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12th January 2012 Archive

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  • Apple to stage New York education event next week

    Big Apple launch in the Big Apple

    Apple has sent out media invitations to a launch event in New York on January 19 that will announce a new initiative aimed at the education sector. Cupertino is being typically mum about the content, saying only that it is an “education event” and will kick off at 10am Eastern time at the city’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. …

    Business 12 Jan 00:35

  • Lindy wireless extender and projection server

    Review Putting on a display

    With the demise of the traditional overhead projector, conference rooms and the like are typically found equipped with a multitude of easily accessible and switchable AV inputs for hassle-free presentations. Yet not all facilities offer cabling contentment and for the poorly-wired projectionist, the Lindy Wireless Presentation …

    reghardware 12 Jan 07:00

  • Go Daddy not liable for cybersquatting, US court rules

    Oil company domain name 'lookalikes' redirected users to smut site

    Go Daddy was not liable for a form of trademark infringement when a system that the domain name registrar operates was used to redirect visitors from allegedly 'cybersquatting' web domain names to a pornographic website, a US court has ruled. Petronas, the national oil company of Malaysia, had argued that Go Daddy was in …

    Law 12 Jan 08:02

  • French get unlimited mobile for €20

    Free Mobile's price plan: 60 minutes a month for nothing at all

    Disruptive French broadband provider Free Mobile has announced pricing for its new mobile venture, and it's cheap, really cheap, thanks to lots of Wi-Fi and femtocell offloading. For €20 a month the customer gets unlimited calls within France and to 39 other countries including the USA – and unlimited data too, with the price …

    Mobile 12 Jan 08:31

  • Davos report: Cyber-attack risk to global stability is real

    Not as menacing as the sharpening economic pyramid though

    Cyber-attacks against governments and businesses are among the top five risks in the world in terms of likelihood, according to the startlingly obvious World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Risks for 2012 report. According to the international organisation, famous for its annual conferences held in the Swiss resort of Davos, …

    Security 12 Jan 09:03

  • Bomb threat lobbed at Finnish anti-piracy squad

    Freetard fury after The Pirate Bay is blocked

    A Finnish anti-piracy group said yesterday that it had received a bomb threat for its role in blocking The Pirate Bay in Finland. Banning the torrent site has set off a train of reprisals, including the bomb threat. The Copyright, Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC) told The Register that it had received an email – …

    Hosting 12 Jan 09:33

  • Vauxhall prices up Ampera e-car for Blighty

    Detroit Motor Show Power package?

    Vauxhall has priced up the Ampera, the e-car it'll be putting in showrooms later this year. The Ampera will set punters back £29,995, though that's after knocking off the government's £5000 e-car grant contribution. The car is the European version of the Chevrolet Volt already on sale in States. The standard on-road pack …

    reghardware 12 Jan 09:49

  • IK caters for mobile musicians with iOS peripherals

    CES 2012 Mic, stomp, mix

    Smartphone accessories are ten a penny at CES 2012 this week, so it comes as little surprise that iOS peripheral specialist IK Multimedia has a few newbies up its sleeve too. The company introduced some entries into its iRig line, with products to cater for the mobile musician. First on the list is the iRig Mic Cast, a …

    reghardware 12 Jan 09:51

  • Samsung Remote

    iOS App of the Week AV kit control over Wi-Fi

    We’ve reviewed a number of gadgets, such as the Gear4 Unity Remote, that allow you to use an iOS device as a universal remote for your TV and other AV kit. iDevices don’t have IR transmitters built into them so the Unity and its rivals all have to encompass both an app and a separate piece of hardware that acts as an IR beamer …

    reghardware 12 Jan 10:00

  • Xerox CEO's cure for US educational woes: 'Cool' and cash

    CES 2012 Put down that basketball and pick up those books

    The Chairman and CEO of Xerox believes that one way to fix the US educational system is to make science, technology, engineering, and math "cool". Another is money. "We have to celebrate the things that we desire," Ursula Burns told her audience at a keynote panel Wednesday morning at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las …

    Government 12 Jan 10:13

  • Honda NSX reborn as a hybrid

    Detroit Motor Show Will still go like stink

    Don't let the Acura badges fool you, what you are looking at here is the new Honda NSX, the long overdue replacement for what many people regard as the finest handling road car ever made. Under the striking bodywork sits a mid-mounted V-6 VTEC engine and what Honda is calling a Sport Hybrid SH-AWD - Super Handling All-Wheel …

    reghardware 12 Jan 10:26

  • Hubble probes star death blast clue to universe riddle

    Pic 9bn-year-old supernova could explain dark energy

    Astronomers have photographed the faint embers of a star explosion that happened 9 billion years ago. The pic, snapped by the Hubble Telescope and published this month, is particularly significant because it helps boffins measure the rate at which the universe is expanding. This gives them a handle on understanding the …

