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27th February 2012 Archive

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  • Galaxy is teeming with homeless planets

    Born under a wandering star…

    The galaxy – and presumably, if we’re in a normal-enough galaxy, the rest of the universe – has a bit less empty space than we thought, according to a study by the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics (KIPAC). The research suggests the Milky Way could hold many millions of “nomad planets” – many thousands existing for …

    Science 27 Feb 2012, 00:06

  • Wikileaks regains relevance with Stratfor doc-drop

    Media partners queue for daily scoop

    Wikileaks has announced a massive document dump of e-mails obtained from Stratfor, which it says demonstrates widespread corruption and even insider trading. As with its last major document release – the “diplomatic cables” – the organization is working with major press organisations to drip-feed the documents to the public. …

    Government 27 Feb 2012, 01:25

  • NEC invests in Nextep network

    Solves regional blackspots and gets into cloud

    NEC has made a multi-million investment in its Nextep broadband network in a bid to vamp up its competitive offering ahead of the NBN deployment. The infrastructure investment is the first major upgrade for the network for a number of years but demand and opportunity afforded by the government’s Regional Blackspot’s Programme ( …

    Broadband 27 Feb 2012, 05:51

  • Mutant heroes to rescue Ultrabooks from price trap

    Will Seagate's Momentus hybrid save the day?

    Is Seagate clever or what? In order to get to a $600 entry price, Ultrabook makers are looking to shave off cost by using hybrid flash-disk drives instead of separate flash and disk drives. Because Seagate is the only hybrid drive supplier, with its Momentus XT product, the company is looking extraordinarily well-positioned …

    Storage 27 Feb 2012, 08:03

  • Ofcom needs you ... to help spend £180m on purifying telly

    Views sought on Freeview-4G interference

    Ofcom is consulting on the best way to avoid 4G telephony knocking out Freeview, but the regulator seems to be having a hard time putting government plans into words. Yesterday the Ministry of Fun announced that bidders for digital dividend spectrum would have to shell out £180m for mitigation to avoid LTE services knocking …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 08:23

  • Avoid flying next to blubberbeasts with seatmate-finding site

    KLM, LinkedIn do social networking at 35,000ft

    Fed up with sitting next to the fat guy eating crisps on those nine-hour transatlantic flights? Well, no one's invented a way to get around that, but airline KLM has a new social scheme to get passengers sitting next to people who interest them. Sure that guy could still be a crisp-sprinkling podger, but with KLM's new Meet …

    Networks 27 Feb 2012, 09:02

  • Telefonica zaps 100Mbps 4G masts with shrink ray

    MWC 2012 Think inside the box - a tiny 0.5W cube

    Spanish ISP and telco giant Telefonica is beavering away on 4G: it's holding trials in London, Madrid and Barcelona, and rolled out a service in Germany. And while testing of the next-gen mobile broadband tech is underway in ten countries with all major vendors, on its home turf the company chose Alcatel Lucent and Samsung to …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 09:18

  • Nearly one in 10 Brits 'fess to shower phone faux pas

    MWC 2012 And other daft ways to destroy a mobile

    Promoting its waterproofing spray, Oxford-based P2i has polled punters on the soggy environments to which their phones are exposed and expectations on their survival. Three per cent of the thousand respondents regularly share a sauna with their phone, and expect it to work afterwards, but it's the eight per cent who take a …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 09:41

  • Huawei pitches 'first ever' 10in quad-core tablet

    MWC 2012 Full HD-plus screen too

    This one is sure to interest Apple's lawyers: Huawei has introduced a 10.1in tablet based around a quad-core processor - the first time this has happened, the company claimed - and its front looks a lot like an iPad. Cue trade-dress lawsuit, surely? The MediaPad 10 FHD's back is different, mind. There's an 8Mp camera round …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 09:47

  • Orange treats NFC phone fans to free feed

    Play games, get fatter

    Orange has launched a partnership with chic sandwich chain Eat to encourage customers with NFC-enabled handsets to make use of the gadgets' contactless data swap tech. An app, Quick Tap Treats, allows punters to tap their handset on specially designed posters at any of Eat's 110 outlets. If you win the game you'll be …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 09:55

  • Jabra Halo 2 Bluetooth headset

    Geek Treat of the Week 'Phones for you?

