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6th January 2012 Archive

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  • Amazon cloud double fluffs in 2011

    There's a rumble in the data jungle

    Being the touchstone for cloud computing, online retailing giant Amazon wants to brag about its compute, storage, and other cloud services that are sold under the Amazon Web Services brand. For whatever reason – probably to obscure the costs and possibly the profits of the AWS subsidiary – Amazon has not broken out the business …

    Cloud 6 Jan 00:12

  • Apple said to threaten legal action over Steve Jobs doll

    Chinese action-figure maker committing a 'criminal offense'?

    If you're a Jobsian fanboi jonesing for the recently announced Steve Jobs action figure, we have some bad news for you: Apple doesn't want you to have one. So reports The Telegraph, which says that the Chinese action-figure maker In Icons has received a letter from Cupertino's lawyers threatening legal action should the 12- …

    PCs & Chips 6 Jan 01:53

  • The next Steve Jobs is: Kanye West

    Hip-hop star launches design institute stuffed with dope ... minds

    Steve Jobs may have passed away, but his mantle has fallen on ready shoulders... those of the hip-hop artist Kanye West, who promised last night on Twitter that he would continue the great man's work. Citing Steve Jobs, Michael Jackson and an unspecified McQueen as inspirations, Kanye announced that the time had come to make …

    CIO 6 Jan 06:03

  • Fusion-io demos billion IOPS server config

    Previews software with serious grunt

    Fusion-io has achieved a billion IOPS from eight servers in a demonstration at the DEMO Enterprise event in San Francisco. The cracking performance needed just eight HP DL370 G6 servers, running Linux 2.6.35.6-45 on two, 6-core Intel processors, 96GB RAM. Each server was fitted with eight 2.4TB ioDrive2 Duo PCIE flash drives; …

    Virtualization 6 Jan 06:28

  • Samsung SSD 830

    Review Sata 3 scorcher

    When it came to putting together a list of SSDs together for your latest upgrade, one name that you could easily overlook until recently was Samsung. Compared to its rivals in the marketplace the company hardly trumpeted its solid state storage products. Samsung's SSD 830: 256GB is an affordable and versatile upgrade Yet …

    reghardware 6 Jan 07:00

  • GCHQ wants to enlarge 'experienced' specialists' packages

    Spooks offer 'retention payments' to keep online security experts

    GCHQ is offering its expert tech employees bonuses to prevent more staff from leaving for high-tech companies such as Google and Microsoft. The service said that it has a government approved system of offering both recruitment and/or retention payments to keep internet security specialists. GCHQ said that it seeks to make the …

    Government 6 Jan 08:04

  • ICO to 'focus' on health sector when enforcing info rights

    A breach too far?

    The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is to give "particular regulatory attention" to health organisations as it focuses on areas most likely to result in damage to people's information rights, the watchdog has said. The ICO, which ensures compliance with UK data protection, e-privacy and freedom of information laws, …

    Law 6 Jan 09:05

  • E-gambling tax will spark web bet shop exodus - report

    Good odds on firms fleeing Blighty to murky waters

    Online gamblers could turn to unregulated markets if Government plans to tax betting operators on the basis of where bets are placed are introduced, a report commissioned by a leading betting operator has said. Placing a 10% 'point of consumption' (POC) tax rate on remote gambling could result in up to 27% of online consumer …

    Government 6 Jan 09:34

  • GM offers Volt drivers battery upgrade

    Safety concerns spark power cell patch plan

    General Motors has offered owners of its Volt e-car a free optional battery pack resilience upgrade in a bid to calm fears heightened after one of its cars caught fire after a crash. GM said the upgrade is intended to reduce the risk of an impact-induced coolant leak - the cause of last year's fire. In May 2011, the US …

    reghardware 6 Jan 09:43

  • Weeting cops cuff 17th phone-hacking suspect

    Essex woman nabbed

    A 47-year-old woman was arrested at an address in Essex this morning by cops investigating allegations of phone hacking by people working for the now-defunct Sunday tabloid News of the World. The unnamed woman is the 17th person to be cuffed by Scotland Yard cops working on Operation Weeting. The suspect "was arrested at …

