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5th January 2012 Archive

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  • Quanta sues AMD over dodgy chips

    Suit without merit AMD suggests

    Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta has sued AMD, claiming that dodgy processors it used in NEC notebooks couldn’t handle the heat. According to Bloomberg, Quanta has filed suit against AMD claiming that processor it supplied were more liable to break under industry-standard thermal processes and caused NEC systems built by the …

    PCs & Chips 5 Jan 01:16

  • Ferguson Hill FH009 home theatre system

    Review Transparent horn speakers for your telly

    If you’ve ever considered bolting a hulking great stereo system onto your TV, then make a beeline for Ferguson Hill. Its FH009 could be just thing you're looking for. Clearly different: Ferguson Hill's FH009 home theatre system Comprising a pair of the brand’s characteristic transparent acrylic (not glass, in case you were …

    reghardware 5 Jan 07:00

  • Vomit virus drives punters to NHS Choices over Christmas

    NHS Choices attracted 56% more users, many on their mobes

    The Department of Health (DoH) has reported a 56 per cent increase in the number of people using NHS Choices in October to December 2011 compared to the same period last year. According to the DoH, the health information website hosted 368,000 visits, 133,000 more visits a day than 2010. During the Christmas period concerns …

    Public Sector 5 Jan 08:03

  • KIBOSH 'non lethal' sticky-bomb hits a car, fills it with gas

    US Special Ops: We didn't kill them, the crash did

    US special operations troops will shortly be armed with a projectile which can be fired from a portable launcher to hit a car or boat some distance off, following which the pocket-size adhesive bomb will release one of several types of "non lethal" gas into the target's interior. The new weapon has been dubbed the "KIBOSH" by …

    Government 5 Jan 09:04

  • Sites knocked offline by OpenDNS freeze on Google

    JavaScript-hosting server branded 'phishing' den

    Innocent websites were blocked and labelled phishers on Wednesday following an apparent conflict between OpenDNS and Google's Content Delivery Network (CDN). OpenDNS - a popular domain name lookup service* - sparked the outage by blocking access to googleapis.com, Google's treasure trove of useful scripts and apps for web …

    Developer 5 Jan 09:31

  • Sleep Cycle

    iOS App of the Week Here is the snooze

    Perhaps it’s a sign of the troubled times we live in but I’ve noticed a recent rash of gadgets and apps, such as the Jawbone Up, that are designed to monitor – and hopefully improve – your sleep patterns. I’m a somewhat erratic sleeper myself, so I decided to look at a few of these apps over Christmas. The one that stands out …

    reghardware 5 Jan 10:00

  • LG preps '14in screen in 13in chassis' Ultrabook

    CES outing for glasses-free 3D laptop too

    LG announced its Z330 Ultrabook early in December 2011. Today, it said it will be showing the MacBook Air-like machine off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) - along with a second, unannounced Ultrabook. This new machine is the Z430, a 14in job with a Core i7 processor on board as standard. The Z330 comes with a Core i5, …

    reghardware 5 Jan 10:13

  • Microsoft de-cloaks Windows 8 push-button lifesaver

    Refresh or reset options for fraked PCs

    Microsoft has revealed how the Windows 8 push-button reset feature should save dying PCs when it hits beta in the coming weeks and is delivered this year. Windows 8 will offer two options to recover a crashed machine: reset your PC or refresh your PC, Microsoft said on the Windows 8 blog here. Reset will remove all personal …

    Windows 8 5 Jan 10:33

  • Google tablet to tackle Kindle Fire not iPad

    Ad giant's seven-incher to cost $199?

    The latest scuttlebutt from Taiwan: Google's rumoured tablet will now take on Amazon's 7in Kindle Fire rather than attempt to loosen Apple's tight hold on the market. Google is shaking its head, of course, but rumours have long persisted that it's working on an own-brand tablet. Since the advertising giant is on its way to …

    reghardware 5 Jan 10:37

  • US lawmakers claim Huawei sold censor tech to Iran

    Six members of Congress want State Department investigation

    US lawmakers are calling on the State Department to investigate whether or not Chinese tech firm Huawei has violated sanctions by supplying monitoring technology to Iran. Six lawmakers wrote a letter to the department just before Christmas, which has now been made public, citing an article in the Wall Street Journal in October …