    Jabra’s Halo 2 is a lightweight, easy-on-the-eye Bluetooth headset that won’t attract the kind of disparaging looks that the typical cyborg-style Bluetooth phone attachment will get you. The Halo 2’s design is about function as much as form. The headset is comfortable to wear and easy to transport thanks to its foldable …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 10:00

  • Sony Xperia converts flash motors into fancy remotes

    MWC 2012 Wire your phone into the Jag dashboard via VNC

    Sony will pre-load RealVNC's server onto all its Xperia handsets in 2012, enabling cars to control phones and customer support to reach out and touch you right on the screen. VNC is a widely supported standard for using computers remotely, and already allows one to take over a desktop PC from a mobile phone. Cambridge-based …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 10:22

  • Ford intros tech'd-up B-Max mini-MPV

    MWC 2012 Sync voice-controlled in-car comms, hi-fi kit on board

    Ford has taken the wraps off the B-Max - the first new class of car it has released for six years - and revealed it'll be the first vehicle to sport the car company's Sync voice-controlled in-car connectivity system. Showing the vehicle off at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) show, Ford described the B-Max as "a …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 10:31

  • Sony brings Samsung and NXP into the FeliCa fold

    MWC 2012 NFC-F: It'll bonk just about anything

    Japan's FeliCa system will soon boast NFC alongside the existing proximity system, using chips from Samsung and NXP to provide pay-by-bonk for Japanese abroad and gaijin alike. Japanese companies want to be able to process NFC payments, made with a tap of the phone, just like everyone else, but while in the rest of the world …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 10:42

  • Samsung stretches 5in Galaxy Note phonetab to 10in

    MWC 2012 Tablet with a stylus, anyone?

    In a spirit, surely, of 'we don't know what the punters want so we'll give 'em everything', Samsung has announced version of its Galaxy Note 5in smartphone-cum-tablet that's almost twice the size of the current model. As its name suggests, the Galaxy Note 10.1 sports a 10.1in screen, which is built around a 1280 x 800 IPS …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 10:57

  • Great Firewall springs a leak: Chinese flood Obama's Google+ page

    Free speech? In China?

    China’s infamous tool of internet censorship the Great Firewall appeared to fail last week, allowing hundreds of web users in the People’s Republic to access and post comments on US president Barack Obama’s Google+ page. Google’s social networking service is blocked in China – like many other sites including Facebook and …

    Government 27 Feb 2012, 11:01

  • Samsung selects UK as first to get next-gen tablet

    MWC 2012 Tab 2 (7.0) and (10.1) here next month

    Samsung has revealed that its third-gen Galaxy Tab Android tablet will hit the UK first when it begins its worldwide rollout next month. Previously shown in its 7in, Tab 2 (7.0) form, the new Tab will also be made available with a 10.1in screen, Samsung confirmed, as the Tab 2 (10.1). The latter has a 10.1in, 1280 x 800 …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 11:08

  • Navigation app CoPilot Live goes freemium next month

    MWC 2012 But loves Google Maps

    Premier navigation app CoPilot will go freemium next month, with a cut-down version designed to convince users to throw away their dedicated satnav and buy in for 20 quid. The company behind CoPilot, ALK, claims it hasn't been pushed into this by Google's free offering – apparently Google Mobile Maps has done nothing but good …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 11:12

  • HTC stimulates Sense with snap-happy One series

    MWC 2012 Click your Ice Cream Sandwich

    HTC has brought a fresh dollop of Sense to Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012, with the HTC One series, a collection of premium smartphones focused on audio and camera capabilities. Top dog of the bunch is the HTC One X, a handset built into a polycarbonate unibody with the mighty five-core 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 11:12

  • Secret high-security Chinese shipments point to iPad 3 exports

    Apple stays mum over cargo flights from Foxconn town

    Fresh paperwork uncovered in China points to an early March launch for the long-awaited Apple iPad 3 - and apparently batches are already shipping to the US from assembly plants in the People’s Republic. The unnamed deliveries on a logistics form revealed by Apple.pro over the weekend are said to be for international cargo …

