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6th March 2012 Archive

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  • AOL pulls the plug on Brizzly

    Users' pictures to disappear on March 31st

    Popular social media client Brizzly will pull down the shutters on March 31st and is urging users to hurry up and download any pictures they stored with the service before that date. Brizzly came to prominence in 2009 at a Tech Crunch event. The next year AOL acquired it and said it had no intention of shuttering the service, …

    Software 6 Mar 00:32

  • Yahoo! cutting! thousands! of! jobs! say! sources!

    Company doesn't deny reported cuts

    Yahoo! has declined to deny a report that it is planning another massive series of layoffs as it seeks to grow back to its former glories. Sources within the company told AllThingsD that every division was being examined for cost-cutting, and that the final number of staff to be let go could be numbered in the thousands. CEO …

    Business 6 Mar 00:54

  • Virtual Australia & New Zealand Initiative launches

    Plans 3D models of every ANZ building, secure access model.

    A group of public and private bodies have banded together to create a new entity charged with building a 3D virtual recreation of Australia and New Zealand. VANZI, the Virtual Australia & New Zealand Initiative, has been summoned into existence by the Co-Operative Research Centre for Spatial Information, the Victorian …

    Public Sector 6 Mar 02:04

  • 'Cloud storage served from an array would cost $2 a gigabyte'

    Oz cloud shuns arrays, builds on servers instead

    New Australian cloud storage operator Haylix says building a cloud on storage arrays would mean prices of $AUD2 a gigabyte a month, rather than the $AUD0.12 it has been able to achieve by building a cloud out of servers. “Arrays are great for active servers with high I/O,” said Michael Richardson, a Manager at Haylix. But the …

    Cloud 6 Mar 03:30

  • Wacom Cintiq 24HD interactive pen display

    Review The ultimate keyboard shortcut

    So the Wacom Cintiq 24HD shows up at my door and it's huge. Seriously, this marriage of 24in display and graphics tablet tech needs two people to lift it out of the packaging and there are step-by-step instructions on just how to do it. This is definitely a professional piece of kit and, costing around £2000, I reckon unless you …

    reghardware 6 Mar 07:00

  • UK tax fraud IT project 'missed virtually every delivery date'

    Too late for HMRC to grab dosh from tax dodgers – watchdog

    IT projects that formed part of Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) compliance and enforcement programme missed key delivery milestones and failed to bring the expected recovery of tax, according to a report by the National Audit Office. The compliance and enforcement programme was implemented between 2006 and 2011 with the aim of …

    Government 6 Mar 08:02

  • Google’s privacy policy: Incoherent and confusing

    Comment: Separating 'personal info' from 'personal data' and 'sensitive personal info'...

    Google’s new combined Privacy Policy (March 2012) has been widely criticised by privacy professionals and Data Protection Authorities (in particular the CNIL – the French Data Protection Authority). However, so far the reasons for this criticism have been made in general terms. Here is a more detailed explanation. Google’s …

    ID 6 Mar 08:27

  • Big Brother refunds Facebook credits after vote crash blunder

    Deal with punters keeps Ofcom sweet

    Ofcom has let Channel 5 off the hook after it agreed to let Big Brother viewers carry over surplus Facebook credits, or get a refund, if they were unable to vote in the show's evictions. The last series of Big Brother was a UK telly first by accepting votes through the use of paid-for Facebook credits. However, these had to be …

    Entertainment 6 Mar 09:01

  • Bletchley Park gets personal with new Alan Turing exhibition

    Steampunk speech-scrambler, a note to mum and more

    Letters, academic work and personal belongings of wartime codebreaker and computer pioneer Alan Turing, including a letter to his mother explaining his role in the outcome of World War II, went on display at Bletchley Park on Monday. James May cuts the ribbon on the new Alan Turing exhibition. Photos by Brid-Aine Parnell …

    Science 6 Mar 09:29

  • Laptops dominate UK spending in personal computing kit

    Tablets racing to catch up

    Brits bought more computer kit during the past Christmas and New Year period than they did in the same period a year before, market watcher GfK has revealed. Comparing real sales - GfK tracks purchases made by punters not just how many units vendors ship from their warehouses - over December 2011 and January 2012 to figures …

    reghardware 6 Mar 09:34

  • iOnRoad Augmented Driving

    Android App of the Week A major contribution to road safety?

