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3rd February 2012 Archive

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  • AMD doubles down on existing Opteron server sockets

    Shift happens – except when it doesn't

    As El Reg anticipated earlier this week, the new upper management at AMD has come to its senses and figured out that moving to a new core and two new sockets for its Opteron line in 2012 was not a particularly good idea for its own finances, or those of the server makers who it wants to peddle Opteron-based iron. And so, that …

    Servers 3 Feb 00:04

  • Riverbed virtualizes Cascade network monitor appliance

    Spying on virtual iron with virtual iron

    Riverbed Technology upgraded a whole bunch of its appliances this week, including its Cascade Shark network-monitoring products and its Steelhead WAN optimizers. El Reg covered the updates to the Steelhead appliances here, and now we'll tell you about Cascade Shark. The Cascade hardware appliances are high-end network …

    Data Networking 3 Feb 01:07

  • SpaceX successfully tests SuperDraco rescue rockets

    Aims to build the safest spacecraft ever

    SpaceX has confirmed the successful test of its SuperDraco rocket engine, which will form the backbone of safety and landing systems for its Dragon spacecraft. The SuperDraco system is an upgrade to the existing Draco propulsion system used to maneuver the Dragon spacecraft in orbit. Each SuprerDraco engine is capable of 15, …

    Space 3 Feb 01:14

  • Judges retire to consider Assange’s last chance on extradition

    Supreme Court is final shot for WikiLeaker-in-chief

    The UK Supreme Court judges have retired to consider their verdict in Julian Assange’s last shot at escaping extradition to Sweden, with a final verdict possible within weeks. The two-day hearing has been focusing on whether the Swedish prosecutor who issued the European arrest warrant (EAW) had the right to do so. Clare …

    Law 3 Feb 05:33

  • Orange San Francisco 2

    Review More hails of the city

    The Orange San Francisco was the smartphone bargain of 2011. For £99 you got a solid little handset with a 3.5in 480 x 800 screen, Android 2.1 and a 3.2Mp camera. The fact it was falling-off-a-wet-log easy to root and change ROMs – even I managed it – was the icing on the cake. All Crescent and correct: Orange's San Francisco …

    reghardware 3 Feb 07:00

  • BT Vision throws Microsoft Mediaroom under a bus for Linux

    Set-top box software to be torn out and replaced over the net

    UK hybrid TV service BT Vision plans to be the first customer to discard Microsoft's Mediaroom software, almost imminently, after at least a year-long effort to put in completely new software building blocks to rejuvenate the service. BT controversially refused to launch a fully-fledged IPTV service when it finally got Vision …

    Music and Media 3 Feb 08:04

  • Facebook's Googly IPO delivers on Sun man's vision

    Selling data ain't like shiftin' boxes, boy

    History may record Scott McNealy as a straight-dealing leader of a major Silicon Valley tech company. In 2006, the grinning chief executive and co-founder of Sun Microsystems stunned journalists attending one of his company’s events by calling online consumer privacy a red herring. ”You have zero privacy anyway,” he said …

    Business 3 Feb 09:01

  • Second 'Blue Marble' NASA sat pic apes Apollo 17's stunner

    Earth-snapping Suomi gets its kit out for the labs

    After popular demand NASA's Suomi NPP satellite has beamed down another "Blue Marble" vision of the Earth in high definition. Latest 'Blue Marble' image of Africa and the Middle East. Credit: NASA/NOAA The agency said that it decided to put out a second image of our planet from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite …

    Space 3 Feb 09:55

  • 'We're totally in LA pissing people off'

    Quotw Plus 'The horror!'

    This was the week when Facebook finally filed for its IPO. The social network is hoping for a feeding frenzy for its shares that will net the firm $5bn, but there's some concern that Facebook could be overvalued, despite the Zuck's attempts to keep a lid on any bubble-like formations. And while Facebook's filing is a little …

    Bootnotes 3 Feb 10:01

  • Fujitsu out bog standard 7in tab for big biz

    Gingerbread do you?