    Tablets 27 Feb 2012, 11:34

  • Panasonic invests smartphone with Eluga Power

    MWC 2012 Second handset outing in as many weeks

    Panasonic has shown off its second Eluga smartphone, only a week after unveiling the first of its new Android handset line. The new model, the Eluga Power, debuted at Mobile World Congress (MWC) today. It sports a 5in, 1280 x 720 screen - the basic Eluga is a 4.3in, 960 x 540 boy. The Power has a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 11:38

  • Vodafone: Do you take Visa?

    MWC 2012 Global brands adopt global payments

    Vodafone and Visa have joined forces to push an international payment brand, using NFC for pay-by-bonk functionality and a Visa prepaid card to carry the credit. Pay by bonk – aka NFC transactions authorised with a tap of the phone – won't be available across all the 30 countries where Vodafone operates and where the wallet …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 11:47

  • Ten... PlayStation Vita launch games

    Product round-up Port and portability

    Sony has made sure the Vita doesn't suffer from the same lack of games the Nintendo 3DS did upon release, so there's a broad set of launch titles to keep fans happy. Combine that with dozens of third-party offerings and you have a quality bunch to pick from. I had to narrow down ten from a collection of more than twice that …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 12:00

  • Sony PlayStation Vita

    Review Pushing the right buttons

    The PlaySation Vita is Sony's latest attempt to take portable gaming to new heights, and it finally hit UK shelves last week. With quad-core smartphones waiting in the wings and gaming apps aplenty, the company's refreshed PSP has its work cut out. Tap to play Fortunately, the PS Vita impresses from the get go. First off …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 12:01

  • Microsoft Tangos into cheap smartphones

    MWC 2012 Windows Phone Skype beta released

    Microsoft is targeting the global market for smartphones outside the high end with its next Windows Phone, while promising most existing apps will continue to work with less hardware. Redmond announced today that the Windows Phone update – codenamed Tango – would run on smartphones with reduced memory and processor …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 12:14

  • Facebook denies poaching your text messages on Android

    Newspaper fingers FB and YouTube App perms

    Facebook has dismissed allegations in The Sunday Times that the web giant's Android app can hoover text messages from phones as "creative conspiracy theorising". Flatly denying the claim published by the broadsheet at the weekend, the social network's UK office said its app's ability to access text messages was open and …

    Applications 27 Feb 2012, 12:28

  • Viglen veteran Rolfe heads to Lenovo

    Battling Brit firm dumped for Chinese giant

    Viglen old-timer Ashley Rolfe, right-hand man to chief exec Bordan Tkachuk, has pitched up at Lenovo as a tech evangelist. Rolfe left the role as product development director last week, ending a near 18-year tenure with Lord Shuggie's only remaining IT company of any size. Hertfordshire-based public sector specialist Viglen …

    The Channel 27 Feb 2012, 12:32

  • Viewsonic risks Apple backlash with Android Phone 4S

    MWC 2012 Two Sims better than one

    Viewsonic focused on those with multiple mobile accounts this week, making an appearance at Mobiel World Congress (MWC) 2012 to reveal a collection of dual-Sim smartphones. One model bears a very similar moniker to Apple's popular handset, the 4S, so it's very possible that the Cupertino lawyers will be going over this one …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 12:33

  • Playboy, Virgin Galactic tout zero-grav nookie in spaaaaace!

