators for the USN, has just announced …

    Government 28 Nov 15:47

  • RFID pioneer taps out one last time

    Obit Charlie Walton

    Pioneer of radio tagging Charlie Walton has died, aged 89, having successfully predicted – and popularised – the technology, although he saw the potential too early to reap the reward. The first patent to mention RFID, for a "portable radio frequency emitting identifier" was filed by Charlie Walton and issued to his company, …

    Wireless 28 Nov 16:01

  • Business Cloud Summit preps for launch

    Countdown begins

    It’s called the Business Cloud Summit and it’s about how Cloud Computing changes the way we all do business. But what about the technology behind the Cloud that enables us to realise the potential of the Cloud model – and the people who deploy and develop that technology? This year’s Business Cloud Summit in London on December …

    CIO 28 Nov 16:18

  • Mars rover Curiosity autographed by Obama

    Also schoolgirl who named it, 1.24m others

    NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, which departed Earth bound for the red planet on Saturday, carries a collection of signatures inscribed on its chassis including that of US president Barack Obama and other worthies including NASA bigwigs and the schoolgirl who named the radical nuclear-powered robot vehicle. Ha ha, Nixon, having …

    Space 28 Nov 16:33

  • Hacker cuffed in job interview sting with hotel he blackmailed

    Hungarian demanded Marriott job after stealing secrets

    A job-seeking Hungarian hacker has pleaded guilty to breaking into the systems of the Marriott hotel chain before attempting to blackmail his way into an IT job. Attila Nemeth, 26, sent Trojan-infected emails to Marriott employees late last year, according to his plea agreement, in a move that successfully allowed him to …

    Security 28 Nov 16:39

  • Sony Ericsson: Android 4.0 updates out by March 2012

    Ice Cream Sarnie schedule revealed

    Sony Ericsson will have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updates for its 2011 Xperia smartphones out by March 2012. So says the marketing chief in the phone maker's Italy division, Maurizio De Palma, in the company's Facebook page, who claimed that, unlike SE's rivals, it will offer updates for all of its 2011 smartphones. "We …

    reghardware 28 Nov 16:53

  • Nokia has good Black Friday, won't be sharing with NSN

    Given red-headed stepchild cash 'for the last time'

    Nokia's shares lifted today after strong sales in the US on Black Friday and the news that it won't be giving Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) any additional capital. Analysts reckon Nokia will enjoy greater till takings than on last year's Black Friday, a day that gave all smartphone and PC makers, including Apple, Dell, Asus and …

    Mobile 28 Nov 17:02

  • TI throws DSPs at supercomputers

    Seeing if they will stick, like GPU coprocessors

    Nvidia had better watch out. Texas Instruments is not only its rival when it comes to making ARM processors that might end up in servers someday, but it is also repositioning its digital signal processors so they can be used as math coprocessors for standard x86 CPUs – and perhaps ARM processors one day. Nvidia obviously has …

    HPC 28 Nov 17:15

  • Russia successfully launches Glonass-M

    Sweaty Russian space bosses heave sigh of relief

    Russia has successfully launched another Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit today. Russian space boffins kept themselves busy while waiting for tonight's attempt to contact lost Martian probe Phobos-Grunt by sending the Glonass-M up on a Soyuz booster from the Plesetsk space centre, state news agency RIA Novosti …

    Space 28 Nov 17:21

  • MIT boffin's 'truth goggles' probe print and pols

    Journalists and politicians run for cover

    A student at MIT’s Media Lab is developing a browser plug-in that can check the accuracy of information posted online, and may use it to monitor political speeches for untruths. For his master’s thesis, Dan Schultz – who was recently named a 2011 Knight-Mozilla Fellow – came up with the idea for “truth goggles” while talking …

    Music and Media 28 Nov 18:59

  • Assange shocker: 'Of course I'm a goddamn journalist'