    Fujitsu has outed a non-descript 7in Android tablet that it'll be pitching at big business when the gadget goes on sale later this month. The 1970s disco-sounding Stylistic boasts a 1024 x 600 display and 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi. Fujitsu didn't say much else - anything, in point of fact - about the Stylistic's other attributes …

    reghardware 3 Feb 10:05

  • Brit space agency sends up 1st satellite

    Yes, this is news

    So far, the UK space agency hasn't gone in for any of that headline-grabbing stuff like landing people on the Moon or launching Martian probes that get stranded in orbit before plummeting back to Earth – it leaves that sort of stuff to NASA and Roscosmos. Willy Wonka's elevator Blighty's first-ever satellite... The UKSA is …

    Space 3 Feb 10:19

  • 100 MEEELLION .com domains now registered

    Ready for those new gTLDs yet?

    There are now over 100 million .com domain names on the internet. The milestone was passed in either October or January, depending on how you measure "registered" domains. But whichever way you cut it, .com is now into nine figures. VeriSign, which runs .com, revealed yesterday in is monthly report with industry overseer …

    Hosting 3 Feb 10:42

  • Next-gen Asus Eee Pad Transformer spied

    TF300T snapped

    A previously unseen Asus tablet has surfaced on the web prompting speculation that the Taiwanese company is working on the successor to the Eee Pad Transformer Prime. Not that there's much in the leak that gives any hint one way or the the other. All we have is a snap of a tablet - a ten-incher by the look of it - and the …

    reghardware 3 Feb 10:42

  • RIM tempts tablet coders with free PlayBooks

    Gratis gadget if you upload your Android app

    RIM is offering software coders free tablets if they'll make their Android apps available through its PlayBook app store. RIM's 7in tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, runs Android apps using special translation software. Android code needs to be tweaked for the RIM runtime then repackaged and code-signed before it can be made …

    reghardware 3 Feb 11:00

  • Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 DNA splice is on - report

    Apple-flavoured future features leaked

    Windows 8 and Microsoft's next major phone operating system will merge, if reports are correct. Windows Phone 8, codenamed Apollo, will reuse code from Windows 8, due this year - specifically the kernel, network stacks, security and multi media. That means Windows Phone 8 will ditch the current Windows Phone 7.5 core that uses …

    Windows 8 3 Feb 11:01

  • Samsung 'Galaxy 4S' pic posted

    Is S III stand-in snap real or Photoshop?

    The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus, the smartphone the South Korean giant is said to be unveiling at this month's Mobile World Congress (MWC) show in place of the Galaxy S III, will be a skinny white boy. Well, if a picture posted by Russian mobile phone blogger Eldar Murtazin on Twitter last night is anything to go by, it will be …

    reghardware 3 Feb 11:19

  • Apple Europe poaches Xbox PR mastermind

    Prepares for battle against Microsoft's 'everything' boxes

    Apple has poached Microsoft's top product marketing bod in the UK to front up its app store in Europe. Robin Burrowes, formerly Microsoft's Head of Product Marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has just been hired by Apple in the role of Head of App Store Marketing for Europe. Burrowes has previous experience …

    Business 3 Feb 11:24

  • TV tuner maker intros mobile Freeview pick-up

    Streams digital telly over its own Wi-Fi

    TV tuner maker Hauppauge has introduced a mobile gadget that streams Freeview content to you phone, tablet or computer over its own wireless network. The MyTV 2GO makes Freeview digital TV shows appear on a free app that's available for iDevices, Macs and Windows PCs. The gadget has its own lithium-ion battery for, the …

    reghardware 3 Feb 11:34

  • RIM shot at Android: Free PlayBooks for devs

    Knock up an app before Valentine's, get 16GB love-slab

    RIM is offering a free PlayBook tablet to developers who submit an Android application to RIM's App World before Valentine's Day, though the T&Cs have yet to be revealed. RIM isn't the first company to hand out hardware to promote software development – it's an established route to filling out an application portfolio – but …

    Developer 3 Feb 11:44

  • Toshiba Regza 40RL858 40in LED TV

    Review Smart, but no mortarboard

    Toshiba is a bit of a wild card when it comes to TVs. While some of its screens are genuinely exciting, others are merely bargain bin fillers. Buying a cheaper Tosh is a classic case of caveat emptor. Media savvy: Toshiba's Regza 40RL858 But while this 40in slimline LED LCD sits at the affordable end of the brand’s current …

    reghardware 3 Feb 12:00

  • Satellite phones lift skirt, flash cipher secrets at boffins

    Security though obscurity fails yet again

    Researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum have managed to extract the secret encryption algorithmns used by satellite phones, and discovered that it's a lot less secure than one might hope. Benedikt Driessen and Ralf Hund analysed firmware updates for popular satellite handsets to extract the ciphers used by the Thuraya and …