    Government 5 Jan 10:51

  • HP unveils touchscreenless all-in-one desktop PC

    Omni 27 can be wall mounted

    HP has taken the wraps off its first 27in all-in-one, dubbed the Omni 27. It's also the PC maker's first AiO without a touchscreen - a sign, perhaps, that punters aren't so keen on the technology in a desktop context. Whatever, the Omni contains an Intel Core i5-2400S processor, up to 2TB of hard drive storage, 2.4GHz 802. …

    reghardware 5 Jan 10:58

  • Fujifilm springs into action with fresh FinePix range

    Snappy snappy joy joy

    Fujifilm clicked off 2012 with the release of 17 fresh FinePix digital cameras, which'll be on show at CES next week. Here's a look at some of what's on offer. The 16Mp Fujifilm FinePix HS30EXR steps things up a notch from last year's model with a new EXR CMOS sensor, an improved electronic viewfinder and faster shoot times. …

    reghardware 5 Jan 10:59

  • Boffins glue self-righting ROBO-VELOCIRAPTOR tail to car

    Leaping lizards inspire super stable search bots

    Biologists at the University of California in Berkeley have stuck an intelligent robotic tail on a toy car in an attempt to make clumsy droids of the future more stable. Slow-motion videos of jumping lizards had the team of engineers and biologists scrambling to their drawing boards to come up with the manmade rump-connected …

    Rise of the Machines 5 Jan 11:05

  • Amazon Kindle Fire browser hacked for your Android pleasure

    Everyone gets to be smooth as Silk

    Hackers have managed to get Amazon's proxy-based Silk browser compiled into other Android versions, allowing anyone* to take advantage of the Amazon cloud. The hack requires a rooted device, and some mucking about with apk files, but does share the Silk love. XDA-Developers member TyHi initially hacked the Silk browser into …

    Security 5 Jan 11:18

  • Punters flocked to all-in-one desktops in 2011

    Sales soar by 40%

    The all-in-one desktop PC market is booming, with world sales up 39 per cent during 2011. Some 14.5m of the screen-centric machines shipping during the past 12 months, market watcher DisplaySearch said this week. It reckons the total will top 23.3m all-in-ones by 2014. A third of the machines that shipped in 2011 were Apple …

    reghardware 5 Jan 11:26

  • Man convicted of murder gets retrial after virus eats transcripts

    Refresh, restart

    A US man who had been convicted on a second-degree murder charge will get a new trial after a computer virus destroyed transcripts of court proceedings. Randy Chaviano, of Hialeah, Florida, was given a life sentence for the fatal shooting of Carlos Acosta after he was convicted by a Miami jury in July 2009. An appeal was …

    Law 5 Jan 11:41

  • Ultrabook, tablet shipments to surge

    Netbook, notebook to bear the cost

    Market watcher DisplaySearch has forecast Ultrabook shipments of around 180m units in 2017 with a steep upward curve through previous years. It hasn't entirely been turned by the Intel Kool Aid, mind. Notebook shipments as a whole will hit, it reckons, 426.6m units that year, so the Ultrabook category will have nabbed just 42. …

    reghardware 5 Jan 11:48

  • 2012: The year when smartphones become smart?

    Nice suit, shame there's no brain behind it

    Today's smartphones look the part, but behind the pretty face there's very little in the way of intelligence. However, in 2012 that might start to change as smartphones start to get really smart... We call our handsets "smartphones" because they can do lots of things, but they only do these things when we ask them to – they're …

    Mobile 5 Jan 12:23

  • WHSmith Kobo Vox e-reader

    Review Can’t wait for the Kindle Fire?

    So you’ve been tempted by an e-book reader but the brouhaha surrounding the Amazon Kindle Fire launch in the States has confused you. A colour screen must be better, right? But will it ever come to the UK? If you really can’t wait, rival e-book reader manufacturer has stolen a march on Amazon and released a gadget that looks …

    reghardware 5 Jan 12:29

  • Xbox 720 to double-up as a DVR

    Record spin

    The Xbox 720 rumour mill has picked up again this year after patents surfaced which suggest Microsoft's next console may also operate as a digital video recorder, fusing telly, film and gaming into a single entertainment hub. Though the patent was filed in 2007, it wasn't approved until 27 December 2011. The US Patent & …

    reghardware 5 Jan 12:44

  • 'Mobiles bake men's balls' bog ad is cobblers - new ruling

    Watchdog tuts at anti-phone posters

    The anti-phone brigade has been ticked off by the Advertising Standards Authority for running posters declaring that a phone in blokes' jeans could ruin their genes. The posters, which ran in the toilets at service stations and shopping centres, claimed that "medical experts" are warning that a mobile phone can turn chaps …

