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30th January 2012 Archive

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  • Tilera preps many-cored Gx chips for March launch

    Updated Taking on all x86 comers and ARM challengers

    Upstart multicore RISC chip maker Tilera is timing the launch of its third generation of Tile processors to rain a little on Intel's forthcoming parade, and to try to blunt all of the excitement that is building for ARM-based alternatives for servers. Tilera will today begin sampling of its Tile-Gx series of processors. As El …

    Servers 30 Jan 05:10

  • Met Office cuts off Linux users with new weather widgets

    For why does weatherman hate penguins? Something in the AIR

    Linux users face increased inconvenience getting a weather forecast from March onwards when the Met Office will withdraw its web-based weather gadgets and replace them with desktop widgets – for Windows and Mac only. Previously the Met Office's Firefox and iGoogle weather gadgets allowed anyone with internet access to check …

    Operating Systems 30 Jan 08:02

  • Media groups propose anti-piracy 'code of practice' for UK search

    Rights groups up in arms...

    Internet search engines that operate in the UK could stop publishing links to websites that are deemed to be substantially infringing copyright under plans proposed by groups representing rights-holders. The groups have proposed a voluntary code of practice for search engines in a bid to get them to engage more in tackling …

    Hosting 30 Jan 09:03

  • UK.gov 'pay as you go' IT services cloud to float in March

    Clock ticking for suppliers to join the framework

    The opportunity for suppliers to join the government's £60m G-Cloud framework is drawing to a close, according to Mark O'Neill, proposition director for innovation and delivery at the Government Digital Service (GDS). "We plan to launch the first tranche of the G-Cloud catalogue in March," O'Neill told the Cloud Expo event in …

    Cloud Business 30 Jan 09:29

  • Nimble not struck by Lightning: We're fine as we are, thanks

    Built-in lightning conductor

    Tiered networked storage array startup Nimble Storage won't be struck by the coming EMC Lightning server flash product because its customers don't need it. The Nimble array uses multiple tiers of storage, including NVRAM, flash and disk, to provide large capacity and avoid disk latency when responding to data IO requests, as …

    Storage 30 Jan 10:02

  • Intel brings bigger guns to AMD server chip war

    Analysis Xeon and Opteron 2012 battle plan

    If you want to get into the server processor racket, here's some advice: Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. And when you whip out your guns, you better have a piece stashed in each of your boots, maybe another high-caliber rifle on your back, and a few knives while you are at it for price-cutting when the bullets run out. …

    Servers 30 Jan 10:21

  • T-Mobile hails first 'truly unlimited' smartphone tariff

    Full Monty revealed

    T-Mobile announced a new flagship smartphone tariff this morning, aimed at first-time users who want to pay a single sub and no additional data charges. The Full Monty package is, the cellco claimed, the first tariff of its kind to offer a truly unlimited deal with no fair use policy. Customers who sign up will get unlimited …

    reghardware 30 Jan 10:28

  • Elpida denies half-a-BEEELLION-dollar Micron buy-in

    Overcoming resistance

    Speculation, reports and rumour are swirling around Elpida like leaks from a failing US primary candidate's campaign room. The latest has Micron Technology spending half a billion bucks to buy into Elpida while that company announces its first Resistance RAM chip; proving its worth so to speak. The DRAM market is over- …

    Channel Register 30 Jan 10:43

  • Microsoft builds Kinect into Asus laptops

    Prototype PCs test future of UI interaction

    Microsoft and Asus have built a laptop with Kinect motion-sensing technology on board. Two prototype machines were recently seen, but not used, by The Daily, the website says. The two notebook PCs feature extra, Kinect-oriented distance sensors built into their screen bezels alongside their regular webcams. Microsoft is keen …

    reghardware 30 Jan 10:48

  • Climategate ruling: FOIA requests cover backup servers too

    'We didn't delete the emails, but we don't have them'

    A landmark FOIA ruling last week will have far-reaching consequences for how public servants interpret their Freedom of Information obligations. Specifically, public servants cannot delete local copies of a file on their PC and then use its absence as an excuse not to disclose the file - if a backup copy exists on the …

    Energy 30 Jan 11:00

  • Samsung 11.6in 'retina display' tablet spied

    Mobile World Congress outing for Ice Cream Sarnie tab?

