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9th March 2012 Archive

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  • Amazon Web Services plans Australian hires

    Seeks sales and marketing people, hints at techy hires

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) wants to hire more Australians. That's of interest for two reasons, the first of which are rumours that the web services giant wants to open a local data centre to comfort customers who worry about offshore storage. The second is that El Reg has heard grumblings from the Australian outposts of …

    Cloud 9 Mar 02:58

  • Oz pen testers to get CREST creds

    Government helps white-hats prove they're good guys

    The Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST) has opened a local chapter, with help from Australia's Federal Government. CREST certifies ethical hackers, giving them a shinier CV. Outfits who hire certified staff gain confidence that they're shelling out for someone with both integrity and solid skills. A press …

    Security 9 Mar 03:21

  • WD acquires Hitachi GST for $4.8bn

    And then there were three

    One year after Western Digital announced it was going to acquire Hitachi GST the deal is done, but only after conditions imposed by three different regulatory agencies have been met. Western Digital (WD) has bought Viviti Technologies, formerly Hitachi GST, for $3.9bn in cash and 25 million WD shares worth $0.9 billion; a …

    Storage 9 Mar 05:12

  • Ten... stars of the Geneva Motor Show

    Car Week Eye-catching autos

    The annual automotive get-together on the shores of Lake Geneva is arguably now the premier annual European car show. With auto makers having a better time of the current economic situation than many other manufacturing concerns, there was a definite feeling of optimism about the halls of the 82nd Geneva Motor Show, just as …

    reghardware 9 Mar 07:00

  • The Facebook test: Why social Big Data is important

    HPC blog Your online presence could get you that second interview

    A study published by the Journal of Applied Social Psychology says that analysing applicant social network pages is a good predictor of how well the newbie might (or might not) fit into your organization. They’re not talking about the obvious stuff, like status updates about looting stuff from work or faking exotic illnesses …

    HPC Blog 9 Mar 08:01

  • OCZ dazzles CeBIT with flashy Kilimanjaro package

    CeBIT Thunderbolt, Lightfoot and the screaming PCIe gen 3

    OCZ doesn't just give us teasing hints about future flash products, it tells us about them at trade shows. CeBIT was no exception, with OCZ unveiling its Kilimanjaro controller; SSD Lightfoot with its Thunderbolt interface; and Vertex 4 SSD with its Everest controller. Vertex 4 is a coming 2.5-inch SSD with a 6Gbit/s SATA …

    Storage 9 Mar 08:32

  • Web trawlers may have to pay to slurp up German newspaper snippets

    Online news 'aggregators' may be forced to cough licence fee

    The parties in Germany's ruling coalition have proposed a new protective copyright law for news publishers to ensure they are compensated by "commercial traders" that use pieces of their copyrighted content online, according to an automated translation of a document (15-page / 91KB PDF) recently published by the parties. The …

    Law 9 Mar 09:05

  • HMRC cuts IT spending in half in 2 years

    Almost too easy... Tax authority cut £700m from budget, loses 'no quality'

    HMRC has reduced its spending on IT from £1.4bn to £700m in two years, according to Phil Pavitt, the organisation's chief information officer (CIO) and director of change. Pavitt told the public sector efficiency expo in London that HMRC that the cuts had not come at the expense of quality of service. "This year it was just …

    Government 9 Mar 09:34

  • Scosche MyTrek health monitor

    Accessory of the Week Gym craich

    If you’re the kind of person who breaks out in a cold sweat at the thought of going to the gym, or if you’d rather stick pins in your eyeballs than go out for a run, look away now. Scosche’s MyTrek is one of a relatively new breed of fitness accessory for smartphones. It connects to an iDevice using Bluetooth and, when …

    reghardware 9 Mar 10:00

  • Angry Birds in spaaaaace beamed to fandroids by NASA

    Vid Smash-hit game catapulted into zero-gravity drama

    We've had an Angry Bird star constellation. We've had Angry Bird toys on the International Space Station. Now we're finally going to have Angry Birds in space on our mobiles. Finnish game-maker Rovio is unleashing the newest iteration of its world-dominating mobe game, Angry Birds Space, on March 22, according to the above …

    Entertainment 9 Mar 10:18

  • Google, Asus co-brand tablet to take on Amazon Kindle Fire

    $199 seven-incher out in May?