    Possibly the most - only? - useful augmented reality app I’ve come across, iOnRoad Augmented Driving uses your phone to provide a selection of handy driving advisories and warnings not unlike those provided by the latest Ford Focus. The app uses your phone’s rear camera to scan traffic in front of you. It warns you of any …

    reghardware 6 Mar 10:00

  • China's first MOON rover slated for 2013 launch

    Roving robot will be part of third Chang'e mission

    China's space boffins have hatched a plan to send their very first rover vehicle to the Moon in 2013, according to reports. Shanghai Daily revealed that the country’s third Chang’e mission will deploy an orbiting vehicle with landing gear, allowing it to touch down on the lunar surface. Ye Peijian, chief commander of Chang'e- …

    Space 6 Mar 10:21

  • BT, TalkTalk lose final appeal against Digital Economy Act

    Updated An expensive verdict for telcos

    BT and TalkTalk today lost their final appeal against the UK government's measures to stamp out illegal file-sharing online. The telcos want certain sections of the Digital Economy Act repealed, and took their fight to Blighty's Court of Appeal after most of their arguments were tossed out by a High Court judge in April last …

    Law 6 Mar 10:34

  • Samsung targets pockets with latest Galaxy blower

    Mobile means mobile, obviously

    Samsung sent its latest Android into orbit today, announcing the Galaxy Pocket, a low-end handset said to be geared towards those who use their phone on the move. Surely marketing can do better than that? The Samsung Galaxy Pocket packs a 2.8in, 240 x 320 display with 3GB of built-in storage that's expandable to 32GB using …

    reghardware 6 Mar 10:49

  • UK shoppers spent £1bn less on consumer electronics in 2011

    Beancounter: Retailers need 'strong internet arm' to hang on to market share

    UK retail officially continues to be the worst market to operate as a reseller after spending on consumer electronics fell by £1bn in 2011, GFK Retail stats confirmed. The beancounter said the size of the sector had declined 4.5 per cent, but with spending down 7.5 per cent in January alone compared to the same month one year …

    Channel Register 6 Mar 10:51

  • LOHAN is heading towards REHAB

    Garden shed vacuum chamber starts to shape up

    We know you lot do wonder just what's afoot down at the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) fabrication bunker, so we thought we've give you an update on progress on our garden-shed hypobaric chamber experiment. If you're a LOHAN newbie there's background info on the Rocketry Experimental High Altitude Barosimulator ( …

    SPB 6 Mar 11:02

  • iPhone con man knifed to death in knock-off mobile brawl

    Fraudster got more than he bargained for

    A bloke was arrested after a brawl over a counterfeit Apple mobile led to the fatal stabbing of a con man. The fight kicked off in Zhengzhou, northern China, according to Henan province newspaper The Dahe Daily [Chinese], which published grisly CCTV footage capturing the moment of the stabbing. A 29-year-old cook surnamed …

    Crime 6 Mar 11:14

  • Ford: kick your car to open the boot

    Car Week Gesture recognition tech added to new Kuga

    Want to open the boot in the new Ford Kuga? Just give it a kick. The car company today said it will equip the hatchback with a gesture recognition system. Sensors mounted in the rear bumper detect the presence of a hoof being raised and held in close proximity and, if the car is unlocked, will automatically open the rear …

    reghardware 6 Mar 11:17

  • Boffins, tourists threaten Antarctica with alien invasion

    'Worrying' risk of little green lifeforms settling

    Ice-loving boffins and tourists are wrecking the Antarctic by effectively busing in lifeforms alien to the cold continent, according to a new study. Scientists who journey to the ice-bound land for research purposes, and the growing number of sightseers heading for the South Pole, are carrying with them seeds of foreign plants …