    Are ten-inch tablets too small for you? Rumour has it Samsung will introduce an 11.6in Galaxy Tab during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) show next month. Details are inevitably vague. German-language site TabTech gives the screen size but doesn't provide a resolution. The Samsung tablet will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich …

    reghardware 30 Jan 11:08

  • Star Trek tractor beam to save Earth from asteroid Armageddon

    One of three ways world's top boffins will save us from planet killers

    A new international consortium has been set up to figure out what Earthlings could do if an asteroid came hurtling towards the planet on a path of imminent destruction. The project will look at three methods of averting disaster: the Hollywood-sanctioned solutions of sending up a crack team of deep drillers with a nuclear bomb …

    Space 30 Jan 11:18

  • First-person shootout world record set

    Grand battle royal

    MuchDifferent's gaming world record attempt - to pit one thousand players against each other in mass first-person combat - took place this weekend. It missed its target by a single user. The company's Man Vs Machine game still set the record, though, with 999 people battling it out over the net. The record, independently …

    reghardware 30 Jan 11:24

  • Google spews out 'privacy' email to Sky punters too

    Not just Virgin Media customers fuming over web giant's intrusion

    Sky users have joined Virgin Media subscribers in receiving emails directly from Google about its new privacy policy. Sky customers received the email from the Chocolate Factory warning them about the controversial changes to its privacy policy, which was quickly followed by an email from Sky about the error. "We understand …

    Security 30 Jan 11:41

  • Facebook preps for public showtime with $100bn price tag

    Reports suggest huge IPO is imminent

    It's difficult not to mention Google in the same breath as Facebook these days – and that's especially true when one considers the initial public offering the dominant social network is reportedly planning later this week. According to Bloomberg, which cites two anonymous sources familiar with the plans, Facebook's much- …

    Networks 30 Jan 12:03

  • Soul Calibur V

    Review Blades of glory

    Ah, Soul Calibur, a game where over-muscled beefcakes and scantily clad teen girls clash in violent, weaponised mortal combat. Then, having ripped each other a new one, said combatants dust themselves off ready to battle the next day. Maybe it's just me, but I'm having a little trouble with the believability factor here; mind …

    reghardware 30 Jan 12:07

  • SpaceShipOne man, Nobel boffins: DON'T PANIC on global warming

    Row gets nasty – ghosts of Lysenko and McCarthy invoked

    The debate over global warming flamed hotter over the weekend, as a group of eminent scientists and engineers – including Burt Rutan, the famous designer of the X-prize-winning suborbital rocketplane SpaceShipOne – signed an open letter stating that the dangers of climate change are being deliberately exaggerated. The …

    Energy 30 Jan 12:15

  • Samsung reveals Advance-d Android ringer

    New star in the Galaxy range

    Samsung sent its latest Galaxy handset into orbit today, unveiling the Advance S, an Android blower that apparently strikes a balance between style, power and performance. Of course it does. The Samsung Galaxy Advance S boasts a 1GHz dual-core processor; a 4in, 480 x 800 OLED display; 768MB of Ram; and up to 16GB built-in …

    reghardware 30 Jan 12:16

  • 4 Sun journos, 1 cop bailed in police bung probe

    Cuffed on suspicion of corruption after tip-off from News Corp

    Police officers investigating allegations of illegal payments to cops as part of a larger probe of News International arrested four journalists on Saturday. All four were either current or former hacks at Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun. Police also arrested a Metropolitan police service officer at the weekend. The five men …