    Printed food served by frisky jetpack bunnies

    Quality journalism bastion Playboy has teamed up with boffins at Virgin Galactic to create the one thing missing in the universe - a Playboy Club in space. Enlisting the help of futurists as well as rocket scientists from the civilian space company of Richard Branson, Playboy has envisioned what it calls a "celestial mecca" …

    Science 27 Feb 2012, 12:44

  • Philips puts Smart TV centre stage for 2012

    Will put IPTV on a broader range of sets too

    Philips has introduced an updated UI for its smart TVs and promised to support IPTV across a broader array of tellies this year. The Dutch firm's new UI will present the usual array of IPTV and catch-up services alongside a thumbnail window of the channel a TV's tuner is set to - much as many an EPG screen does. It's a novel …

    Hardware 27 Feb 2012, 12:56

  • Sony conjures up 'magic' Xperias

    MWC 2012 U, P and S touch down

    Sony boosted its smartphone lineup at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 today, with official unveils for the the Xperia P and the much rumoured Xperia U. The Sony Xperia P debuts the company's WhiteMagic display tech, which apparently offers the brightest viewing experience yet, with smart power efficiency automatically …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 12:57

  • Sony pauses for breath, coughs up two more Xperia mobes

    MWC 2012 But will need more than Hollywood magic to kickstart Android line

    Two new Android phones – and one re-announced one – are not the real story from Sony, however hard it tries to make it so. When Sony and Ericsson hooked up there was a pause as the two companies tried to make the strange marriage work. But while the parting of ways seems completely harmonious, there are clearly some things to …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 13:01

  • Reg Hardware Mobile Week Complete Coverage

    Mobile Week All the stories, all the mobile tech

    Mobile World Congress - MWC to its friends - takes place in Barcelona this week. It's the most important show for the mobile industry and is the launch pad for many of 2012's most important mobile and smartphone products. So Reg Hardware today starts a week of dedicated mobile-centric coverage. And not just news of the …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 13:13

  • Molesworth and the New Latin

    Stob 'Why must we lurn about computa sciense sur? Why?'

    'In his speech [...] the Education Secretary Michael Gove appeared to accept in its entirety the argument that ICT had become little more than training in office skills and something far more rigorous was required [...] While Alex Hope's slogan "coding is the new Latin" did not appeal to some, it must have appealed to the …

    Verity Stob 27 Feb 2012, 13:19

  • ServiceKey protests innocence in Oracle 'grey market' spat

    We're a victim as well, says boss

    ServiceKey - one of two channel defendants named in an Oracle lawsuit last week - says it has been wrongly caught up in the litigation. As revealed by The Reg, Larry's legal eagles are seeking damages from ServiceKey and DLT Federal Business Systems, alleging that the two firms were illegally providing support services on its …

    The Channel 27 Feb 2012, 13:38

  • Hubble snaps exploding star's near-fatal weight-loss bid

    Pic Eta Carinae on the fast track to supernova

    NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning shot of the Eta Carinae system's largest star suffering a near-death experience before it goes supernova in the near future. The beginning of the end for the Eta Carinae star. Credit: ESA/NASA Earlier this month boffins published a study into the Eta Carinae star's near- …

    Science 27 Feb 2012, 13:58

  • Asus outs 1920 x 1280 Android ICS tablet

    MWC 2012 iPad 3 challenger

    Asus has joined Huawei to become a second announcer of a 10in tablet with a 1920 x 1280 display - the one it was teasing us about last week. Enter the Transformer Pad Infinity - say farewell to the Eee Pad brand, folks - a 586g tablet based on a 1.6GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU and packing 16-64GB of Flash storage. That's the Wi- …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 14:04

  • Kaminario array slips on protection but won't go down on you

    K2 flash box now highly available for enterprises

    Kaminario has added enterprise disk drive array-like protection and availability features to K2, its solid state SAN storage boxes. You won't need to take one of those machines down, ever. These are built from a grid or cluster of data nodes, blade servers, the K2-D DRAM array, K2-F flash array with Fusion-io ioDrives, and K2- …

    Storage 27 Feb 2012, 14:18

  • Samsung punts smartphone with built-in projector

    MWC 2012 Beam me up, Sammy

    Samsung lit up MWC this week, bringing the Samsung Galaxy Beam to Western markets. It's a phone that lets users to cast content directly onto walls using its built-in projector. The Samsung Galaxy Beam was first launched in Singapore in July 2010, although the feature of a built-in pico projector did little to propel the …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 14:19