    Space 12 Jan 10:42

  • Ofcom sides with Orange over price hikes

    Operator action will not be probed

    Ofcom has ruled that it will not investigate Orange's controversial 2011 price-hike as the carrier's move is unlikely to have breached legislation. The industry regulator had contemplated action after Orange's sudden changes to pay-monthly contracts left customers fuming. An Orange spokesperson told Reg Hardware at the time …

    reghardware 12 Jan 10:48

  • Acorn King Moir: BBC Micros, Ataris and 'BS' marketing

    'Intel processors were awful'

    One company you'll be familiar with, and the other less so, yet both were successful pioneers in the personal computing revolution of the 1980s and both were founded by ferociously talented geeks. The first is Microsoft, co-founded by Bill Gates, who capitalised on his initial success in operating systems with MS-DOS and …

    Developer 12 Jan 11:01

  • Toyota teases next-gen Prius styling

    Detroit Motor Show Hydrogen hatchback too

    Toyota has offered a glimpse of its next-generation Prius at the North American International Motor Show in the form of the NS4 plug-in hybrid concept. Altogether more bold - not to mention larger - than the current Prius, the NS4 is only intended to offer a taste of the design language that will be used in the next e-car, …

    reghardware 12 Jan 11:09

  • Republican pol rips online piracy bill, defends Google

    CES 2012 Issa: 'SOPA? Throw it away'

    At least one powerful Republican member of the US House of Representatives takes a dim view of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) wending it way through the House. "The bottom line is you've got to throw it away," said Darrell Issa (R-CA), an 11-year veteran of the House Judiciary Committee, chairman of the House Oversight …

    Government 12 Jan 11:21

  • US killer spy drone controls switch to Linux

    Flying assassins upgraded after Windows virus outbreak

    The control of US military spy drones appears to have shifted from Windows to Linux following an embarrassing malware infection. Ground control systems at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, which commands the killer unmanned aircraft, became infected with a virus last September. In a statement at the time the Air Force dismissed …

    CIO 12 Jan 11:42

  • LG touts tellies with cloud-gaming capabilities

    CES 2012 While OnLive gets into GoogleTV

    LG is to build the Gaikai cloud gaming platform into future LG smart TVs. All LG Cinema 3D TVs launched in 2012 will support Gaikai, a service the manufacturer claims runs on a "much more powerful hardware in the cloud than today's PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360" consoles. LG's TVs need no additional hardware and will run the …

    reghardware 12 Jan 11:52

  • Banana war: Velvet Underground shoots holes in Apple bag

    Sues Andy Warhol Foundation over artwork deal with iPhone case-maker

    Legendary New York band The Velvet Underground has filed a lawsuit against the Andy Warhol Foundation, after the deceased artist's company agreed to a licensing deal with a case- and sleeve-maker for Apple products. The pop group, fronted by Lou Reed, has accused the foundation of infringing the trademark for the famous banana …

    Entertainment 12 Jan 12:04

  • Philips Cinema 21:9 Gold 50in ultra widescreen TV

    Review The film buffs' telly gets cheaper... and smaller

    You’ve got to hand it to the guys at Philips – they’re plucky. They introduce Ambilight, the strange but effective backlighting effect which plays coloured lights on the wall behind your telly for a more relaxing, more immersive experience. Then they create a TV that’s super-wide, perfect for film aficionados. No major company …

    reghardware 12 Jan 12:13

  • Compellent co-founder dismounts disk biz

    Storage vet and CEO Phil Soran heads for retirement

    Compellent co-founder and CEO Phil Soran has announced he is retiring on 1 March, the integration of Compellent into Dell having been more or less completed. The announcement was made at Dell's Storage Forum in London today. Soran stayed on for a year after the acquisition by Dell to bed the acquisition down, and he feels …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 12:24