    Biology 6 Mar 11:23

  • Orange offers UK's first home broadband bundle with mobile minutes

    Keep the bill down

    Orange has launched a home broadband package that includes free call minutes to mobile phones, the first service of its kind in the UK, the cellco claimed. With more folk than ever relying solely on their mobile, rather than using a landline too, Orange is attempting to reverse that trend with a new £20-a-month deal - £15 per …

    reghardware 6 Mar 11:38

  • Google ups max Android app size to 4GB

    Capacity to play with

    Google has increased the capacity of its Android app packaging tech, giving developers up to 4GB in which to cram their smartphone and tablet software and associated resources. The previous limit was 50MB, but with quad-core chippery and ultra-high resolution screens the next big things, adding app package capacity was a …

    reghardware 6 Mar 11:47

  • Lego space shuttle hits 114,000ft

    Germans show NASA how it's done

    Those of you who are still mourning the end of the space shuttle programme should take heart that while NASA is currently grounded, we in Europe still have the Right Stuff: According to the video blurb, the Lego shuttle (model 3367) launched from central Germany on 31 December last year, and hit a heady 35,000m (114,800ft …

    SPB 6 Mar 11:48

  • Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4

    First look Driving the world’s first diesel electric hybrid

    Car company PRs are always a chirpy bunch, but with a practised eye you can tell when they think they are really on to something. That's currently the case with the folk from Peugeot, who are like a dog with two tails to wag when talking about the new 3008 HYbrid4, the world’s first diesel electric hybrid. The world’s first …

    reghardware 6 Mar 12:00

  • Apple pushes out Mac OS X update to fix Time Machine fail

    Back-up restore flaw thorn in Lion's paw

    Apple has released a supplemental update to Mac OS X Lion that fixes a problem with the Time Machine back-up system. Some Lion users are currently experiencing errors while attempting to restore from a Time Machine backup, or even attempting to back up on the feature – as described on this Mac help forum here – so the fix is …

    Operating Systems 6 Mar 12:14

  • Software and services firm K3 reports descent in profits

    Acquisition-hungry seller puts self on block

    Mid-range ERP house K3 saw profits dip in the six months to December as it hoovered up a host of smaller rivals. The software and services seller, which is in currently touting itself around the market, turned in revenues of £33.4m for the first half of its financial year, a 35.2 per cent jump on the previous year. Pre-tax …

    Channel Register 6 Mar 12:27

  • Adobe lobs out Flash update to plug 3D security hole

    Two critical bugs spark patch rollout rush

    Adobe has released an out-of-schedule upgrade for its Flash Player software that tackles two serious vulnerabilities. The cross-platform update is suitable for users of Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris. Android punters also need to patch their smartphones to guard against possible attack. The two flaws involve a memory …

    Applications 6 Mar 12:28

  • Eric Schmidt flicks INTERSTELLAR TOWEL at top tech fair

    Douglas Adams takes the rap for Google's mission creep

    Google chairman Eric Schmidt is a big fan of the work of Britain's beloved sci-fi writer Douglas Adams, who died nearly 11 years ago. The author, who penned The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, had done a good job of predicting the future, according to Schmidt, who was talking at the opening of the world's biggest IT fair, …

    Music and Media 6 Mar 12:41

  • Chunnel mobile available – but only while heading towards UK

    Blighty misses the Olympic boat

    Channel Tunnel passengers heading to the UK will get mobile coverage, but those heading abroad will remain incommunicado until the British operators get their act together. French operators Bouygues Telecom and Orange SFR have agreed a deal with Eurotunnel to extend both networks into the northbound track, but despite starting …

    Mobile 6 Mar 13:04

  • FSF fandroids fight to 'free' Android from Google's forepaws

    Punters urged to gain control of apps, privates

    The Free Software Foundation in Europe is taking a swipe at Android with a campaign to help punters wrestle their phones and data from Google's paws. The foundation has flagged up seven pieces of software or services it reckons you'll want to use with your Android handset and possibly help develop. These will stop you being “ …