    Meanwhile, overhauled whistle-blower system delayed

    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is running out of patience with those who question his rightful membership with the fourth estate. Just hours after receiving Australia's Walkley Award for "recognition of long-term commitment and achievement in the Australian media," Assange appeared by Skype at the News World Summit in Hong …

    Music and Media 28 Nov 19:02

  • Apple's founding contract to fetch up to $150,000

    Sotheby's auctions off the ultimate fanboi holiday gift

    Apple's founding contract is going on the auction block at Sotheby's in New York and is expected to fetch between $100,000 and $150,000. "With everything in the news, this seems to be the time to do it," the auction house's books and manuscripts chief Richard Austin told Bloomberg. The three-page contract was signed by The …

    Business 28 Nov 19:35

  • Pirated software hard drive on display as art

    Don’t try that excuse when the RIAA visit

    A New York gallery is displaying a piece of “art” that consists of a one-terabyte portable hard drive chock-full of pirated code. Manuel Palou’s “5 Million Dollars 1 Terabyte”, currently on display at the Art 404 gallery in New York, consists of a single drive placed on a plinth, containing stolen code from Adobe, Nintendo, …

    Music and Media 28 Nov 20:21

  • Netflix rules out Kiwi launch

    Broadband is crap, can't get the rights

    Netflix has rejected New Zealand as a potential international launch spot because of low internet data caps and content rights issues. Attending the ITEX business tech summit in Auckland, New Zealand, Netflix VP of product innovation Brent Ayrey told local media that Netflix had no intention of launching in New Zealand. Ayrey …

    Business 28 Nov 21:33

  • Twitter crypto purchase leaves Egypt dissidents in lurch

    Android privacy service goes dark

    A company that provided free cellphone encryption to dissidents in Egypt abruptly suspended its services on Monday so that Twitter could integrate some of its privacy enabling technology into the microblogging site. Twitter's acquisition of San Francisco-based Whisper Systems came on Monday, the same day Egyptian citizens …

    Security 28 Nov 21:47

  • Report: SAS controller bug holding up Xeon E5 launch

    A different bug this time?

    Everyone was expecting for Intel to launch the "Sandy Bridge-EP" Xeon E5 processors back in September for delivery in the fourth quarter. Butfor reasons that Intel has never explained – much less admitted that this was the original launch schedule – the E5 processor and its related "Patsburg" chipset has been pushed out to an " …

    PCs & Chips 28 Nov 22:26

  • Mobile number exhaustion accelerating in Oz

    Regulator plots out new numbering plan

    The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says mobile numbers could be exhausted by 2017, according to a discussion paper canvassing revisions to this country’s numbering plan. The last time the ACMA mapped out the future of telephone numbers, it expected the mobile pool to last until 2027, but Australia’s …

    Telecoms 28 Nov 22:30

  • Copyright industry opposes ISPs’ proposed regime

    Comment Comms Alliance has opened up the debate, and that’s a good thing

    Given the reception to Australia’s ISPs’ proposal to trial a copyright infringement regime, you have to wonder if people understand what “proposal” actually means. The ISPs offered their proposed for discussion at the end of last week, but judging by the reception the proposal has received, everyone seems to think it’s a fait …

    Law 28 Nov 23:00

  • Hub and spoke gives data analytics a new spin

    More tools in the warehouse

    The idea behind data warehousing is simple: put historical summary data from back-end transaction processing systems in a machine designed to answer queries fast. The online transaction processing (OLTP) systems run the business, while the data warehousing systems help managers understand the business and steer it better. The …

    Data Warehousing 28 Nov 23:30

  • Toyota unveils 'smartphone on four wheels'

    Concept car silliness at Tokyo Motor Show

    Toyota has introduced a concept car with touchscreen doors, digitally customizable exterior and interior, collision-avoidance tech, car-to-car networking, and more – and for reasons known only to the marketing mind, they call it the Fun-Vii. "We thought it would be fun to put a smartphone on four wheels," said Toyota president …

    Science 28 Nov 23:54