  • Fujifilm unveils X-Pro1 APS-C compact system camera

    CES 2012 Optics options add a new twist

    Fujifilm's main focus has been on the X-Pro1 at CES this week, the latest addition to its X-range of cameras. Equipped with an APS-C sensor the X-Pro1 offers interchangeable lenses for the first time. While Nikon, Olympus and Panasonic seem content to slug it out with smaller sensors on their compact system cameras, the …

    reghardware 12 Jan 12:27

  • Samsung loads Netflix onto smart TVs

    CES 2012 Firmware update required

    Samsung has added Netflix to its SmartTV connected telly UI. From today, a Netflix icon will appear in the SmartTV UI's Recommended section. To accompany the addition, Samsung has also updated its connected TV firmware from version 001018 to 001021, but this may not happen before your see the Netflix icon and are tempted to …

    reghardware 12 Jan 12:29

  • Google's social search mash gets EPIC FAIL

    Privacy warriors mull FTC complaint

    Building an internet within the internet isn't as easy for Google as it once was - and critics of Mountain View's latest efforts to make its search estate more "social" are becoming increasingly vocal. Respected online privacy campaigner Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is expected to complain to the US Federal …

    Platform 12 Jan 12:48

  • Best-selling games of 2011 revealed

    Guess which

    With World+Dog's attention focused on the new gadgets on show at CES this week, games trade organisation UKIE decided the time was right to reveal which were the UK's top selling games of 2011. It should come as no surprise who shot to first place. For the third year running, Activision's Call of Duty series snapped up the …

    reghardware 12 Jan 12:53

  • Scammers punt bogus pink Facebook makeover

    Lame lure promises to banish 'boring blue'

    The latest survey scam doing the rounds on Facebook works by falsely offering to change the profile of prospective marks from blue to red, black or shocking pink. Typical lures state: “Switch to Pink Facebook (Limited Time!) [LINK] Say goodbye to the boring blue profile and say hello to the pink profile!!” If users follow …

    Networks 12 Jan 13:02

  • Judge bans stolen student sex pics sharing on BitTorrent

    Net privacy game changed by landmark ruling against seeders

    Conservative MP Louise Mensch has welcomed a landmark ruling in an internet bullying case as an advance for individual liberty. The case involved an anonymous student, known for the purposes of the case as "AMP", whose photographs were distributed by P2P software after her mobile phone was lost or stolen. The photos, described …

    Law 12 Jan 13:22

  • Nuclear Mars tank thrusts hard into perfect position

    NASA shows Russians how Phobos-Grunt should have worked

    Unlike the broken-down Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, the NASA Mars Science Laboratory is on track for touching down on the Red Planet after smoothly pulling off some well-choreographed thrusts. In its biggest manoeuvre yet, the floating nuclear science tank - which is carrying shiny new rover Curiosity - fired up to eight …

    Space 12 Jan 13:34

  • Ofcom sets out spectrum mega-auction, again

    2Mbps to everyone who can get a voice call

    Ofcom is proposing greater coverage requirements, but fewer ownership caps and simpler lot sizes, in its latest round of proposals for the forthcoming mega-auction. The proposals include pushing 2Mbps of data to everywhere you can get a 2G voice call today – which should cover 98 per cent of the country – and capping overall …

    Mobile 12 Jan 13:46

  • Footie club sacks striker for homophobic tweet

    Own goal scored in jibe at gay rugby player

    Oxford City have sacked ageing striker Lee Steele after he posted a homophobic tweet. Steele, 38, wrote a tweet about former Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas entering Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother house that stated "I wouldn't fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas #padlockmyarse", The Guardian reports. The remark earned …

    Bootnotes 12 Jan 14:02

  • Microsoft postpones plans for web telly service

    Content companies wanted too much money

    Microsoft has postponed plans to launch an online subscription service for TV shows and movies because new content costs too much to license. According to folk familiar with the talks between Microsoft and content providers, the high cost of the material made the service unviable, Reuters reports. "They built Microsoft TV, …

    reghardware 12 Jan 14:03

  • Microsoft sharpening axe for marketing heads - report

    Hundreds of jobs at stake in cultural revolution, say sources

    Another year and another shake-up is coming to Microsoft. A restructuring of the team responsible for how Redmond is perceived and sells itself will be announced in the next 30 days, Bloomberg reports. "Hundreds" of staffers in Microsoft's Central Marketing Group (CMG) may find themselves on the business end of an axe wielded …

    CIO 12 Jan 14:32

  • Gartner: Ultrabooks aren't tickling anyone's fancy

    Just as world PC market shrinks 1.4% in Q4

    The global PC market contracted in the last three months of 2011 and Ultrabooks failed to take off, Gartner's preliminary results showed yesterday. A rise in the demand for PCs during the quarter in both Asia and Latin America was not enough to offset the drop-off when compared to the same period in 2010 in the United States ( …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 15:04

