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16th February 2012 Archive

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  • Nvidia suffers as TSMC's 28nm ramp steeper than expected

    Profits under pressure this year

    GPU and system-on-chip maker Nvidia says that the ongoing shortages of disk drives that have stalled the PC industry took a chunk out of its fourth quarter business, as did a steeper than expected ramp to 28 nanometer processes at chip foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. The upshot is that Nvidia will turn …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2012, 00:08

  • Microsoft CFO bullish in Windows convergence and comms plans

    Klein predicts double digit-growth at Goldman Sachs briefing

    Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein took to the stage at the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference on Wednesday to outline where Redmond is headed in the next 3 to 5 years – and it’s all going to be about cross-platform. “What we're trying to do is develop a complete set of experiences across all device types, be they TV, …

    Business 16 Feb 2012, 00:14

  • Dwarf galaxy yields up middle-sized black hole

    HLX-1 reveals a violent history

    Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm X-ray observations first published in 2009 have turned up the first observational evidence of mid-sized black holes. That’s not as straightforward as it sounds. As Sydney University-based astronomer Dr Sean Farrell explained to The Register, the midrange black hole has …

    Science 16 Feb 2012, 01:02

  • Apple bitten as builder goes titsup

    800-square-meter Brisvegas emporium imperilled

    Apple’s plans to open its first mega retail store in Brisbane have been derailed by the collapse of building and construction firm Kell & Rigby. The Register can reveal that in November 2010, Apple had signed a ten-year lease with Macarthur Central Shopping Centre for an 800-square-meter, three-storey retail extravaganza in …

    Business 16 Feb 2012, 01:36

  • Archos 35 Home Connect

    Review Net savvy Android clock radio, anyone?

    After having built a DECT home phone around the Android operating system doing the same for the humble bedside clock-radio probably seemed like a logical move for Archos so here we have the 35 Home Connect. Beside manner: Archos' 35 Home Connect The basic components are much the same in the Smart Home Phone reviewed …

    Hardware 16 Feb 2012, 07:00

  • Euro data protection: Great for punters, not for biz - MoJ wonk

    Comment Whitehall man seeks views on 'disproportionate' draft law

    A colleague of mine went to a lecture on the European Commission's proposed Data Protection Regulation last week*. One of the speakers was John Bowman, Head of International Data Protection and Policy at the UK's Ministry of Justice. His opening question to the floor was: "How many of you here represent consumer groups?" Not …

    Government 16 Feb 2012, 08:01

  • Sensitive council data sent to hundreds via PERSONAL EMAIL

    ICO fines Cheshire East £80k for data breach

    Cheshire East council has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for failing to have adequate security measures in place when emailing personal information. The ICO said the serious breach of the Data Protection Act occurred in May 2011, when a council employee was asked to contact the local …

    Security 16 Feb 2012, 09:03

  • SanDisk thrusts SSD into the client OEM battlefield

    Taking on Hitachi, Intel, Plextor and the gang

    SanDisk has dived into the client OEM flash drive jungle with its latest X100 SSD. SanDisk bought SSD controller company Pliant last year and that company's Lightning SSD products provide SanDisk with its enterprise server-class products. Now it has introduced its X100 line of client SSDs – PC, notebook and ultrabook – which …

    Storage 16 Feb 2012, 09:29

  • NHS Direct

    iOS App of the Week Cock-a-leaky?

    Apple, in its infinite prudery wisdom, has decided to protect users of iOS devices from any material that it deems "inappropriate" or "overtly sexual". Dating apps have to be constantly monitored by developers to ensure that your profile pics don’t show too much, and even the mighty Playboy has had to bow to the no naughty …

    Phones 16 Feb 2012, 10:00

  • Cost-slashing T Systems asks UK staff to pack their bags

    Deutsche Telekom arm wants to save £3m, says source

    T Systems UK is testing the appetite for voluntary redundancy among its workforce as part of a cost-cutting drive. The division of Deutsche Telekom, which provides desktop services, systems integration, computing and network services and e-business, informed staff yesterday of its proposal. "TSL management told us that they …