    Crime 30 Jan 12:28

  • Microsoft's Kelihos kingpin suspect: It wasn't me

    Sabelnikov denies botnet herder allegation

    The Russian man named by Microsoft as the mastermind behind the Kelihos botnet has stepped forward to plead his innocence. Microsoft filed suit in the US last week accusing Andrey Sabelnikov, of St Petersburg, of writing the Kelihos botnet agent and maintaining the network of zombie machines created using the malware to send …

    Spam 30 Jan 12:42

  • Playmonauts could down airliners, Canuck flyboy warns

    Amateur balloon mission menace

    A Canadian pilot has warned that audacious miniature figurine balloon missions could represent a "concern to aviation". Captain Barry Wiszniowski, chairman of the Air Canada Pilots Association’s safety division, issued his alert following the recent Canuck Legonaut's ascent to 80,000ft (24,384m), which saw teenagers Mathew Ho …

    SPB 30 Jan 13:01

  • Kindle Fire owners named keenest Android app users

    Stats show tablet's usage storming ahead

    Amazon's Kindle Fire has grabbed more than a third of the overall Android tablet usage activity in less than three months on sale. So suggests Flurry, a maker of software usage analysis code built, the company claims, into "tens of thousands of Android apps, including many of the most popular" and able to give a statistically …

    reghardware 30 Jan 13:09

  • Achtung, Google! U2 boss blasts 'monopoly' for free-for-all

    But Spotify is fine

    Music manager Paul McGuinness has previously used the annual MIDEM show to chastise ISPs – but this year it's the Chocolate Factory that has earned his ire. "Why are they not trying to solve the future in a more generous way?" he asked of Google. The quick answer is one you already know: Google remains a big fish in a small …

    Music and Media 30 Jan 13:23

  • Brit pair deported from US for 'destroy America' tweet

    Also intended to disinter Marilyn Monroe, Homeland Security claims

    A couple of Brits were unceremoniously ejected from the US last week after one of them ill-advisedly tweeted he was off to "destroy America". Leigh Van Bryan, 26, and pal Emily Bunting, 24, jetted into Los Angeles last Monday ahead of what they hoped would be a lively Stateside holiday. Their shorter-than-expected trip …

    Bootnotes 30 Jan 13:43

  • RIM: We topped December smartphone sales chart

    Maybe, but only just

    The popularity of RIM's BlackBerry may be on the wane elsewhere but here in the world, it was the most popular smartphone platform for the second year running in the UK, RIM claimed today. Citing over-the-counter sales data from European market watcher GfK, the embattbled smartphone maker said it accounted for, on average 27.7 …

    reghardware 30 Jan 13:51

  • Sky Anytime+ to pipe BBC iPlayer

    ITV also coming to catchup service

    Sky punters will be able to view BBC and ITV programmes in Sky's video-on-demand catchup service, Sky Anytime+, in a pact announced today. ITV will open up its archive tomorrow and offer a seven-day catchup service later this year, via ITV Player. The BBC's archive is already available thanks to Sky's deal with UK TV, but …

    Music and Media 30 Jan 13:56

  • World will stay hungry for tablet PCs

    Strong demand driven by higher res displays

    The Western world will continue to lead demand for tablets over the next six years, with growth driven by ever higher screen resolutions. Market watcher NPD DisplaySearch said today it expects tablet shipments to jump from 72.7m in 2011 to 119.60m this year before reaching 220.45m in 2014 and 328.32m in 2016. During that time …

    reghardware 30 Jan 14:07

  • Sick of Ubuntu's bad breath? Suck on a Linux Mint instead

    Unity rival isn't a monster frankengnome

    If the jump from the GNOME 2 desktop to the new GNOME Shell or Unity desktop in Ubuntu has left you feeling dissatisfied, one increasingly popular distribution just might offer something that turns out to be the best of both worlds - Linux Mint. Originally created as a spinoff of Ubuntu, Mint has long since come into its own …