    Mobile 6 Jan 09:54

  • LG tunes in to Google TV

    Android-equipped tellies out in 2012

    LG has hopped on the Google TV bandwagon. LG will show off a smart TV loaded with Google's Android-based telly interface at next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The set will do passive 3D, with 2D-to-3D conversion on board. LG said it was not dropping its own IPTV UI, which will be available on more than 60 per cent …

    reghardware 6 Jan 10:03

  • NetApp will jack up disk prices next month

    Deadly Thai flood ripple effect continues

    NetApp is raising disk drive prices as a result of the Thai flooding. Here is NetApp's statement: NetApp empathizes with the people of Thailand as they work to recover from the tragic flooding. We work closely with our hard disk drive suppliers to stay abreast of their recovery efforts and to secure supply to meet our needs. …

    CIO 6 Jan 10:31

  • Sony intros high-end camera storage card

    XQD to displace CompactFlash?

    And here's a new memory card format, courtesy of Sony. Just what the world needs, no? It's the XQD card, and it comes in 16GB and 32GB capacities. Sony is also offering USB 3.0 and ExpressCard adaptors. The format is aimed at high-end DSLRs, which will have to build the tech in if their manufacturers want to support it. One …

    reghardware 6 Jan 10:41

  • Satnav mishap misery cure promised at confab

    Govt will bang heads together to push latest maps to drivers

    Ever get that sinking feeling after your satnav misdirects your car into a ditch? Relax, the government is wading in to help stressed-out drivers get more accurate information from the road-mapping devices. A summit will kick off in March ahead of local authorities being given more powers to have a bigger say about how their …

    Government 6 Jan 11:02

  • Lenovo pitches two-CPU ThinkPad

    'Hybrid' laptop has Intel and Qualcomm chippage

    Lenovo has outed the first ThinkPad notebook with a secondary processor and operating system for fast-boot internet access. The PC giant also unwrapped its first Ultrabook ThinkPad. The "hybrid" ThinkPad X1, first: it's a 13.3in machine with a choice of Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 CPUs as the main chip. There's a Qualcomm dual- …

    reghardware 6 Jan 11:05

  • Philips gets appy with Android PMP refresh

    Connected touch

    Philips danced into the new year this week, refreshing its Android-based PMP range with the GoGear Connect 3. Revealed last year at the IFA 2011 show, the GoGear packs quite a punch, running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and featuring built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, providing access to apps and games from the Android Market and other …

    reghardware 6 Jan 11:06

  • US 'space warplane' may be spying on Chinese spacelab

    Is X-37B's secret mission watching Heavenly Palace?

    The US Air Force's second mysterious mini-space shuttle, the X-37B, could be spying on China's space laboratory and the first piece of its space station, Tiangong-1. Amateur space trackers told the British Interplanetary Society publication Spaceflight that the black-funded spaceplane seemed to be orbiting the Earth in tandem …

    Space 6 Jan 11:25

  • Asian canaries revive 'one year, two iPads' launch rumour

    iPad 3 in March, iPad 4 in October. Apparently

    The notion that Apple will release not one but two new iPads this year is back. If you're hoping one will be a 7in tablet, you may be disappointed: both models are 9.7-inchers, moles maintain. Assuming they actually know, of course… Either way, they're saying the first of the pair will be the eagerly awaited iPad with a 2048 …

    reghardware 6 Jan 11:29

  • iPad typos are Apple's fault, not yours - new claim

    Vid Touchscreen key-presses go AWOL in slowmo replay

    The iPad's soft keyboard has been caught failing to pass key presses to applications, introducing errors and letting the typist take the fall. The iPad's on-screen keyboard indicates a successful press by turning the key grey, but Reg reader Dave Addey filmed his typing in slow motion and established that a decent proportion …

    Developer 6 Jan 11:43

  • Motorola goes mini with bijou blowers

    Defy style

    Motorola Mobility has slimmed down its handset range, signalling the launch of two new Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphones this spring. First up is the Motorola Motoluxe, a device that runs on an 800MHz processor and features a 4in "edge-to-edge" touchscreen display. There's also an 8Mp rear-facing camera, a front-facing 0.3Mp …

    reghardware 6 Jan 11:50

  • Star Wars: The Old Republic

    Review In a galaxy far, far away...

    Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massive game with hundreds of hours of game play, so this review is just a chicken scratch on the surface of something we will see develop and grow over months, if not years. Undoubtedly, SWTOR has a solid foundation but does it have enough successful constituent parts to be enduring? Why, …

    reghardware 6 Jan 12:00

  • Microsoft revives flight sim by giving it away free

    One of Redmond’s longest-running lines gets reboot

    Microsoft has said that it will be reviving its Flight Simulator franchise this spring with a free version of the game entitled simply Flight. Redmond is making the game available in a private beta at present, but plans to release it as a free download eventually. The game needs a minimum of 10GB of hard drive space, a dual- …

    Developer 6 Jan 12:24

  • Lovefilm signs BBC streaming deal

    Extends ITV pact too

    Lovefilm's war with Netflix has yet to begin, but the battle lines are being drawn. The Amazon-owned disc rental service today said it has licensed BBC and ITV content to stream. Morse, Prime Suspect, Cold Feet and more will come from ITV's collection, while Doctor Who, Life On Mars, Spooks, Planet Earth and others will …

    reghardware 6 Jan 12:29

  • World's first mixed-embryo rhesus monkeys born in US

    Normal, healthy chimeric primates created during stem cell research

    Genetic researchers have created the world's first chimeric monkeys, primates who were created from a combination of cells from separate rhesus monkey embryos. Chimeric monkeys Roku and Hex. Credit: OHSU The healthy monkeys were born after the boffins basically glued together the stem cells from different embryos and then …

    Biology 6 Jan 12:42

  • Moog goes boom with itty-bitty bass synth

    Analogue sound generation

    Synth-sectarians will be swiping saliva off their chins this morning after Moog unveiled its latest analogue bass synth, the Moog Minitaur. The Minitaur joins the Taurus family as the first sibling lacking in foot pedals. Measuring just 8.5 x 5.25in, the compact box is designed to slot into any space and be taken on the road …

    reghardware 6 Jan 12:49

  • 'You have to worry about the management of Twitter'

    Quotw From Wendi Deng fake to Phobos-Grunt's fiery fate

    This was the week in which we learned that the techie surprise at the bottom of many, many Brits' Christmas stockings was some form of Amazon Kindle, if you believe pollster YouGov. Google was very much back at work and back to business, leaving the holiday spirit behind as it prepared for round one million and one of its …

    CIO 6 Jan 13:02

  • New AOL IM considered harmful by privacy warriors

    EFF baulks at centralised chat logging by default

    Privacy advocates have raised concerns about beta versions of AOL's latest IM client, urging privacy-sensitive surfers to stay on older versions of the software. Preview versions of AOL Instant Messenger centrally log communications by default as well as scanning private IMs for URLs that are then pre-fetched, the Electronic …

    Developer 6 Jan 13:23

  • Arctic freshening not due to ice melt after all, says NASA

    Calm down, hippies

    Concern that the Arctic Ocean is becoming massively less salty due to its ice cap melting - which could have knock-on consequences for the planet's climate - is unfounded, NASA scientists have said. For years, researchers have seen falling salinity readings in the Canadian half of the Arctic Ocean. This has led them to …

    Environment 6 Jan 13:42

  • CES outing for 'world's thinnest' tablet, Ultrabook, says Toshiba

    IFA-announced gadgets to make US debut next week

    Toshiba, for one, seems keen to continue offering netbooks in spite of the rise of the tablet - it's going to show off a new model at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Dell and Samsung may be exiting the netbook biz - possibly prematurely, since netbook shipments actually went up during 2011 - but Toshiba is sticking in and …

    reghardware 6 Jan 13:47

  • Amazon says soz for foisting mag sub onto Kindle-touchers

    Fury as punters 'billed' for rag they hadn't asked for

    Amazon has annoyed Kindle owners by appearing to sign them up to a paid-for bi-weekly magazine subscription they hadn't requested. After receiving an email informing them of their new subscription to Kindle Compass, their first billing date and the number of the credit card they'd be "charged" on, confused customers turned to …