    The Channel 16 Feb 2012, 10:17

  • Microsoft spoons news to punters with Facebook, Twitter-slurp

    msnNOW pushes out trending topics

    Microsoft is trying to make its online estate stickier by creating a new site that pulls in updates from Web2.0 outfits such as Facebook, Twitter as well as its own Bing search engine. msnNOW was launched by Redmond yesterday. According to Microsoft, this new website "will help you stay in the know." The company, which …

    Media 16 Feb 2012, 10:35

  • More Chinese shopkeepers hide their iPad stock

    Fondleslabs tucked away ahead of trademark appeal outcome

    More shops in China have been told to pull iPads from their shelves in the wake of the ruling that the fondleslab infringes on a trademark owned by Proview International Holding. Retailers in Shanghai, Xuzhou and Qingdao have all been ordered by the authorities to pull Apple's tablets off their shelves, Reuters reported. …

    Tablets 16 Feb 2012, 10:57

  • Paper PCs design rolled out

    Pipe reams

    A materials manufacturer has produced a paper-based compound which may soon find its way onto hardware factory lines, with recyclable PCs mooted as one possible target. Paper PP Alloy promises to cause a revolution in the world of laptop production, with its inexpensive production, super strength and environmentally friendly …

    Laptops 16 Feb 2012, 11:01

  • Swiss space-cleaning bot grabs flying junk, hurls itself into furnace

    Spacekeeper satellite to disintegrate in atmosphere

    The US and Russia may be working on Mars missions, but the galactic ambitions of the Swiss are far more modest: they want to tidy up the Earth's atmosphere. The clock-and-choc-making country today announced plans for a rubbish-grabbing space bot. The tiny 30cm-long (11.8-inch) CleanSpace One from the Swiss Space Center at the …

    Science 16 Feb 2012, 11:14

  • Reptile boffins spot world's smallest chameleon

    Elusive micro-reptile was hiding under a leaf pile

    German boffins have discovered the world's smallest chameleon in Madagascar while picking through leaf litter. Scientist don't know why Brookesia micra is so small. It is not clear why island dwarfism occurs. Image va PLoS One The critter-hunters found the new species on the tiny islet of Nosy Hara, just off the northern …

    Science 16 Feb 2012, 11:28

  • Chinese regulators still reviewing Googorola slurp

    Officials giving no hint of whether approval will be forthcoming

    China's Ministry of Commerce said this morning that its antitrust bureau is still looking into Google's bid to slurp Motorola Mobility. "The investigations and reviews are still under way. Any news will be disclosed in a timely manner," MoC spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press conference, according to China.org.cn. The deal …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2012, 11:44

  • LightSquared scrabbles to save itself after FCC stops LTE plan

    Freetards abandon ship amid military spectrum swap bid

    LightSquared is reportedly trying to swap radio spectrum with the US military in an attempt to salvage its business model after the FCC pulled the rug from under the mobile broadband biz - but its customers are already abandoning it. First to go is FreedomPop, a free-broadband-for-all operation (whose business plan makes …

    Broadband 16 Feb 2012, 11:57

  • The Darkness II

    Review Shadow people

    On paper, there's very little to like about The Darkness II. Take your character Jackie Estacado, for starters. Even before taking into account the unspeakable evil to which he is host, few gaming protagonists are as monstrously unsympathetic as the contract killer turned mob boss. Hit the fairground Then consider the game' …

    Games 16 Feb 2012, 12:00

  • Official: Sony and Ericsson are divorced

    Sony smartphone biz trumpeted as ink dries on break-up deal

    The divorce papers have been officially signed for Sony Ericsson, giving Japanese entertainment biz Sony its very own phone-making unit and Swedish company Ericsson some lovely cash. Sony announced that the transaction was a done deal today and said that it was renaming the business to Sony Mobile Communications. The …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2012, 12:14

  • Symantec sues rivals in backup patents spat

    Sales ban and damages bid against Acronis and Veeam

    It's war: big backup beast Symantec is suing upstart competitors Acronis and Veeam, accusing them of infringing its patents and getting a free ride using Symantec technology. It wants jury trials, cessation of infringing product sales and damages. The cited patents deal with backup and replication - see if you can recognise …