    Operating Systems 30 Jan 14:32

  • Sony focuses on light with Cyber-shot refresh

    ISO horny, dim the bulb

    Sony beefed up its Cyber-shot range of snappers today, revealing a couple of compacts with snazzy sensors geared towards low-light settings. The Sony Cyber-shot WX70 and WX50 rock up with a 16.2Mp Exmor R Cmos sensor and an improved image processor. The 25mm lens features a 5x optical zoom and captures 12Mp stills when the …

    reghardware 30 Jan 14:59

  • Year of the cloud? Not until it can shield world's Mitnicks

    CEE We need to talk about Kevin

    Kevin Mitnick has a problem. As the world's number one hacker and the first to be sent to prison for hacking - a whopping sentence for his crimes - his website is an obvious target for script kiddies looking to make their mark. Back in 2009, AT&T dumped Mitnick from its mobile services because, according to him, they couldn't …

    Platform 30 Jan 15:01

  • Mickey Mouse Whois ban threat sparks privacy fears

    Days of pretending to be N. O. Body are numbered

    The days of pretending to be Mickey Mouse or Daffy Duck when you register a domain name could be numbered, following demands placed on ICANN by law enforcement agencies and governments. ICANN is currently locked in contract talks with its accredited domain name registrars, and expects they will agree to make the verification …

    Hosting 30 Jan 15:29

  • Ex-staffer: Apple assigns new workers to made up projects

    Magical, revolutionary... imaginary

    Get a job at Apple and there's a very good chance the company won't tell you what product or project you're working on, says author Adam Lashinksy. According to one ex-employee, Apple may even make up products in order to test your loyalty. In Lashinksy's new book, Inside Apple - described by Apple fansite TUAW as "a quick, …

    reghardware 30 Jan 15:36

  • IBM calls time on Symphony OpenOffice fork

    In tune with Oracle Apache plan

    IBM's putting its weight behind an Oracle-backed OpenOffice push rather than follow Google, Red Hat and others on an independent effort. The latest version of IBM's Symphony collaboration suite, version 3.0.1, will likely be the last based on the computing and services giant's fork of the OpenOffice code base. IBM is instead …

    Applications 30 Jan 16:02

  • Millions face Megaupload data deletion by Thursday

    That server bill won't pay itself

    US prosecutors have warned that Megaupload users could start losing the data they uploaded to the company as early as this Thursday. The US attorney's office had been granted search warrants for Megaupload data hosted on servers based in Virginia at Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications. In executing the warrants, …

    Hosting 30 Jan 16:09

  • Thailand can't wait to wield Twitter censorship hammer

    Tweet-smashing tech welcomed by govt

    Thailand has become the first nation in the world to embrace Twitter's controversial censorship scheme. Last week Twitter said it was prepared to block content on a country-by-country basis as required by each jurisdiction. The social network said it will "reactively withhold content from users in a specific country" in the …

    Hosting 30 Jan 16:32

  • Dutch retailer spills Nokia 910 beans

    Specs outed

    Confirmation - perhaps - for Russian mobile phone blogger Eldar Murtazin: a Dutch phone retailer has also claimed the Nokia Lumia 910 will sport a 12Mp camera and will sport a 4.3in, 480 x 800 display. The 910 - believed to be Lumia 800 follow-on that Europe will get in place of the 900, the LTE handset Nokia will ship in the …

    reghardware 30 Jan 16:36

  • Sexy Girls Puzzle: Android Trojan or eager ad-slinger?

    Researchers split on Counterclank's naughtiness

    Security researchers are split on the seriousness of an Android "malware" campaign that some estimates suggest may have "infected millions" of smartphones via gaming apps from Google's Android Market. "Android.Counterclank" – a piece of code described by Symantec as a Trojan and by Lookout Mobile Security as part of "an …

    Malware 30 Jan 17:02

  • Amazon sold 6m Kindle Fire tablets, says analyst

    'Third content ecosystem' to beat iTunes?