    Developer 6 Mar 13:17

  • UK.gov holds summit to stop satnav-driven smash-ups

    Councils and guide-makers need to be on the same page map

    The UK's Department of Transport is holding a summit today to try to figure out how to get satnav maps bang up-to-date so drivers don't blithely follow them into disaster. The problem is particularly bad in rural areas, where no end of massive lorries seem to ignore the narrowing of the road they're on in deference to the …

    Government 6 Mar 13:42

  • Ereader sales to slump as punters snap up cheap slabs – report

    Ebooks now eaten on multi-function tablets

    The ereader market is heading towards a slump in 2012 as users increasingly consume digital content on their tablets, according to new research from Taiwanese IT news site Digitimes. The report found that overall, global shipments of ereaders stood at 22.82 million units in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 107 per cent. It …

    PCs & Chips 6 Mar 14:02

  • Western Digital slips solid hardness into EMC's eager slot

    Will rope Hitachi GST into flash threesome

    Getting ahead of ourselves by a few days, Western Digital is supplying solid-state disks to EMC for its VNX5500-F all-flash array. Of course, currently the chips are funnelled through its arms-length independent Hitachi GST subsidiary, but this is just a formality. WD is buying Hitachi GST and the acquisition is expected to be …

    Storage 6 Mar 14:33

  • Workers can't escape Windows 8 Metro - Microsoft COO

    CIOs reminded productivity soars when fun is eliminated

    Windows 8 will help people work harder and faster, argues Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner, because the "immersive" Metro user interface removes all their distractions. Highlighting business-centric features in the new OS, Turner insists Windows 8's fondness for fondleslabs will boost office productivity. The …

    Windows 8 6 Mar 15:01

  • Apple wins access to Google, Motorola documents

    Thrusting through the proxy to strike home

    A US judge has ruled that Apple should be allowed access to details about Google's acquisition of Motorola, despite the fact that Google isn't involved in the pending Apple/Motorola cases. Apple has been fighting a proxy war with Google, suing the makers of Android handsets for various patent infringements as it can't take on …

    Law 6 Mar 15:21

  • In your face, rivals: Amazon cuts cloudy prices

    Where have we seen this aggressive pricing tactic before?

    Amazon has once more cut the cost of its cloudy offerings to smack down its competition and continue on its path to fluffy domination. A post from Amazon Web Services (AWS) "evangelist" Jeff Barr on the AWS blog claimed that Amazon had managed to lower its costs and would be passing on those savings to its customers. Exactly …

    Cloud Business 6 Mar 15:43

  • Why on Earth would you build a closed Android phone?

    Hint: It has a 12-button keypad, panic button and a magnifying glass

    This is the Doro 740, announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week and expected to ship in the summer. While other Android phone manufacturers are struggling to differentiate their phones, this one has no problems: it’s aimed at older folk. The major players in the niche of "mobiles for seniors" have been …

    Mobile 6 Mar 16:04

  • Dabs warns staff: Your roles are 'at risk of redundancy'

    BT rings the changes at online reselling arm

    Dabs.com has notified a significant number of sales staff that their roles have been placed at risk of redundancy. The move at the etailer follows sweeping changes that parent company BT made last year as it merged its three reseller businesses under the leadership of John Thornhill and laid off some workers including senior …

    Channel Register 6 Mar 16:15

  • Punters are the real losers in BT, TalkTalk copyright court blow

    Analysis We drill into DEA decision - and find nothing's changed

    The British ISP industry has spent a small fortune of its customers' money fighting the people who would, in a saner world, be its business partners - only to suffer a crushing defeat. On Tuesday Lord Justice Richards threw out BT and TalkTalk's judicial review against the 2010 Digital Economy Act. Yet as trench warfare goes, …

    Law 6 Mar 16:23

  • 16 Sony Centres jump the tracks, liquidator hits the brakes

    RSM Tenon appointed to flog what's left

    RSM Tenon has been appointed to liquidate a batch of 16 Sony Centres that ran into insurmountable financial difficulties. The franchises operated by Bascam and Headsun, which formerly traded as Shasonic UK and Shasonic Centres respectively, were formally placed into administration on 21 February with RSM handling affairs. A …