  • IBM and Huawei hook up to start Chinese takeaway

    MWC 2012 Two billion armpits can't be ignored

    IBM's enterprise consultancy, IBM Global Business Service, has joined up with Huawei to create enterprise solutions, initially for Chinese companies but with global aspirations. Huawei wants its smartphones embedded into businesses, and to give those businesses a reason to buy its tablets too. IBM wants to push its Chinese …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 14:41

  • Child abuse suspect won't be forced to decrypt hard drive

    US appeals court rules it would violate his 5th Amendment rights

    A federal appeals court has ruled it improper to compel a child pornography suspect to decrypt his hard drive because such an act would violate his Fifth Amendment rights. The ruling (PDF) by the Atlanta-based US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of an unnamed suspect from Florida (known in court papers as "John Doe") …

    Security 27 Feb 2012, 15:04

  • Mozilla backs Facebook's mobile web standards push

    MWC 2012 Smartphone browsers and in-app spending should be simpler

    Open-web-loving Mozilla is backing Facebook's move to bring together smartphone-makers, carriers and developers to sort out standards for mobile internet and mobile app payments. The social network announced at Mobile World Congress that it has joined the snappily-titled W3C Mobile Web Platform Core Community Group along with …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 15:19

  • Blighty's taxman offers smartphone levy refund

    HMRC catches up with today's tech

    Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs officials have decided that smartphones are phones, not PDAs, so anyone paying tax on one can now claim it back. Not that a lot of people were paying the tax anyway, companies (and individuals) have in the main remained blissfully ignorant that once a phone became smart it ceased, in the eyes …

    Small Biz 27 Feb 2012, 15:37

  • Asus peddles three-in-one smartphone, tablet, netbook

    MWC 2012 ICS glosses Padfone's dual-core downgrade

    Asus has officially launched its anticipated Padfone at MWC 2012, the all-in-one smartphone, tablet and netbook it announced almost a year ago. The phone itself features a 4.3in display with the choice of either 16GB or 32GB of storage. There's also an 8Mp camera and 1GB of memory, with the dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 15:58

  • ZeuS Trojan embraces P2P – becomes even more sneaky and sticky

    Even a headshot to a zombie network may no longer kill off botnets

    New variants of the Zeusbot/SpyEye cybercrime toolkit are moving away from reliance on command-and-control (C&C) servers towards a peer-to-peer architecture. C&C servers are the Achilles heel of cybercrime networks, vulnerable to both takedown operations and monitoring by either law enforcement or police. Variants of Zeusbot/ …

    Security 27 Feb 2012, 16:04

  • Fallen DRAMurai warrior Elpida files for bankruptcy protection

    Japanese chipmaker finds itself in a $5.6bn hole

    Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory filed for bankruptcy protection today after failing to find anyone willing to save it. Despite rumours that a number of suitors were interested in slurping a stake in the DRAM manufacturer, including Micron Technology and Toshiba, Elpida has had to apply to restructure its business under …

    Financial News 27 Feb 2012, 16:16

  • Handbags at dawn: Hermes loses Chinese trademark battle

    Fashion giant not impressed with Trademark Appeal Board

    Sacré bleu! Apple isn’t the only big name brand facing a trademark KO in China at the moment, after French fashion giant Hermes lost a key legal battle with China’s Trademark Appeal Board. Shanghai Daily reported that although the purveyor of luxury goods has had its English language name registered since as far back as 1977 …

    Law 27 Feb 2012, 16:37

  • Cloud Store: Next wave of services due by April

    Public sector organisations to 'rate' suppliers

    G-Cloud bigwig Chris Chant has confirmed the second wave of Cloud Store services will go live in April and that public sector customers will finally be able to rate suppliers, helping to shore up the flaky accreditation process. The Cloud Store has come in for a fair share of criticism – as well as applause – after its speedy …

    Government 27 Feb 2012, 16:44

  • ITU supremo offers top tips on thwarting next Arab Spring

    MWC 2012 Give the people what they want - better telecoms

    The International Telecommunication Union's general secretary reckons the Arab Spring spate of revolutions is pretty much over, except possibly in Syria, and to keep it that way we need better-connected countries. Dr Hamadoun Toure was speaking at Mobile World Congress, mostly about how the ITU is absolutely, positively, not …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 16:58

