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26th January 2012 Archive

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  • Citrix rides the virty desktop wave

    Thanks for Windows 7, Microsoft – can I have another?

    The maturation of desktop virtualization was coincidentally, and fortunately in the case of the Wednesday's financial results from Citrix Systems, timed more or less with the launch of Windows 7 desktops two years ago. The results show Citrix has been steadily capitalizing on its $500m acquisition of XenSource and others. For …

    Financial News 26 Jan 2012, 00:34

  • Scientists shift electron orbits for atomic storage and quantum computing

    Jupiter’s orbital mechanics inspires mesoscopic physicists

    Scientists have found a way to stabilize and regulate the orbit of electrons in an atom, after drawing inspiration from the orbit of asteroids around Jupiter. In 1913 Danish physicist Neils Bohr’s eponymous Model postulated atoms were formed of electrons orbiting a nucleus, much like planets around the sun – only using …

    Science 26 Jan 2012, 00:51

  • Red Hat juices speed freak MRG Linux

    Shadowman gets the message

    Red Hat updated its core Enterprise Linux operating system stack to 6.2 in December and its Enterprise Virtualization commercial-grade KVM server hypervisor to 3.0 last week. Now Shadowman has polished up a new release of a special stack of Linux and systems software called MRG aimed at hard-core messaging, real-time, and high …

    HPC 26 Jan 2012, 01:05

  • Netflix vs Lovefilm

    IPTV Week Streaming giants go head to head

    This month, at long last, US video streaming giant Netflix finally arrived on UK shores, with a £5.99 all-you-can-eat offering. It was swiftly matched by the local incumbent, Lovefilm. The Amazon-owned company pitched a streaming-only option at an introductory £4.99. But which is the best option for Reg Hardware readers, and …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 07:00

  • DWP's Work Programme IT already broken at launch

    National Audit Office: Functionality still not available

    The IT underpinning the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) Work Programme was not fully functional when the scheme was launched and some of its key functionality is still not available, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report. The Work Programme, introduced in 2011, was intended to replace almost all welfare to …

    Government 26 Jan 2012, 08:02

  • 1 euro in every 7 spent on a Visa card

    Digital wallet coming this year

    Visa will be launching a digital wallet this year, and expects to see half of Europe's transactions being done on a mobile phone by 2020, but plastic cards are looking good too, according to Visa Europe's Annual Report. It's no surprise that Visa is planning a 2012 launch; it has already announced that there will be a special …

    Financial News 26 Jan 2012, 08:58

  • Microsoft's magic bullet for Azure: Red Hat Linux

    Analysis Cloud biz falls short of $80m revenue target

    If Microsoft loves money, and it does, then making Linux publicly available on its proprietary Azure cloud can't come soon enough. Last June Microsoft ran a build of Linux on its Windows Azure compute fabric in the labs of the Server and Tools division, which is responsible for its cloud. What flavour of Linux? Red Hat, …

    Developer 26 Jan 2012, 09:32

  • Apple takes smartphone lead

    Top of the US chart in Q4

    Apple topped the US smartphone chart in the final three months of 2011, pushing past all its Android rivals. Well, just - and it's losing ground in the tablet arena. Ask Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, a market watcher, how much of the US smartphone market Apple took in Q4 2011, and it'll put the figure at 44.9 per cent, Reuters …

    Phones 26 Jan 2012, 09:51

  • BBC's images of murdered infant did not breach privacy, copyright

    Court rules: Happier times snaps from trial were in public interest

    Copyright and privacy law do not prevent the BBC from publishing images of a murdered child, a Scottish criminal appeals court has ruled. The High Court of Justiciary ruled that the BBC could have access to six photographs of Declan Hainey in a "healthy and apparently happy" state in order to include the images in a report on …