    Channel Register 6 Mar 16:42

  • Intel plugs both your sockets with 'Jaketown' Xeon E5-2600s

    Oof! Chipzilla unzips double bulge and gets its stuff out

    The Xeon E5-2600, formerly known by the code-name "Jaketown" inside of Intel and "Sandy Bridge-EP" when Intel referred to it externally, is finally here for mainstream, two-socket servers. And now the 2012 server cycle begins in earnest – even if it wasn't soon enough for the most ardent data-center motorheads. The Xeon E5- …

    Servers 6 Mar 17:00

  • No joke: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 debuts on April Fools' Day

    Hadoop, Azure also look for more partners

    As expected Microsoft has released SQL Server 2012, formerly codenamed Denali, to manufacturers and will be making the final code available on April Fools' Day. "This is the cusp of a major milestone for Microsoft and SQL Server," Doug Leland, GM of SQL marketing for Redmond told The Register. "It's been battle-tested by over …

    Applications 6 Mar 17:07

  • Venus BELCHES solar wind in shock weather explosion

    ESA probe sniffs exposed planet's regurgitation trauma

    ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has spotted the planet blowing back million-mile-per-hour solar winds in weather explosions similar to what happens outside Earth's magnetic shield. Solar winds bombard the Earth every day, but the torrential gales are stopped about 44,000 miles away from the planet when they hit the magnetic …

    Space 6 Mar 17:14

  • LulzSec SMACKDOWN: Leader Sabu turned by feds last summer

    Suspects cuffed in Blighty, Ireland, US

    Suspects purported to be members of LulzSec have been rounded up on two continents. The international law enforcement operation was apparently aided by the infamous hacktivist group's alleged erstwhile leader, "Sabu", who secretly pled guilty to a battery of charges last August. Police arrested three men and charged a further …

    Crime 6 Mar 17:36

  • Tingle factor aimed at game controllers

    Feel the vibe

    A fresh take on vibrating videogame controllers has been pitched to console manufacturers, with a pad that features haptic feedback through the thumbsticks. The prototype – from engineers at the University of Utah – pulls the skin of the user's thumbs, mimicking the recoil of a gun better than the standard vibration found in …

    reghardware 6 Mar 17:52

  • AMD cuts loose GlobalFoundries stake

    It's fabulous to be fabless

    Advanced Micro Devices said last month that it was in the middle of renegotiating its wafer-supply agreement with its former foundry, which was spun out as GlobalFoundries and is now part of a much larger chip manufacturing operation. The deal is now done – and so is AMD's stake in GlobalFoundries itself. Since spinning out …

    Financial News 6 Mar 18:01

  • Toshiba outs monster tablet 'concept'

    Windows 8 13.3in fondleslab, anyone?

    Toshiba is tempting tablet fans with a couple of new concept models: a 7.7in design and a rather more outré 13.3in version. The former has an OLED panel and runs Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Ports include Micro SD and micro USB. There are front and back webcams. Toshiba wouldn't talk specs, but you're talking standard …

    reghardware 6 Mar 18:10

  • Microsoft and Apple should hit Amazon, not Google

    Open ... and Shut Ads, devs, hardware – Bezos has it all

    Amazon is on a roll, and it's no longer just a question of dominating online retailing or public cloud computing. According to a Business Insider article, Amazon is already clearing more than $1bn each year in advertising revenue. This has Google scared. But it probably should have Apple scared, too. Amazon, after all, is the …

    CIO 6 Mar 18:32

  • Top Republican publishes full ACTA text for public look-see

    'Secret negotiations not the American way'

    Republican congressman Darrell Issa of California has published the full text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), saying that the public has a right to know what their governments have been hiding from them. "ACTA represents as great a threat to an open Internet as SOPA and PIPA and was drafted with even less …

    Government 6 Mar 19:01

  • Facebook IPO to stuff $2.5bn in California tax coffers

    Zuckerberg & Co. bail out Golden State

    California state budget analysts report that Facebook's impending IPO will bring the state a tax windfall of nearly $2.5bn. "Facebook's possible IPO ... [is] likely to generate substantial capital gains and other income for a small number of Californians and, in so doing, generate additional state tax revenues over the next …