    Music and Media 6 Jan 13:51

  • Xbox 720 and PS4 on show at E3 2012

    Next-gen announcements expected

    Here at Reg Hardware, it's difficult to keep track of which rumours we see more of, forthcoming Apple products, or whispers of next-gen game consoles. Either way, here's another one of the latter. Microsoft has allegedly signalled to its partners that plans for the Xbox 720 will indeed be details at the E3 2012 games show, MCV …

    reghardware 6 Jan 13:58

  • HSBC pinpoints branches with sub-atomic accuracy

    Bank's 'find your nearest tentacle' accurate to 17 decimal places

    Those of you who are sticklers for accuracy will doubtless applaud banking monolith HSBC and its splendid "Find your nearest branch" service. To find out exactly how far you'll have to walk to avail yourself of an HSBC tentacle, just point your browser here, stick in your postcode and hit the "More info" button under one of …

    Bootnotes 6 Jan 14:18

  • Mafia hit suspect cuffed after BlackBerry chatter intercept

    Cops keep schtum on sniffing RIM data

    Canadian police have apparently used BlackBerry communications to arrest murder suspect Raynald Desjardins in a move seen as an unprecedented use of intercepted data. However, it is unclear whether or not the data was really intercepted or whether it was provided to cops via wiretap warrants. The cuffed bloke has been charged …

    CIO 6 Jan 14:39

  • London 2012 team pulls swamped ticket resale site

    No finish line in sight for unhappy punters

    London 2012 punters hoping to offload tickets they no longer want faced frustrating problems with a resale website, which was launched by the event's organisers today. Locog, the government-owned company running the Olympic Games, admitted - via its Twitter feed, if not in an official statement on its website - that there were …

    Entertainment 6 Jan 14:51

  • Sony website defacer pwned by second hacker

    It's a dog-eat-dog world

    A defacer affiliated with Anonymous vandalised Sony's online front door this week over the corporate behemoth's support of SOPA, a hated anti-piracy law proposed in the US. The Sony Picture's website was defaced and clearly unauthorised comments were posted on the media giant's Facebook page. The digital graffiti was scribbled …

    Security 6 Jan 15:02

  • Microsoft's RemoteFX is fab - but will it play Crysis?

    Sysadmin blog We all need something to do between emails and build runs

    Microsoft supports two very different types of remote desktop computing: Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) and Remote Desktop Virtualization Host (RDVH). Those of us who don't speak Redmondian know these technologies as Terminal Services and VDI, respectively. But can they play Crysis? RDSH takes a single instance of a …

    Sysadmin blog 6 Jan 15:22

  • Samsung rakes in record profits as HTC sales dive

    Booming phone sales helped Koreans ward off PC chip chill

    Surging smartphone sales have brought in record quarterly profits for Samsung, the world's biggest technology company by sales. The South Korean firm made 5.2 trillion won ($4.5bn) in quarterly operating profits in the last quarter of 2011, according to its preliminary results posted today. It's a 73 per cent rise on the same …

    Financial News 6 Jan 15:42

  • BEAST SSL fix in supersized Patch Tuesday

    Microsoft's 2012 kick-off features 7 security bulletins

    Microsoft plans to start 2012 with a surprisingly large Patch Tuesday that covers seven security bulletins which collectively address eight separate vulnerabilities. Previous January releases have normally featured only one or two bulletins. The solitary critical bulletin in the batch fixes a remote code execution issue in …

    Developer 6 Jan 16:02

  • CouchDB daddy unplugs from Apache hive

    Updated 'It's not personal, it's business'

    CouchDB’s founder is “moving on” from the Apache project he founded to build a "better" and commercially successful version of his NoSQL database without Apache's democratic foot-dragging. Damien Katz has blogged that he and the team from his company, Couchbase, would be shifting their attention from the Apache CouchDB project …