    Mobile 5 Jan 12:58

  • Logitech outs tiny mouse, laser pointer

    Cue the Cube

    Yes, it's not actually cubic, but that hasn't stopped Logitech calling its latest mouse-cum-laser pointer the Cube, set to be shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week. Perhaps it'll be comfortable to use as a pointer, but the wee gadget doesn't seem so as a mouse, but we'll reserve judgement until we've …

    reghardware 5 Jan 13:06

  • Fast food firm fields Sith sandwich

    Darths Vader and Maul to get themed burgers

    With bellies still recovering from festive banquets, feasting your eyes on these Star Wars snacks could be enough to put you off food for life. But we've never been one to hold back on news to make you squirm. Belgian fast food chain Quick will celebrate the cinema release of Star Wars: Episode 1 3D with three themed burgers, …

    reghardware 5 Jan 13:11

  • Siri bones up on Mandarin for iPhone 4S China launch

    Apple and Nokia jockey in Chinese mobe market

    The Chinese will be able to buy an iPhone 4S from 13 January and should be able to speak to it too as Apple flings the shiny mobe into 90 countries. Despite not being officially available, the iPhone 4S is selling in China – unlocked and imported models are sold in shops that look awfully like Apple Stores. China Mobile has …

    Developer 5 Jan 13:17

  • SEC: 'Man tried to sell $500bn investments on LinkedIn'

    Investors on alert after unregistered broker charged

    US regulators have charged a financial advisor with trying to sell $500bn of fake securities on LinkedIn, amid warnings to investors and advisory firms about the risks of buying through social networks. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges [PDF] that Illinois-based Anthony Fields offered hundreds of billions of …

    Financial News 5 Jan 13:39

  • Gamers grumble over Steam outage

    Play postponed

    Steam users are venting frustration at Valve after an outage stopped gamers from accessing their downloaded titles. Many users struggled to launch games, both in online and offline modes, and the Steam forums became overloaded with complaints, many blaming yesterday's client update for their woes. According to Valve, though, …

    reghardware 5 Jan 13:49

  • Govt tells science to budge up for arts at new hi-tech uni

    UK minister does what that nice Mr Google suggested

    Science and universities minister David Willetts wants to start a new technology university, pretty much following what Eric Schmidt said about mixing up the arts and sciences. Willetts name-dropped the Google boss in a speech at Policy Exchange yesterday, announcing the launch of his plans for a high-tech Britain. The …

    Government 5 Jan 14:12

  • Dammit Ramnit! Worm slurps 45,000 Facebook passwords

    Bank-raid malware is latest nasty to infect social networks

    A bank account-raiding worm has started spreading on Facebook, stealing login credentials as it creeps across the site, security researchers have revealed. Evidence recovered from a command-and-control server used to coordinate the evolving Ramnit worm confirms that the malware has already stolen 45,000 Facebook passwords and …

    Malware 5 Jan 14:33

  • Ad slingers - obeying EU snoop code is NOT GOOD ENOUGH

    Industry rules at odds with cookie laws, say watchdogs

    Website operators that track internet users' online activity in order to serve targeted adverts do not automatically comply with EU privacy laws by following the industry code. This is according to a committee of all of the EU's national data protection regulators. The Article 29 Working Party said that solely adhering to …

    Government 5 Jan 14:54

  • Apple coughs $5m for multitouch patents

    Fights for years then pays out pocket change

    Following more than 30 months of argument, Elan Microelectronics has announced that Apple will be paying it $5m for use of its multitouch patents. Elan filed its case back in April 2009, claiming it had been trying to negotiate with Cupertino for two years. It then took the complaint to patent watchdog the International Trade …

    Developer 5 Jan 15:28

  • Cray's Q4 whacked by AMD's Opteron delays

    Déjà vu all over again

    Cray is going to miss its revenue targets for the fourth quarter, the company warned Wall Street this morning before the markets opened, and it has pointed its finger (without naming names) directly at its main processor supplier, Advanced Micro Devices, as the cause of the miss. For the past several years, Cray's sales for …

    Servers 5 Jan 15:44

  • Sony Ericsson hints at major CES product launch

    It's got a camera, we can say that

    Sony Ericsson is preparing to announce something big at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week, it has been hinting. The company took to its official Sony Ericsson Facecrack page, teasing fans with a series of close up images alongside a note that says: "Just a few more days until we can reveal some …

    reghardware 5 Jan 15:44

  • Nokia: There will be NO smartphone division selloff to Microsoft

    Buyout rumours just won't die

    Rumours that Nokia is about to sell its smartphone division to Microsoft and that CEO Stephen Elop will jump after closing the deal have been denied yet again by the Finnish phone-makers. The suggestion that Nokia will sell off their crown jewels to Redmond has been rebuffed before, and even had an impact on the markets last …

    CIO 5 Jan 16:04

  • B&N mulls spinning off Nook biz

    E-reader could also head across the pond to Blighty

    US bookseller Barnes & Noble is considering spinning off its Nook e-reader business into a separate entity as it forecast a drop in full-year earnings. Although the retailer claims record holiday sales of its pocket-sized gadget, up 70 per cent from last year in the nine-week period up to December 31, B&N is still citing its …