    Law 26 Jan 2012, 10:02

  • Apple loses ground to Android in tablet biz

    But sells so many iPads it needn't care

    Apple may have topped the US smartphone chart in Q4 2011, thanks to the iPhone 4S, but it needs a revamped iPad if it's to reverse the trend in the tablet market. According to Strategy Analytics, a market watcher, world tablet shipments topped 26.8m units in the last three months of 2011 - 66.9m in the year as a whole - giving …

    Tablets 26 Jan 2012, 10:16

  • Boffins one step closer to invisible shed

    Successfully cloak 3D object from microwaves

    Invisibility-investigating boffins have managed for the first time to cloak a three-dimensional object in free space – but only from microwaves. Credit: D Rainwater et al 2012 New Journal of Physics (click to enlarge) Rather than bending light around the object, an 18cm cylindrical tube, the researchers used "plasmonic …

    Science 26 Jan 2012, 10:20

  • Foxconn tooling up for iPhone 5

    Bigger body, bigger screen, says factory insider

    Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn is preparing its production lines for the iPhone 5, a company mole has claimed. The throat, who previously told 9to5Mac at the end of summer 2011 that the iPhone 5 would not be launched in the near future, told the website that the new model will be longer and wider than the iPhone 4S - …

    Phones 26 Jan 2012, 10:29

  • Pentax peddles snapper for portrait pundits

    Taken to the side

    Pentax snapped into action today with the launch of a compact camera geared up more than usual for vertically orientated shots. The 16Mp Optio VS20 clicks with a photographer's penchant for portraits by including a second shutter release button, zoom wheel and even tripod slot, for use when the snapper is on its side. The …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 10:36

  • Google Maps to dish out disaster alerts

    Nearest McDonalds is... oh, there's an earthquake comi-... aaaah

    Google tried to claw back the moral high ground on Wednesday by adding a new emergency alert service to its popular mapping tool, designed to give the public up-to-the-minute information on serious weather, public safety and earthquake-related events. At the moment, the new feature is only available in the US, however. In a …

    Applications 26 Jan 2012, 10:39

  • Billions of net-ready boxes in homes by 2016

    IPTV week Will anyone still watch broadcast TV?

    Punters may not be turning to internet-connected smart TVs in their droves, but the near future looks set to be a bumper time for gadgets that bridge the gap between the net and ordinary HD TVs. US market watcher NPD In-Stat reckons that there were some 256.8m devices - among them set-top boxes, games consoles, Blu-ray Disc …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 11:02

  • Ten exabytes wedged into a rather large box by Cleversafe

    But with 4,500,000 drives, it's gonna cost ya

    It must surely be some sort of landmark? Object storage supplier Cleversafe now has a 10-exabyte system customers can buy. Cleversafe reckons the largest single storage box out there is a 3.6EB tape library, SpectraLogic's T-Finity. It now has a tape-beating system for storing data, it would argue, because it provides online …

    Storage 26 Jan 2012, 11:02

  • Apple and Google ramp up proxy war

    Motorola flings another 6 patent suits at the Fruity One

    Apple and Google might not be facing each other across a courtroom, but they're fighting just the same, with the Chocolate Factory wielding Motorola against the fondleslab-maker. Motorola has filed another half dozen patent infringements against Apple, this time in Florida (Texas is probably full). Apple's iCloud is accused of …

    Law 26 Jan 2012, 11:14

  • TVCatchup

    iOS App of the Week Live telly beamed to your iDevice

    I don’t know how I ever lived without the BBC iPlayer. And, of course, there are now similar catch-up TV apps available from many UK TV companies. The drawback with these apps is that they’re tied to specific channels or broadcasters, which means you can’t hop from channel to channel within any single app. Fortunately, an …

    Phones 26 Jan 2012, 11:27

  • Flag-waving Lego Canuck soars to 80,000ft

    Canadian teens stake claim on upper atmosphere

    A couple of Canadian teenagers have staked their country's claim on the upper atmosphere by sending a flag-waving Legonaut to 80,000ft (24,384m). Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, spent 400 Canadian bucks putting together their high altitude package: three stills cameras, one video camera and a GPS-enabled mobile phone …