    Law 16 Feb 2012, 12:35

  • Social networks can't be forced to filter content, rules top EU court

    Another blow for rights' group Sabam

    Social network operators cannot be forced to filter out content such as copyrighted music, the European Union's highest court ruled today. Such a system would fail to adequately protect the personal data of social networking users, said the EU Court of Justice (ECJ). "The owner of an online social network cannot be obliged to …

    Law 16 Feb 2012, 12:47

  • British Library seeks taxpayer-funded Wikipedia-fiddler

    We're all in this wiki together

    Although some parts of the public sector are facing savage cuts, Big Culture is still throwing taxpayers' money away on fashionable gimmicks. The British Library, which boasts a £137m budget, is even appointing a full-time wiki-fiddler at the public's expense. The job, on a pro rata salary of £30,768, is grandly titled " …

    Policy 16 Feb 2012, 13:23

  • 'Predictably random' public keys can be cracked - crypto boffins

    Analysis Battling researchers argue over whether you should panic

    Cryptography researchers have discovered flaws in the key generation that underpins the security of important cryptography protocols, including SSL. Two teams of researchers working on the problem have identified the same weak key-generation problems. However, the two teams differ in their assessment of how widespread the …

    Security 16 Feb 2012, 13:38

  • Digital music subs up as CD sales fall

    Recorded music stubbornly alive

    UK record company revenues should be at record levels, given the phenomenal export success of the domestic music industry – but income declined slightly by 3.4 per cent last year. Once again, the increase in digital revenue failed to make up for the decline in CD sales, which were down by 14 per cent. Overall the British …

    Media 16 Feb 2012, 14:01

  • BBC labels child 'recovering alcoholic' in tech slip-up

    'Teething problems' with software in Salford

    A glitch on BBC News that accidentally labelled a child as a recovering alcoholic is a symptom of endemic problems with the Salford Media City's software, The Reg has been told by a BEEB insider, though BBC dismisses the mistake as a "teething problem". A captioning slip-up caused the image below to be broadcast on BBC News …

    Media 16 Feb 2012, 14:18

  • Bung a tenner to a mate's mobile number with new Barclays app

    Just like PayPal but with phone numbers

    PingIt is Barclays' answer to PayPal and its ilk, linking payments to a mobile-phone number instead of an email address but providing a banking brand to back them up. Initially only those with a Barclays current account are able to make payments, but anyone with a UK bank can register their phone number to receive money - the …

    Small Biz 16 Feb 2012, 14:38

  • Mesh founder Sherafati buys biz back from PC Peripherals

    Tries to 'restore' company's fallen reputation

    The founder and former owner of Mesh Computers Max Sherafati has bought back his company - now branded PC Peripherals. System builder Mesh hit the wall in June and was snapped up from administrator MacIntyre Hudson by components distie PC Peripherals for £1.55m, the lion's share of which was handed to Sherafati as the only …

    The Channel 16 Feb 2012, 14:45

  • O2 lures phone app devs to Silicon Roundabout all-nighter

    Free grub at 36-hour NFC contest

    O2 is hosting an hack-a-thon weekend, on 24 March, when the operator will provide food, drink and expert assistance to anyone prepared to spend 36 hours coding an wireless NFC application. The event is free, but only open to 100 people. Those hundred are promised "good food and refreshments" over the weekend, culminating in a …

    Developer 16 Feb 2012, 15:04

  • Google befriends Microsoft with WinDroid tablets

    Dual-OS to better the iOne?