    Financial News 5 Jan 16:33

  • iOS 5's iMessage chops carrier SMS routing traffic

    User's data implies power shift to Apple

    Apple's iMessage may be killing text messaging - or the text messaging revenues made by network operators, at least. Yes, it's not hard empirical data, but one iPhone user, Nevan Mrgan, has charted a major drop-off in text messages sent once he upgraded his handset to iOS 5, which introduced iMessage. iMessage routes SMS …

    reghardware 5 Jan 16:36

  • Gartner chops 2012 IT spending forecast

    2011 better than expected

    The spreadsheet wizards at Gartner have finished gazing into their crystal LCD monitors and have put out their first projection for global IT spending in 2012. The good news is that despite hard disk shortages and a PC and server slowdown, 2011 spending across hardware, software, and services was higher than expected. The bad …

    CIO 5 Jan 17:06

  • Official: File-sharing is a religion... in Sweden

    Cop a load of Kopimism

    Sweden has acknowledged that online file-sharing can be deemed a religion, after campaigners fought to get their cause recognised for more than a year. The Church of Kopimism was apparently registered by the Swedish governmental agency Kammarkollegiet, which - among other things - manages the purse strings on behalf of …

    Bootnotes 5 Jan 17:32

  • Vint Cerf: 'The internet is not a human right'

    'Get real,' says internet daddy

    Vint Cerf is warning that people who insist that the internet is some sort of human or civil right are missing the point. In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Cerf – regarded by many as one of the fathers of the internet for his role in creating TCP/IP – explained that technology isn’t a human right in itself, but merely …

    Music and Media 5 Jan 18:32

  • Kodak heading to Chapter 11

    Analysis Film dinosaur slain by digital demon

    It's not what you'd call a Kodak moment: Eastman Kodak, the very image of film-based photography, is heading for the Chapter 11 knackers yard because its management, despite the most visible and public threat imaginable from digital photography, has failed to get Kodak out of the digital trap. The Wall Street Journal reports …

    Business 5 Jan 20:11

  • Etrade suffers DDOS festive treat

    Gremlins shut down trading

    ANZ Bank-owned online broker ETrade, has been the target of a sustained malicious offshore generated cyber attack. The denial-of-service attack resulted in thousands of emails flooding the broking site, prompting a cessation of services from Christmas Eve to the New Year period. According to a Fairfax report, offshore Etrade …

    Security 5 Jan 20:27

  • Boffins demo time-warp cloaking device

    New tool for hackers

    A team of scientists at Cornell University in the US has demonstrated a way to bend light in such a way that it effectively hides an event from happening – what they call a "spatio-temporal cloaking" scheme. The team, which is funded by DARPA, has built on work by Imperial College London, which showed that it was theoretically …

    Science 5 Jan 21:40

  • UNSW researcher creates four-atom silicon wires

    Quantum-scale lifeline for Moore's Law and Ohm's Law

    Researchers at the University of New South Wales have created what the uni thinks is the narrowest-ever silicon conducting wire. At just four atoms wide and one atom tall, the wire has demonstrated a surprising property: Ohm’s law (current equals voltage divided by resistance) holds true even at such a tiny scale, the …

    Physics 5 Jan 22:00

  • Hearst bets on digital

    Target: a million online subs

    Hearst Magazines has committed to a target of gaining more than a million paid digital subscribers via iTunes, Zinio, Nook, Amazon and Next Issue Media. In an internal email to staff reported on Folio, the publishing giant’s company president David Carey also flagged that all sites were on a fast-track transition to HTML5. …

    Business 5 Jan 22:30

  • Broadcom uncloaks zippy '5G WiFi' chippery

    3x wireless speed boost in products this year

    As promised, communications chipmeister Broadcom has announced its first family of chips based on the still-unratified high-speed 5G WiFi standard more prosaically known as IEEE 802.11ac. "The exponential growth of digital media and wirelessly connected devices requires faster and more reliable ways to connect anytime, …

    Wireless 5 Jan 23:00

  • Cisco enlists NCR in Middle East, Africa server push

    The UCS caravan travels to the promised land

    Hoping to get a bigger slice of the server racket in the Middle East and Africa – you know, the part of EMEA that is still showing some signs of life – Cisco Systems has tapped The Cash to peddle its Unified Computing System blade and rack servers. The Cash, of course, refers to National Cash Register, the provider of ATM, …

    Servers 5 Jan 23:01

  • Parasites spark swarm of ZOMBIE BEES

    California infestation grave, declare buzz boffins

    Researchers have found a type of parasite that turns bees into zombies, causing them to exhibit strange behavior before dying. The discovery was made by accident, after San Francisco State University professor of biology John Hafernik collected some bees he found outside his office so that he could feed them to a praying …

    Biology 5 Jan 23:59