    SPB 26 Jan 2012, 11:29

  • Symantec's profits up in calm third quarter

    Growth in security and compliance keeps ship steady

    CEO Enrique Salem stands crisp and smart on the poop deck of the good ship Symantec, looking back at a straight course and ahead to more growth. It's a pretty unexciting third quarter story really. Third quarter revenues for the security, storage and server company were $1.75bn – 7 per cent up on a yearly comparison. Profits …

    Security 26 Jan 2012, 11:46

  • Nintendo cuts full-year forecast – by BILLIONS

    Super Mario-maker hopes Wii U release can help it power-up

    The mighty yen and weak sales have combined to take a whack out of Nintendo, forcing the Japanese gaming firm to forecast an even bigger full-year loss. The Wii and 3DS maker had previously estimated a net loss for the financial year ending in March of ¥20 billion (£164.2m), but it's now preparing itself to lose up to a …

    Games 26 Jan 2012, 12:03

  • EMC moves into LSI WarpDrive

    Mister Sulu, stand by to make your manoeuvres ...

    LSI WarpDrive solid state drives will be used by EMC in its Project Lightning server flash product. LSI announced the EMC design win in a press release about its 2011 financial results. The SLP-300 WarpDrive is a 100, 200 or 300GB unit using SLC flash and delivering 150,000 random read IOPS (4K blocks), 190,000 random writes …

    Servers 26 Jan 2012, 12:18

  • Archos 35 Smart Home Phone

    Review Skype savvy Android DECT set

    The last Android-based home phone that landed on my desk came from iDect – that’s Binatone to the rest of us. Frankly, I was less than impressed by it's lack of integration with Gmail contacts. Now, Archos is out to crack the same nut with its 35 Smart Home Phone which adds quite a few refinements. Household Android: Archos …

    Phones 26 Jan 2012, 12:30

  • Nintendo confirms Wii U launch for 2012

    Clear the slate

    In a bid to turn around huge losses, Nintendo has confirmed the Wii U will indeed hit shelves before Christmas 2012. During an earnings call in Japan, company chief Satoru Iwata broke the news we all suspected and announced that the Wii U will ship late in the year to prominent regions, the UK included. Following its debut …

    Games 26 Jan 2012, 12:36

  • Russian supply ship heads for ISS, space garbage crashes into Pacific

    Vittles, manoeuvring fuel up: Rubbish bins down

    A Russian "Progress" supply ship has successfully lifted off bound for the International Space Station orbiting the Earth, even as another departed the station crammed with rubbish destined for fiery destruction during re-entry above the Pacific. Progress 46 took off in chilly winter weather from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 5 …

    Science 26 Jan 2012, 12:58

  • FetchTV owner looks for buyer

    IPTV Week Video-on-demand, set-top box biz up for sale

    The future of the FetchTV video-on-demand service was cast into question today when parent company IP Vision revealed it has entered administration. IP Vision said it has begun to seek a buyer for both the SmartBox set-top box tech and the FetchTV streaming business. A sale "represents the best means of maximising value for …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 13:04

  • Small pile of cash, dying platform: 2011 is bad news for Nokia

    Sales, profits, margins, all spiralling down

    Nokia's results for 2011 show the company has shipped a million Lumia handsets and has cash in the bank, but other than that there's nothing good to report. The results (PDF, dull, dull, dull) show last year's operating profit of €2,070m turned into a loss of €1,073m, based on sales which were down almost 10 per cent compared …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2012, 13:32

  • Big biz BlackBerry refuseniks adopt Apple over Android

    Enterprise iPhone activations dwarf rivals

    Smartphone owners working for big business are activating far more iOS devices than they are Android ones - at least those who employed by firms using Good Technology's corporate email system are. Good this week revealed iPhone 4 activations - the process of tying a phone or tablet to Good's managed push email, calendar and …