    Security 3 Feb 12:22

  • Apple iPad beats Amazon Kindle Fire in satisfaction survey

    Fanboys happier than Fireboys?

    iPad owners are happier with their tablets than folk with other fondleslabs are with theirs, recent research reveals. The data comes from US-based pollster ChangeWave. It asked tablet owners last month how satisfied they were with their tablets. Some 74 per cent of iPad owners gave the Apple gadget the thumbs up, but only 54 …

    reghardware 3 Feb 12:28

  • Euro watchdog asks Google to HALT privacy tweak

    Take a pause while French DP officers frisk you, Larry

    A European Union watchdog has written to Google boss Larry Page asking him to explain how personal data will be safeguarded when the search giant puts its revised privacy policy into effect on 1 March. European Commissioner Viviane Reding, who last week tabled her proposed overhaul of the EU's 1995 Data Protection law, …

    Networks 3 Feb 12:37

  • Understanding the make-up of information management

    On demand Time to stop beating up IT

    On January 25th, Regcast presenter Jon Collins was joined by Freeform Dynamics’ Martha Bennett, Jason Frost from Blueprint, and Will Thompson from Microsoft for our very first live event of 2012. The thing that brought our panel together was the necessary evil that is - information management in business. Our latest Reg …

    Business 3 Feb 12:48

  • Fibre-gobbling punters help BT deposit solid profit

    Cuts also counter revenue dip in Q3

    BT reported this morning that its sales had fallen 5 per cent for the three months ended 31 December, however earnings and cash generation remained steady, the company added. The national telco's third quarter revenue stood at £4.77bn, while adjusted pre-tax profit for the period was £628m - up 18 per cent compared with a year …

    Financial News 3 Feb 13:02

  • Pentax pushes APS-C mirrorless camera with DSLR lens compatibility

    K-01 clicks into action

    Pentax has officially lifted the veil on its latest mirrorless camera, the K-01. It's the first of its kind to support DSLR lenses. The Pentax K-01 is the company's second interchangeable-lens camera, but unlike the Pentax Q, the latest model packs a K-mount lens connector, compatible with the firm's DSLR lenses. The chunky …

    reghardware 3 Feb 13:16

  • Boffins crack superconducting graphene's melting mystery

    Next-gen high-speed transistors go 3D to slash leaks

    Scientists in Manchester appear to have solved a problem with graphene that has plagued the super-material's fans since it was sliced into being in 2004. The breakthrough takes the wunder-material one step closer to being the new silicon, and powering a new wave of computers. Graphene's incredible properties - including …

    Physics 3 Feb 13:19

  • Nokia pours oil on burning Symbian

    Exclusive Rips up roadmap, axes development

    Nokia is said to be hastening the demise of its legacy Symbian platform, cancelling the development of all but one new Symbian-based device. Although Nokia Belle updates will continue to ship to existing customers, only one new model – a successor to the N8 high-end camera phone – will reach the market, the Register understands …

    Developer 3 Feb 13:38

  • Apple FileVault cracked in under an hour by forensics biz

    Passware scratches Lion's belly, penetrates fruity disk

    Apple's FileVault disk encryption can be circumvented in less than an hour, according to a computer forensics firm. Passware claims the latest version of its toolkit (Passware Kit Forensic v11.3) can also unlock volumes encrypted using TrueCrypt, a disk encryption software that ranks alongside PGP as the choice of privacy- …

    Security 3 Feb 14:02

  • BT reveals ultra-fast cable blowing plan for homes, biz

    'Fibre-to-the-premise on demand' in 2013

    BT is talking up plans to bring its ultra-fast fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband network to more of its customers in early 2013. The national telco also reiterated that it would be offering faster fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) speeds from this spring. FTTP hooks punters directly to the exchanges using fast fibre, rather …