    How many Kindle Fires did Amazon ship during the last few months of 2011? The online retailer isn't saying, but ask Jordan Rohan, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, a broker, and he'll put the figure at 6m units. No wonder Google is said to be worried about it. Amazon is expected to reveal the actual number of Kindle Fires it sold …

    reghardware 30 Jan 17:08

  • Ocean currents emerge as climate change hot-spots

    As they warm, they shift

    A global study that assesses the temperature change in ocean currents has made two findings – one surprising, the other less so. The unsurprising outcome is that as the Earth’s temperature rises, so does the temps in a collection of major ocean currents; the surprise is that those currents are warming faster than the globe as a …

    Energy 30 Jan 17:22

  • Google, Facebook, Microsoft in PHISH-FIGHTING smackdown

    DMARC Brothers back cross-industry standard

    Google, Facebook and other internet heavyweights are collaborating together to back a standard designed to curtail phishing by improving the collaboration between legitimate senders and receivers of emails. Microsoft, Yahoo and PayPal are teaming up to push DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance), …

    Security 30 Jan 17:33

  • Microsoft Win Server to get pushed off OpenStack Linux cloud?

    Hyper-V support a 'useless feature'

    Windows servers could face problems running clouds built on OpenStack if the Linux-for-the-cloud project follows the suggestion of one lead developer. Code for Microsoft's Hyper-V should be removed from the up-coming Essex release of OpenStack because it's essentially been forgotten about, according to OpenStack release …

    Infrastructure 30 Jan 18:02

  • Microsoft launches Office 15 Technical Preview Program

    Discreet few to bug test next Office build

    The next version of Microsoft’s productivity suite, codenamed Office 15, is being sent out to a few brave customers this morning. The Technical Preview Program for Office 15 kicked off Monday morning, as Redmond sent out the code and the preliminary interoperability documentation. The list of testers is already full, and they’ …

    Applications 30 Jan 18:33

  • AMD touts LRDIMM memory for x86 servers

    Pushing up to 384GB per socket

    It looks like Advanced Micro Devices is first to market with support for load reduced DIMM DDR3 main memory for x86 and quite possibly all kinds of servers, and is trotting out Inphi, the maker of the isolation memory buffer chip that is at the heart of this technology. With LRDIMM memory, you take out the register on a DDR3 …

    Servers 30 Jan 19:04

  • Huawei extends R&D in UK

    Snaps up photonics lab

    Huawei has swooped on the assets of the UK based Centre for Integrated Photonics Ltd (CIP), a photonics research laboratory, from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA). The Chinese telco powerhouse will retain the CIP team, which is located in Ipswich, to will form the core of the new Huawei UK R&D centre as part of …

    Business 30 Jan 20:07

  • BlackBerry cloud services go live on Office 365

    Will bundling save Canadian’s bacon?

    After three months of beta testing, RIM has confirmed that its BlackBerry Business Cloud Services have gone live on Microsoft’s Office 365. The free download allows wireless synching of RIM devices with Exchange Online, and includes BlackBerry Balance, which allows personal and business content on the same handset, but blocks …

    SaaS 30 Jan 20:48

  • Tablet sales said to surge fivefold in five years

    The driving force? Lower prices, natch

    According to the consumer-focused researchers at NPD, worldwide tablet sales will increase more than fivefold over the next five years. According to the latest NPD DisplaySearch Tablet Quarterly report, sales of tablets will surge from 72.7 million in 2011 to 383.3 million in 2017. Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook crowed that " …

    Mobile 30 Jan 21:24

  • Internode gets aggressive on greenfield estates

    Rolls fibre head to head with NBN

    Adelaide based ISP Internode has launched Fibre to the Home offerings to greenfield housing estates across 20 real estate developments around Australia that compete on all levels with NBN Co services. The ISP, currently under acquisition by iiNet, is offering fibre optic-based services at all NBN sites in Australia and …

    Networks 30 Jan 22:00