    Tablets 26 Jan 2012, 13:39

  • Korean boffins make e-books more like real ones

    Paperback swiper

    Korean researchers have developed an app which makes reading e-books more like flicking through the pages of the real thing. The Smart eBook interface prototype from the KAIST Institute of Information Technology Convergence is an iPad app packed with extra gestures for finer page control. It allows users to turn pages …

    Tablets 26 Jan 2012, 14:17

  • Apple dishes out cheap, tasty Macs 'n slabs to staff

    Employees sink teeth into hefty $500 Macbook discounts

    As if the joy of working for Apple wasn't reward enough, all Apple employees will now get a $500 discount off Macs and $250 off iPads. CEO Tim Cook played Santa Claus at Apple's "Town Hall" meeting with employees in Cupertino yesterday, 9 to 5 Mac reported, handing out the kit discounts to staff as a celebration of Apple's …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 14:47

  • WD's MyBook takes a Thunderbolt to the chest

    2-drive external storage system for mega-fast read/writes

    WD has announced its new Thunderbolt-bolstered MyBook, telling us that we can soon eyeball the super speeded-up gear at a demo at the Macworld/iWorld show. The company said: "Thunderbolt technology is capable of producing up to 10Gbps of throughput on each of two channels in both directions. "Users can experience very fast …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 15:02

  • Blackhole crimeware kit drives web threat spike

    Report: Conficker also still causing mayhem

    Fake anti-virus scams are on the wane but drive-by-download threats have rocketed over the past year thanks to the hugely popular Blackhole crimeware kit, while Conficker remains prolific some three years after its release, according to Sophos. The UK-based security vendor said in its Security Threat Report 2012 (PDF) released …

    Security 26 Jan 2012, 15:27

  • Retailer punts new videogame 'rentals' for a fiver

    Fortnight deadline

    High street retailer Game introduced a scheme today which allows customers to rent videogames for a fiver - provided they return the title within two weeks. The Game "Fun for a Fiver" offer kicks off today and runs until the end of February. Punters that buy selected titles will be able to hand the game back within two weeks …

    Games 26 Jan 2012, 15:54

  • New Earth-observing satellite snaps 'blue marble' shot

    Three-month-old Suomi NPP captures hi-res Earth pic

    The newly renamed Suomi NPP satellite has snapped a hi-res composite of the Earth from a number of swaths over the surface taken on 4 January. Image of Earth from the Suomi NPP. Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, or …

    Science 26 Jan 2012, 15:55

  • Google exec questions Reding's 'Right to be forgotten' pledge

    CPDP Says certain aspects of article 17 are 'unworkable'

    Google's privacy policy counsel in Brussels has questioned certain parts of European Commissioner Viviane Reding's freshly tabled draft bill on data protection law within the EU. Marisa Jimenez, who was speaking at the Computer, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference in the Belgian capital today, expressed concern about …

    Law 26 Jan 2012, 16:26

  • Rhapsody nabs Napster UK

    Rubber brand

    Napster UK has a new owner: Rhapsody, the company that killed the service off in the States. Music subscription service Rhapsody today said it had acquired Napster International, which runs the erstwhile P2P music industry hate-figure in the UK and Germany. Napster International was kept separate from Napster US, which was …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 16:31

  • Google emails Virgin Media subscribers ... about privacy

    Infuriated customers want to know how the Goog got their addresses

    Fuming Virgin Media customers have taken to the telco's forum to complain that their email addresses have been used by Google, instead of being kept private. The customers got a surprise email from Google today, who seemed to think they were all users. The Chocolate Factory is in the middle of updating its users about its new …

    Networks 26 Jan 2012, 16:57

  • NEC slashes 10,000 jobs – blames Thai floods, smartphone slump

    Japanese IT giant a victim of Apple's success

    NEC is set to slash 10,000 jobs including 3,000 unlucky employees from its workforce outside of Japan, after its revised forecast revealed the Japanese electronics giant would make a year end net loss of ¥100bn (£820m). The firm did not reveal exactly where in the business the jobs would go, and said the overseas cuts would be …