  • It's game over for pinball pioneer

    Tilts after 100 years

    Steve Kordek, the man widely dubbed as the Godfather of Pinball, has fired his last steely sphere at the ripe age of 100. While Kordek was credited with developing hundreds of pinball games, it was his implementation of two flippers that cemented his legendary status in the gaming world. After the 1947 game Humpty Dumpty …

    Hardware 27 Feb 2012, 17:14

  • Crap mobile networks shamed by Carrier IQ API

    MWC 2012 Snoopware biz begs for forgiveness by dishing telco dirt

    Caught-out cellphone snoopster Carrier IQ has decided to come clean, hoping that punters will be prepared to have their phones' behaviour logged if they get to see the data too. On Monday the company launched an API which allows network operators to create self-service portals showing customers how many times they've dropped …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 17:17

  • Fujitsu saddles up its own Hadoop distro

    Forget HDFS

    Japanese IT conglomerate Fujitsu is throwing its own elephant into the ring with a mashup of Fujitsu software with components of the Apache Hadoop big data muncher, which it says is better than just using the open-source code all by its lonesome. Like many Hadoop users, customers using Fujitsu's mainframe, Sparc, and x86 iron …

    Servers 27 Feb 2012, 17:29

  • Dell flashes enhanced 12G racks of PowerEdge gear

    Plus tower and cloud packages unveiled

    To say that the x86 server makers are a little anxious for Intel to launch the "Sandy Bridge-EP" processors and get the Xeon E5 transition under way is a bit of an understatement. They are positively champing at the bit. Hewlett-Packard previewed its ProLiant Gen8 machine based on the Xeon E5s two weeks ago at its partner …

    Virtualization 27 Feb 2012, 17:36

  • 10GigE jetpacks strapped on EqualLogic underlings

    Plucky Dell arrays gets faster chips and ports

    Dell has added 10Gbps Ethernet cards to two of its 1GigE EqualLogic iSCSI arrays, bumped up their controllers and built in greater Linux and Windows host integration. The range starts at the 1GbitE PS4100 entry level, and then rises up through the 1GbitE PS6100, the virtualised and scale-out PS6500, the 10GbitE PS6010 and …

    Storage 27 Feb 2012, 17:46

  • 41-megapixel MONSTER mobe shutters Nokia knockers

    MWC 2012 Hands on with improbable Symbian heavyweight

    Nokia's PureView 808, unveiled today in Barcelona, boasts a 41-megapixel camera - a spec that trumps rivals' 8- and 12-MP sensors spectacularly. Naturally your humble hack had a play with one on the Nokia stand. The hefty handset features an f2.4 Carl Zeiss lens and new pixel oversampling technology. Zooming in on an image is …

    Phones 27 Feb 2012, 18:17

  • Intel smartphones coming to the UK, France, China, India

    MWC 2012 New high-end, low-end chips at 'twice Moore's Law'

    Intel has announced three new partners that will soon offer smartphones based on Chipzilla's handset reference platform, and has provided more detail about its mobile-chip roadmap. Execs from Europe's Orange, India's Lava, and China's ZTE took the stage with Intel CEO Paul Otellini at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to …

    Mobile 27 Feb 2012, 18:17

  • US lawyers float Facebook Credits antitrust suit

    Exclusive Got nothing to lose? Step forward

    US attorneys are trying to drum up interest in a potential case against Facebook, claiming its Credits virtual currency is breaking US antitrust law. The firm, Newman DuWors, has thrown up the site Stopfacebookcredits.com to attract game developers and providers of virtual currencies who believe their businesses have been or …

    Law 27 Feb 2012, 18:31

  • Qualys pushes out cloud-based tech for website protection

    Plans to beat off SQL injections, DDoSing ... and SaaS rivals

    Security software-as-a-service specialist Qualys has branched out from vulnerability assessment and policy compliance for corporate networks with a cloud-based website protection service. QualysGuard Web Application Firewall (WAF) is designed to protect sites from threats including SQL injection and DDoS. The service is also …