    Small Biz 3 Feb 14:18

  • iPhones yanked from German shelves in Motorola patent war

    Apple takes down 4 and 3G models - for now

    Apple has removed the iPhone 4 and 3Gs from its stores in Germany, almost certainly in response to Motorola's December action rather than today's patent win. But today's German court victory for Motorola is probably more important: it covers Apple's iCloud service and – by extension – any device which uses it. Apple will be …

    Mobile 3 Feb 14:37

  • Troubled Game wins reprieve on debt, mulls axing more stores

    High street chain told to shape up

    Game Group has been given a reprieve by its lenders, but the retailer may have to sell its overseas stores to secure it. After a dismal Christmas, Europe's biggest video game retailer admitted that it was going to have issues meeting its debt commitments and paying the £80m rent on its 1,274 shops worldwide, and immediately …

    Business 3 Feb 15:01

  • Sony throws smartphone party with Billabong

    Blower out the water

    Sony has gone surf-tastic, announcing a partnership with Aussie outdoors outfitter Billabong, which sees its Xperia Active handset branded with the extreme-sports logo and pitched towards the cool-dude generation. The Android smartphone is a tough little blower too, with resistance to dust, water and scratches, even adding …

    reghardware 3 Feb 15:16

  • IBM bit-twiddlers want point releases for big iron

    Software gurus to 'refactor' Big Blue's systems

    The bit-twiddlers took over IBM's server business a year and a half ago, and it appears that they are starting to think about systems as if they were code, as if they could do dot releases in a nearly steady stream and keep their revenues from spiking up and crashing down all the time. It has taken a long time for IBM to build …

    Channel Register 3 Feb 15:32

  • ARM rains on x86 as smartphones outship PCs

    Netbooks cop a hiding

    Netbooks are so yesterday's technology. Shipments of the small, not-so-cheap computers plunged during 2011 by 25 per cent, figures from market watcher Canalys show. The decline worsened during the year, with year-on-year shipments down more than 32 per cent during the final quarter of 2011. All other PC categories experienced …

    reghardware 3 Feb 15:56

  • Sysadmins: Don't get in your own way

    Sysadmin blog Be prepared to try new and irritating things

    I remember the first time I saw these automated supermarket tills. They intrigued me. Yet I was also afraid of the things. I was afraid that despite all of my knowledge and training I wouldn't be able to figure it out and I would end up looking like a fool. I avoided them for three years; the basis of this avoidance nothing more …

    Sysadmin blog 3 Feb 16:04

  • Gun controlled lamp hits the spotlight

    Taking the pistol

    One Taiwanese manufacturer took aim at traditional light switches this week and unveiled a lamp that can be turned on and off with the shot of a gun-shaped remote. The Bang! desk lamp from Bitplay is put into darkness with a pistol peripheral which causes the lampshade to tip as if the marksman has popped a real cap in it. …

    reghardware 3 Feb 16:07

  • US tweet deportation: Chilling behind-the-scenes photos

    The shock truth of what really went down at LAX

    The story earlier this week on the deportation from the US of A of two Brits who ill-advisedly tweeted they were off to "destroy America" left a few readers pretty shaken up at the way the Department of Homeland Security handles potential terrorist threats. Trust us, you don't know the half of it. Today, we publish exclusive …

    Bootnotes 3 Feb 16:19

  • IBM snatches back SPC-1 benchmark crown

    SVC does the business

    IBM's SAN Volume Controller has done the benchmark business, again, and passed the half million SPC-1 IOPS mark using Storwize V7000 storage. The Storage Performance Council-1 benchmark measures the ability of a storage configuration to respond to I/O requests, counting SPC-1 I/Os per second (IOPS). The scenario is said to be …

    Channel Register 3 Feb 17:03

  • Anonymous hackers leak Scotland Yard-FBI conference call

    Were you talking about us?