    Google will launch Android 5.0 - codenamed Jellybean - as early as Q3 2012, to coincide with the launch of Microsoft's Windows 8 and offer dual-OS designs for tablet computers. Taiwan-based supply chain makers have fuelled the rumour mill again, this time with claims Android 5.0 is closer in the pipeline than we may have …

    Tablets 16 Feb 2012, 15:09

  • Opera buys a pair... of mobile ads networks

    All serving, everywhere

    Opera Software has snapped up two ad-serving networks to clean up on mobile devices. The company yesterday that it had bought Mobile Theory and 4th Screen Advertising to "significantly expand its offering" to advertisers, mobile publishers and to reach customers on all platforms. Opera is targeting iOS, Android, Blackberry, …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2012, 15:19

  • Microsoft licensing hike sparks UK piracy, bankruptcy fears

    Switch to euro prices will smash Blighty's biz, warns reseller

    Reseller NCI Technologies has urged Microsoft to shelve the planned pricing overhaul that could see UK customers paying between 20 to 35 per cent more for volume licences. Redmond will align volume licence pricing in the EU - except for academic programmes - to the euro currency from 1 July in a bid to drive some consistency …

    The Channel 16 Feb 2012, 15:38

  • Satnav blunders blamed for £200m damages

    Driven to despair

    Satnavs caused more than £200m worth of vehicle damage in the last year and with over three quarters of users misled, our digital roadmap advisors are literally driving us up the wall. Motorists blamed satnavs for £203m of damage over the last 12 months, claims Confused.com, which polled 2,000 drivers. While 83 per cent …

    Science 16 Feb 2012, 15:45

  • Former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz shows his caring side

    Subscription social media site for caregivers

    The controversial pony-tailed ex-boss of Sun, Jonathan Schwartz, has started up a subscription-based social media site for carers. He announced the debut of CareZone – co-founded with Walter Smith, an ex-Apple and Microsoft guy – today. Smith will act as CareZone's chief technology officer while Shwartz will be its CEO. The …

    Applications 16 Feb 2012, 15:59

  • UK's supercomputers rev up to hit 800 teraflops

    HECToR and BlueGene/Q to help look at climate data, sniff out Higgs boson

    The UK's supercomputing programme in Edinburgh enters its third stage this week, ramping up its capability to 800 trillion floating point operations per second. Four years after their installation at Edinburgh Uni's Advanced Computing Facility in 2008, the two supercomputers – HECToR and BlueGene/Q – will achieve a combined …

    HPC 16 Feb 2012, 16:18

  • Keltec eyeing double-digit growth spurt

    Despite ailing economy and split with Oracle partnership

    Keltec is forecasting double-digit rises in the top and bottom lines for 2012 despite the slowdown in project sign-offs and parting company with one-time strategic vendor Oracle. The privately owned services-based reseller closed 2011 with sales of £17.1m, up 24 per cent on the previous year, and profit before tax (PBT) up 84 …

    The Channel 16 Feb 2012, 16:21

  • Ex-Vodafone exec promises shake-up at Cable & Wireless Worldwide

    New chief unveils plans to fix ailing carrier

    Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) issued a bullish interim statement to the City this morning from its new CEO Gavin Darby. The carrier is currently being eyed up by mobile giant Vodafone, for which Darby once worked as its UK boss. CWW was cut loose from Cable & Wireless in early 2010. Since then there have been a few changes …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2012, 16:43

  • SmarTone in the dock again after tariff U-turn

    Mobile biz confuses customers

    Under fire Hong Kong mobile operator SmarTone has come in for criticism yet again over its handling of new regulations introduced on Monday which were designed to encourage greater transparency for users. The firm, a long standing partner of Vodafone’s in the region until recently, sparked user fury last week after it decided …

    Mobile 16 Feb 2012, 17:02

  • Is LinkedIn preparing for a China push?

    Founder Reid Hoffman has been doing his homework

    Self-styled professional social networking site LinkedIn is planning to make a move in the Chinese market, if rumours are to be believed, as it seeks to further its plans for worldwide domination. CNET China reported that founder Reid Hoffman met big name homegrown web firms Baidu, 360.cn, Sina and Renren last week to discuss …

    Business 16 Feb 2012, 17:19

  • New Mac OS X: Mountain Lion roars at unauthorised apps

    Apple-approved software welcome, desktop is the new fondleslab

    Apple released a developer preview of Mountain Lion today before the new operating system is let out of its cage in the summer. It's the ninth major iteration of the Mac OS X operating system, replacing Lion, and from Apple's roundup of its features, version 10.8 marks a much closer integration with iOS devices. Apple goes so …