    Security 27 Feb 2012, 18:46

  • IBM carbon probe views electron movement in molecule

    Scanning technique vital for molecular computing

    IBM researchers in Switzerland have seen the movement of charge within a molecule for the first time, using a microscope tipped with a single carbon atom. The team adapted an existing form of atomic force microscopy called Kelvin probe force microscopy, by using a microscopic scanning bar that measures the electric field …

    Science 27 Feb 2012, 20:21

  • Oz channel takes another hit as receiver moves in on WOW

    Weak sales, property debts take their toll

    Another of Australia’s struggling bricks-and-mortar gadget retailers is in trouble, with the WOW Audio Visual Superstores chain put up for sale by receivers Ferrier Hodgson. The company had expanded its original operation in Cairns, Queensland, to launch nine other stores in Queensland and five in other states (Albury and …

    Business 27 Feb 2012, 21:30

  • Microbee flies again

    Oz Z80: Back with extra Linux

    Australia’s answer to the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro, the Microbee, is back. Former Microbee employee Ewan Wordsworth has acquired the company’s intellectual property, stock and trademarks, started his own outfit called Microbee Technology, and is hard at work preparing 100 new-generation assemble-it-yourself Microbee kits. All …

    Hardware 27 Feb 2012, 22:00

  • Foxtel and Austar set to play nice with IPTV guys

    Content for ACCC green light deal underway

    Australian subscription TV incumbents Foxtel and Austar are set to offer selected exclusive content to ISPs in a bid to smooth the path to a green light for their $AU1.9 billion merger. The Australian reports that the duo will be offering movie and lifestyle content for IPTV services as a way to placate the qualms of the …

    Business 27 Feb 2012, 22:30

  • Melting Arctic leads to snowy winters

    That missing iceberg is 12" deep on your driveway

    Georgia Tech has lobbed a small grenade into the climate change debate, with a study suggesting a correlation between melting Arctic pack ice and snowy winters in the Northern Hemisphere. The study, announced February 27, notes that above-average snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has been measured each year since 2007 ( …

    Science 27 Feb 2012, 23:00

  • Apple wins battle in Motorola patent war

    iPhone, iPad blocker unblocked, rules German court

    A German court has ruled that Motorola Mobility can't enforce a patent-battle injunction it won in December that would have prevented Apple's iPhone and iPad from being sold in that country. The injunction caused Apple to remove those products from its German online store earlier this month, only to put them back up within …

    Law 27 Feb 2012, 23:15

  • IT staffers on ragged edge of burnout and cynicism

    RSA 2012 Stress survey says companies failing staff

    A survey of stress levels among IT security staff, thought to be the first of its kind, has shown that an alarming number of staffers are suffering dangerous levels of cynicism, leaving them depressed and unable to function properly. The survey (securityburnout.org) was organized by Jack Daniel, founder of the Security B-Sides …

    Security 27 Feb 2012, 23:20

  • All-optical RAM to clear comms bottleneck

    NTT shows off nanowatt optical memory

    Japanese researchers are claiming a breakthrough in all-optical memory, one of the key bottlenecks remaining in the optical communications world. The high throughput of optical communications systems brings its own problem: any function that can’t be performed in the optical domain demands an opto-electric conversion, creating …

    Science 27 Feb 2012, 23:30

  • Dell: Not looking for lock-in, just lovin'

    Big Mike covers your end, and the other end, too

    Dell doesn't want to be IBM, like HP sometimes seems to, but it wants to be enough like those two that it can kick their asses in the data center and still be best buddies with systems software makers such as Microsoft, Red Hat, and Oracle. That, in short, was the message from the top brass at Dell's PowerEdge 12G systems launch …

    Virtualization 27 Feb 2012, 23:33

  • Motorola upgrades Vic emergency network

    Future proofs mobile services

    The Victorian government has awarded Motorola Solutions with an $AU130 million contract to upgrade and extend the management of Victoria’s Metropolitan Mobile Radio (MMR) network. The network is part of the Victorian Government’s Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA). The contract represents a four year …

    Networks 27 Feb 2012, 23:43