    Business 6 Mar 19:01

  • Nexsan flashes made-over cache creds

    Cries FASTiers

    Nexsan is has made over FASTiers – with flash cache-boosted NST Series unified iSCSI and NAS arrays – to compete with other tiered flash-HDD hybrid arrays from startups NexGen Storage, Nimble Storage, Starboard Systems and VMware-focused Tintri. Nexsan's marketing blitz insists that it is no startup itself: it's established, …

    Storage 6 Mar 19:04

  • FCC ponders: When is it OK to switch off networks?

    San Fran's subway axed mobe coverage during protests

    The FCC wants help deciding who should have the right to switch off mobile networks, and under what circumstances they should be permitted to exercise that right. Right now it's not clear, on either side of the pond, under what circumstances an authority can request a network operator shutdown part of its network, or if the …

    Law 6 Mar 20:02

  • Android Market morphs into 'Google Play'

    One-stop entertainment shop (yeah, apps too)

    Google's Android Market is dead – long live the Google Play online store. On Tuesday, Google rolled out new branding for its Android Market, focusing on the entertainment content that users can load onto their Android devices and PCs – music, books, and movies – and relegating mobile apps to less-prominent status. Apps will …

    Music and Media 6 Mar 21:04

  • User explosion squeezes Oz mobile upload speeds

    Download speeds up, but at a cost

    If all things were equal, a change in mobile speeds should be reflected equally in both directions – but according to IDC, that’s not what’s happened in Australia. The research itself is straightforward enough: IDC spent the money to conduct 1,000 point tests in and around Sydney and Melbourne, and found that while average …

    Mobile 6 Mar 21:20

  • Intel: The data center will be 'Xeon E5 Inside'

    Rack 'em and stack 'em

    Diane Bryant, Intel's former CIO and now general manager of the chip giant's Data Center and Connected Systems Group, has gone from installing Xeon servers to run the company, to hawking them to all of the other companies on the planet. And, of course, making sure that Intel engineers cook up the next-generation Xeons so …

    Servers 6 Mar 21:52

  • Westpac drops tech roles

    Tech sector gloomy, boardroom happy

    Westpac continues to slash jobs as part of its offshoring initiatives, revealing that it will cull a further 119 technology roles, most of which will be awarded to India’s Infosys. The job cuts follow on from the recent dismantling of 188 positions in November and 560 in February. The bank is in hot water with unions and …

    Business 6 Mar 21:56

  • Social networks breeding spatial junk

    Maps muddled by weak GPS, sloppy check-ins

    Next time you check in with foursquare or Facebook, please stand right outside the venue, make sure your smartphone has a very good GPS signal and describe the location accurately. That's the wish of the spatial data community, which is getting grumpy about user-generated spatial data. To understand why, consider the several …

    Software 6 Mar 22:25

  • Righthaven stripped of rights

    Just another word for nothing left to lose

    The corpse of copyright troll Righthaven may have given its last twitch, with a US judge relieving the company of the only thing it had to work with: copyright. Unable to pay its debts, Righthaven has been ordered by a Las Vegas federal judge to relinquish both its copyrights and its trademark, reports Vegas Inc. Before any …

    Law 6 Mar 22:30

  • IBM's Watson gets a job on Wall Street

    Citi looks for smart customer support

    IBM has signed a deal with banking group Citi to use the data-analyzing abilities of the Watson supercomputer to help deal with its customers. Citi will try out Watson – which beat off human competition to win the US quiz show Jeopardy! last year – in a variety of roles. These could include building customer profiles based on …

    HPC 6 Mar 22:53

  • US sends factories to Asia, gets ozone in return

    Choking on cheap consumer products

    The West’s massive shift of manufacturing to Asian locations – which have a reputation for looser environmental standards – is having an unforeseen and unwanted outcome: some of the pollution offshored to Asia along with jobs and factories is returning to the West. That’s the conclusion reached by a team of US researchers who …

    Energy 6 Mar 23:00