    Operating Systems 16 Feb 2012, 17:28

  • Gagging order on G-Cloud suppliers dropped this Sunday

    We're dying to know UK.gov's preferred tech-touting titans

    IT and comms suppliers can finally confirm on Sunday their involvement in the long-awaited government G-Cloud framework - Blighty's new way of selecting the firms that will sell tech kit to the public sector. Government Procurement Services (GPS) provisionally told firms whether they had made it onto the guest list earlier …

    The Channel 16 Feb 2012, 17:37

  • Johns Hopkins and VMware forge medical records mega-cloud

    The tech is ready this time

    Medical and IT researchers at Johns Hopkins University, healthcare application software supplier Harris Corp, and virtualization juggernaut VMware have teamed up to create a medical imaging cloud that they hope will become the central, secure repository for US citizens and the doctors who care for them. The desire to provide …

    Cloud 16 Feb 2012, 17:59

  • Big data elephant mates with RainStor

    RainStor Hadoops its storage

    RainStor, the deduping database supplier, is bringing its analytics engine and enterprise database to Hadoop, rather than bringing Hadoop data to its engine. Hadoop is becoming a standard for storing big data but most business intelligence analytics software – such as that pushed out by GreenPlum, Netezza and Teradata – does …

    Storage 16 Feb 2012, 18:38

  • DNS flaw reanimates slain evil sites as ghost domains

    Analysis Life after death trick could be exploited by cyber-crooks

    Cyber-crooks may be able to keep malicious domains operating for longer - even after they are revoked - by manipulating the web's Domain Name System (DNS). A weakness in the cache update logic of many widely used DNS servers creates the potential to establish so-called ghost domains, according to a recent joint study by a team …

    Security 16 Feb 2012, 19:01

  • Canadians revolt over draconian internet privacy bill

    Conservatives claim opponents are 'siding with pedophiles'

    Canadian politicians are scurrying for cover after a public outcry over a proposed bill that would force internet service providers to monitor users and hand over their details to the police without a warrant. The Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, formerly called the Lawful Access Act, would require ISPs to …

    Government 16 Feb 2012, 20:16

  • Apple files patent for simplified iPhone media sharing

    Send stuff while you're on a call, and get Google's goat

    Apple has filed a patent application for a system that would use a binding protocol to make it easier to transfer media simultanously with a phone call. The filing, published on Thursday and entitled "Media/Voice Binding and Related User Interfaces", describes a method for relating a media item to a recipient's contact …

    Mobile 16 Feb 2012, 20:16

  • Rackspace snaps up SharePoint911

    Fanatical Microsoft collaboration

    Managed hosting and cloud computing provider Rackspace Hosting has hired a bunch of techies with expertise in a particular software stack, this time focusing on Microsoft's SharePoint web content and document collaboration tools. Rackspace today snapped up privately held SharePoint911, a consulting firm based in the hamlet of …

    Cloud 16 Feb 2012, 21:27

  • Reflection lets astronomers trick time

    Twenty-first century observation captures nineteenth-century star blast

    When a star system called Eta Carinae went on a weight-loss program in the 19th Century, it did so in spectacular style: in its 20-year “great eruption”, it was the second-brightest star in the sky, shed ten solar masses, and left echoes of light that have just been detected. The reflections described in this study in Nature …

    Science 16 Feb 2012, 21:30

  • Lumpy nanoparticles improve thin film solar cells

    Swinburne and Suntech claim efficiency win

    A team at Swinburne University in Melbourne is claiming a breakthrough in the efficiency of nanoplasmonic solar cells. While it’s already feasible to cover the entire glass area of a building with invisible plastic solar cells, they’re nowhere near as efficient as traditional cell types: the very thin silicon layer they use …

    Science 16 Feb 2012, 22:30

  • HP's Whitman suggests Googorola may close Android

    'We've got our swagger back,' says webOS cheerleader

    HP CEO Meg Whitman foresees a great future for webOS, the mobile operating system that her company acquired in the $1.2bn Palm deal and is now contributing to the open source community – and part of her reasoning is based on her distrust of Google. "I think that Android may end up as a closed system because of [Google's] …

    Operating Systems 16 Feb 2012, 23:59