    Members of Anonymous have released an intercept of a conference call between investigators at the FBI and Scotland Yard during which operations against hacktivist group were discussed. During the 17-minute call – which was released as an MP3 file and distributed on YouTube and elsewhere – investigators can be heard discussing …

    Crime 3 Feb 17:11

  • Steve Jobs sighted in Taiwan flogging Android tablets

    Rumours of PlayBook Elvis discounted

    In the cut-throat tablet market, a Taiwanese company has found one way to make its product stand out: paying an actor to dress up as Steve Jobs and make tasteless jokes about how he's dead. Tasteless, yes. Successful on Youtube, yes. The advert for the Action Pad from Action Electronics is light on the new tablet's features …

    Bootnotes 3 Feb 17:29

  • Mother charged with selling fake Facebook stock

    Bogus shares also allegedly given out as Christmas presents

    A Wisconsin woman has been charged over claims she tried to sell $1m worth of Facebook shares that she didn't own. Prosecutors said that Marianne Oleson had told friends that she received the shares because her daughter knew Mark Zuckerberg, and managed to persuade a few different people to take the fake stock off her hands. …

    Networks 3 Feb 18:02

  • Dead gamer sat unnoticed for nine hours in net cafe

    Stiff competition

    A Taiwanese gamer sat dead in a chair at an Internet cafe for up to nine hours before fellow players noticed the poor guy had popped his clogs. Chen Rong-yu, 23, was discovered lifeless by his computer on Thursday night, his rigid hands stretched towards the keyboard and mouse, Sky News reports. The unfortunate gamer had been …

    reghardware 3 Feb 18:07

  • Biz urged to blast DNSChanger Trojans before safety net comes down

    8 March cutoff following Operation Ghost Click

    Half of all Fortune 500 companies still contain computers infected with the DNSChanger Trojan, weeks after a FBI-led takedown operations targeting the botnet's command-and-control infrastructure. DNSChanger changed an infected system's domain name system (DNS) resolution settings to point towards rogue servers that redirected …

    Malware 3 Feb 18:28

  • Apple iPhones, iPad back in German online store

    Take 'em down, put 'em back – a busy morning for Apple IT

    A German court has suspended the injunction that required Apple to remove its iPhone 4 and 3Gs, and iPad Wi-Fi + 3G from its online store in that country. Apple had removed the items as requested, and are now busily putting them back up – they should be available again on the German Apple online store right ... about ... now …

    Mobile 3 Feb 18:30

  • US adds more jobs than expected in January

    Lots of IT workers get pink slips

    The US economy added 243,000 net new jobs in January and the unemployment rate has ticked down two-tenths of a point, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS, part of the US Department of Labor, surveys businesses each month to track employee counts and surveys American households to …

    Business 3 Feb 19:01

  • European revolt over ACTA treaty gains ground

    Poles stall, Slovenian ambassador calls for protests

    The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) treaty, signed by most European countries last week, may not be a done deal after all, as governments across the continent face a storm of protest. One of the signatories, the Slovenian ambassador to Japan Helena Drnovsek Zorko, has issued an unprecedented public apology (it's …

    Government 3 Feb 19:11

  • Facebook post-IPO: Free not fee will make Zuck a buck

    Open ... and Shut Dam friction-less sharing and the company is toast

    No sooner did Facebook file its S-1 in preparation for an IPO than speculation kicked into high gear on how Facebook could possibly sustain its $75bn to $100bn valuation. After all, despite its hugely impressive revenue and profit numbers, key components of its revenue model – like advertising revenue – are decelerating. So …

    Music and Media 3 Feb 20:03

  • Opinion poll: Anti-regulatory 'hype' unwarranted

    Rival small-business boosters, Obama foes disagree

    One advocacy group has published a survey it says proves that US small-business owners aren't unduly concerned with government regulations. Another group says that the first group's opinion poll is tainted by bogosity. "The rhetoric out there blaming government for the lack of small-business growth has reached a fever pitch," …

    Small Biz 3 Feb 21:58

  • Micron CEO Appleton dies in plane crash

    Expert pilot, experimental aircraft

    Steven Appleton, the long-time CEO at memory chip maker Micron Technology, died this morning in a crash of an experimental plane in the company's hometown of Boise, Idaho. He was 51 years old and one of the youngest CEOs and chairman in the Fortune 500. According to a statement released by Micron, Appleton died at Boise …

    Business 3 Feb 22:29

  • Study links dimwits to conservative ideology

    US, UK research: Thick kids more likely to become bigots

    British and American children who are less intelligent are more likely to grow up to be conservative and/or bigots, according to new research published in Physiological Science. The research study, "Bright minds and dark attitudes", used data from two British studies that tested the intelligence of children born in 1958 and …

    Science 3 Feb 22:46