    Cloud 6 Jan 16:32

  • Cops cuff rectal shoplifter

    Bum rap

    Police in the Czech Republic have arrested a man who attempted to steal a digital music player by concealing it in his anus. The thief was caught when the shoplifting alarm rang loud and proud at the supermarket he had entered in the town of Prerov. Nabbed by staff, he was found to have a pair of earphones stashed in his …

    reghardware 6 Jan 16:37

  • iPad SURVIVES FALL FROM SPACE

    Fondleslab fails to fracture

    Rugged case manufacturer G-Form sought to prove its hardware protection credentials this week, launching an iPad into space before letting it plummet to Earth. Needless to say, the fondleslab survived the fall - we probably wouldn't write the story otherwise. The company wrapped an iPad in its Extreme Edge case and, using a …

    reghardware 6 Jan 17:01

  • Microsoft's master stroke: Pay store staff per WinPhone sold

    Open... and Shut Redmond fights back with its favourite weapon: money

    Microsoft, which has suffered years of irrelevance in mobile, has a new game plan, which looks suspiciously like its old game plan: pay retail employees to sell Windows. Microsoft isn't alone in trying to find incentives with partners to unseat Apple, but the bluntness of its approach will irk many as classic Microsoft. With a …

    Developer 6 Jan 17:33

  • Enterprise and govt chief Bell exits Dell

    Felice gets consolidated top sales job

    Dell has done a little executive boardroom chair-moving this morning, announcing that Paul Bell, a long-time executive who has run various units of the company and who is currently president of its Public and Large Enterprise group, will be departing the company. Bell has been at Dell for 15 years and has previously run its …

    CIO 6 Jan 18:07

  • Free iPhone 4S deal tempts Chinese fanbois

    Updated Two or three-year contract, zero dollars down

    China Unicom is offering a no-money-up-front iPhone 4S to Chinese customers in a deal that is sure to make iPhone users worldwide feel a wee bit underappreciated and overcharged. If your Chinese reading skills are superior to those of your Reg reporter, you can find details on China Unicom's website. If not, you can attempt to …

    Mobile 6 Jan 18:40

  • Symantec downplays source-code trophy theft

    Indian hackers posted 5-year-old Norton code

    Symantec has confirmed earlier versions of its anti-virus source code have leaked, following a security breach of what the company said was the network of a "third party entity" rather than their own. The admission follow claims by an Indian hacking group that it had accessed source code used in the company's flagship Norton …

    Developer 6 Jan 19:03

  • US economy hands IT a mixed bag in December

    Add jobs here, cut them there

    It looks like the IT industry is faring no better or worse than the US economy as a whole when it comes to creating jobs. Private sector companies in the United States added 212,000 jobs in December, to some a sign that the economy is improving and to others that it is just bumbling along. Governments at the local, state, and …

    Business 6 Jan 19:13

  • Sir Howard's days as Sony prez said to be numbered

    Younger blood may lead the struggling company

    Sir Howard Stringer may be out of his job as president of Sony, according to a report in the Nikkei Business Daily. Stringer, who will turn 70 next month, is said to be replaced by Sony's consumer products chief, Kazuo Hirai. Hirai joined Sony in 1984 on the music side of the business, but made his name with the company in its …

    Business 6 Jan 20:27

  • Google Maps takes scenic route

    Take the long way home…

    A few days ago, this author noticed some oddities in Google Maps: it seemed to be unable to route relatively short distances on major highways. At the time, I didn’t think too much of it: I posted a short Tweet (below) and left it at that. However, it now turns out that the vaunted map platform is giving all kinds of strange …

    Bootnotes 6 Jan 20:39

  • Duff Russian Mars probe spotted flying in reverse

    Video shows why contact with Phobos-Grunt failed

    A veteran skywatcher has captured a video of the doomed Russian Martian space probe Phobos-Grunt that provides evidence of why ground control has only sporadically been able to contact it. "The images show that the Phobos-Grunt is moving backwards, with the solar panels deployed but not lightened by the Sun," French …

    Space 6 Jan 21:10