  • Germany lifts Computacenter out of UK slump

    Across the channel and into the trees

    Computacenter saw UK revenues plunge 13 per cent last year, but says growth in Germany and France more than offset its home-turf woes. The mega-reseller's continental performance prompted it to say in a pre-close trading statement that it was entering 2012 in a "positive mood" despite the "challenging customer capital …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 15:37

  • Bookies set odds on Apple NYC launch

    Wagers of sin

    With so many flooding the interweb on a daily basis, it can be rather difficult to assess the legitimacy of Apple rumours. But you can always trust a bookie, right? Paddy Power has started taking wagers on what the subject of Apple's upcoming announcement in New York will be. With fingers pointing towards an 'education event' …

    reghardware 12 Jan 15:52

  • Activist hedge fund Taconic ups CA stake

    Wringing out the cash

    New York-based hedge fund Taconic Capital Advisors has upped its stake in systems software maker CA Technologies in an effort to convince the company to wring more profits from its books. CA is in its quiet period ahead of reporting its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 ended in December, which happens on …

    Cloud Business 12 Jan 16:31

  • Stratfor slaps website back online after Anon mega-hack

    CEO: Hacktivists can't silence us - and soz about the credit cards

    Stratfor has restored its website to normal operation on Wednesday, more than two weeks after a hack attack by Anonymous that made the global intelligence analyst firm a byword for information insecurity. Members of Anonymous made off with stolen emails and credit-card data after breaking into Stratfor's chronically insecure …

    Security 12 Jan 16:58

  • Oracle punts carrier-grade Sparc T4 servers

    Revs up TimesTen in-memory database

    Sun Microsystems used to be the dot in dot-com, and sold billions and billions of dollars of Sparc/Solaris gear during the first waves of the commercial Internet build out. While Oracle cannot repeat that history, because of the advent of the commodity x86 servers and commercial Linux distros, Oracle nonetheless can sell …

    Servers 12 Jan 20:17

  • Cryptome releases list of social sites monitored by DHS

    Situational awareness in a social media age

    Venerable internet repository Cryptome has released a list of social media web sites that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) monitors to gauge the mood of the online populace. The document lists 96 sites, including social media, blogs and news aggregators, which have been monitored since January 2011. Almost all require …

    Government 12 Jan 21:10

  • NBN Co unclogs sign-up pipeline

    Wholesale contract no longer sucks, it seems

    The drawn-out negotiations over the National Broadband Network’s wholesale contract offering have concluded with a rush of ISPs agreeing to an amended contract announced yesterday. Wrangling over contract details such as liability in dealings with customers, force majure events and other legal details had been painted by …

    Business 12 Jan 21:30

  • SMS emergency management goes national

    Telstra first to provide location-based alerts

    Location-based warnings via SMS will become a feature of Australia’s emergency management system this year, with Telstra the first carrier to commit to a system on a national basis. After signing an agreement late last year with the Victoria state government, Telstra is now preparing to build the capability into its network, …

    Government 12 Jan 22:00

  • Aussie fraud buster seized by global rival

    Founder joins as global CTO

    Cybercrime buster ThreatMetrix has added Australian malware protector TrustDefender to its global fold. Following the acquisition TrustDefender will operate under the ThreatMetrix name with global operations in the United States, Australia and Europe. The corporate headquarters will be located in San Jose, California. The co- …

    Business 12 Jan 22:30

  • Oz skeptic offers prize if Rossi’s E-cat works

    Presentation in hippie-ville

    Australian entrepreneur, philanthropist, skeptic, aviator and eccentric Dick Smith has offered $AU200,000 for proof that the Andrea Rossi “energy catalyzer” actually works. With a local in the town of Mullumbimby hoping to pitch the E-cat to locals as an attractive investment, Smith has offered to send along Australian …

    Science 12 Jan 23:10

  • Ron Paul’s web campaign mired in pokey pages

    Bettered by Romney (again), POTUS not much better

    An analysis of the web-page performance of candidates in the 2012 US presidential elections shows disappointing results for Ron Paul, supposedly one of the more internet-savvy candidates in the race. Web-optimization specialists Yottaa studied the composition, load speeds, and overall time before a candidate’s web site could …

    Developer 12 Jan 23:34

  • Imagination uncloaks 'over 20X faster' smartphone GPU

    CES 2012 'Rogue' embraces heterogeneous future

    Imagination Technologies has revealed a pair of new GPU IP cores that it claims will supply new heights of performance to the likes of Apple, TI, Samsung and others who use the UK company's low-power graphics cores. "You are now talking about, from a gigaflop point of view, supercomputing in hundreds of milliwatts," …

    PCs & Chips 12 Jan 23:46