    Financial News 26 Jan 2012, 17:26

  • Intel bags $120m patent hoard from RealNetworks

    190 patents, 170 applications, and 'next-generation' video codec

    In the latest maneuver of the tech industry's ongoing patent wars, Intel has struck a $120m deal with RealNetworks to purchase 190 patents and 170 patent applications, along with what both companies define as "next-generation video codec software". "Selling these patents to Intel unlocks some of the substantial and unrealized …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 19:05

  • iPad Fleshlight lets fanbois express their love

    NSFW - UPDATED Coming soon: Fondleslab f**king

    A conceptual design for a new iPad case would let Apple fanbois get very personal indeed with their favorite fondleslab. The Fleshlight iPad holder comes to us from the fertile, febrile mind of prolific designer, author, recipe-creator, and opinionater Tv Slicèdbread Miller. The device – currently only in conceptual-design …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2012, 19:56

  • Mellanox shrugs off Intel's InfiniBand buy

    Turns in good Q4, will grow in 2012 despite price cuts

    Having bought rival Voltaire, Mellanox Technologies has pretty much ruled the InfiniBand adapter and switching roost for the past several years. But this week Intel shelled out $125m to acquire the InfiniBand chip, adapter, and switch businesses from QLogic, and the big question now is: what does this mean for Mellanox? …

    Data Networking 26 Jan 2012, 20:37

  • UK probes Snickers over 'celebrity' Twitter adverts

    Updated Rio Ferdinand and Jordan fingered for promo tweets

    The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to investigate a promotional campaign by confectionery giant Mars, which hired B-list celebrities to push its Snickers candy bars. “Following two complaints, the ASA has launched a formal investigation into tweets by Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand to establish whether Mars’ @ …

    Media 26 Jan 2012, 21:05

  • Digislide slips into administration

    ASX listed projector start-up hits the wall

    Award winning digital technology start-up Digislide has been plunged into administration after collapsing in a mountain of debt and irate shareholders. The South Australian tech company, which was armed with a slew of innovation awards for its digital mini-projector technology, went into administration in December appointing …

    Business 26 Jan 2012, 21:38

  • Nikon compact, only $AU100k

    Deal too good to miss

    We’re all familiar with the syndrome: someone forgets to fill in the price field in a database, and all of a sudden, an online store is offering products at zero dollars. The usual outcome is that a few users – or a few dozen – make the purchase, then angrily demand that the site honour the purchases they made; the site will …

    Bootnotes 26 Jan 2012, 21:45

  • IBM demos new nanotech

    Carbon nanotube, graphene research boost transistors' future

    Somehow, we still manage to inch-out the limits of Moore’s Law: in a double-whammy to end the week, IBM has demonstrated the smallest carbon nanotube transistor, and has claimed the world’s fastest graphene transistor. The graphene transistor is something of a coup: its 100 GHz capability is the fastest frequency cutoff yet …

    Science 26 Jan 2012, 22:00

  • Gongs ring in Oz tech sector

    Geeks make the Order of Australia

    The father of 802.11a wireless chipsets, Dr David Skellern, is one of a bunch of tech-sector luminaries to be gonged in the Australia Day honours list. The researcher and later NICTA CEO (from 2005 to 2011) was awarded a Fellow Officer of the Order of Australia. He was awarded for his efforts in science, engineering and …

    Business 26 Jan 2012, 22:30

  • Two Megaupload execs bailed

    No net for Batato or van der Kolk

    Two of the Megaupload executives arrested in last week’s raid on the company in New Zealand have been granted bail. Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato will have to submit to strict bail conditions including electronic monitoring. The two, who won’t be released until police check their bail addresses, have also been banned from …

    Law 26 Jan 2012, 23:00