    Asus and Google are working on a co-branded 7in tablet designed to take the fight to Amazon's Kindle Fire, but the gadget won't be unveiled to the public before May. So say unnamed industry sources, cited by DigiTimes, who add that the Android-running tablet will be the first to use Google's new Play online shop. As such, the …

    reghardware 9 Mar 10:21

  • Solar storm has a 'sting in its tail', warn space weathermen

    Space station, satellites may hit particle squalls

    Thus far the ongoing solar storm which has blanketed Earth for the last 24 hours has been something of a damp squib, with no widespread problems reported. However space weathermen are warning of another "coronal mass ejection" particle squall inbound to our planet having been belched out by the Sun in the early hours of this …

    Space 9 Mar 10:30

  • Crucial pledges PC performance boost with Adrenaline

    SSD caching for your HDD

    Memory specialist Crucial has rolled out a small-capacity SSD for folk keen to up the speed of their system without a massive outlay. The package, dubbed Adrenaline - you can see the kind of audience Crucial is pitching the thing at, can't you? - comprises as 50GB Crucial m4 SSD, Nvelo's Dataplex caching app and all the bits …

    reghardware 9 Mar 10:42

  • Crapita ITS stomps pay rise hope, flushes 2012 bonuses

    Master stroke to make it a 'great place to work'

    Cost-cutting Capita IT Services (ITS) has warned staff that bonuses will once again be shelved and salaries frozen in 2012. The integrator called for voluntary redundancies before Christmas and kicked off austerity measures including a review of travel and subsistence across ITS and procurement of systems and services. In an …

    Channel Register 9 Mar 10:43

  • Microsoft reveals low-end WinPho limitations

    Lumia Tangoed

    Microsoft has revealed the limitations that low-end Windows Phones could suffer from due to their substandard specifications. And it doesn't look good for Nokia's Lumia 610. The Tango update allows devices to run on just 256MB of Ram rather than the 512MB previously required. It also supports low-end processors with less than …

    reghardware 9 Mar 10:43

  • Ambulance satnav not to blame for asthma attack boy's death

    Coroner rules faulty tech did not change outcome

    Satnav technology is off the hook after a coroner ruled that a nine-year-old boy who suffered a fatal asthma attack would not have survived had the ambulance sent to his aid been routed correctly by its GPS box. Worcestershire Coroner Geraint Williams ruled yesterday that Corey Seymour died from natural causes. "Would the …

    reghardware 9 Mar 10:53

  • Great Firewall of Pakistan erection stroked with govt cash

    Oi, China, do you mind if we copy yours?

    The Pakistani government has taken the unusual step of touting for firms it thinks could help build it a nationwide content-filtering service capable of blocking up to 50 million websites. In a move denounced by privacy campaigners and some technology providers, regulator the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority published a …

    Government 9 Mar 11:02

  • Microsoft 'yanked optical drive from Xbox 720'

    Spin-less tactics?

    Microsoft's next Xbox - whatever it's called - will not feature an optical disc drive, moles have claimed. Instead, it will gain games by downloads and possibly on memory cards too. Allegedly breaking one of the "strictest NDA" contracts ever encountered, the insiders said the console will indeed be launched in 2013, as …

    reghardware 9 Mar 11:10

  • Nuke clock incapable of losing time chimes with boffins

    Precise to 1/20th of a sec in 14bn years

    The force that binds neutrons to an atom's nucleus could be used to create clocks that are 100 times more accurate than today's best atomic clocks, say physicists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The nuclear clock outlined in a paper accepted for publication in Physics Letters Review would neither lose nor gain 1/ …

    Physics 9 Mar 11:28

  • Chrome patches up after double dose of CanSecWest pwnage

    CanSecWest Pwnium pandemonium

    Google has released a patch a day after Sergey Glazunov hacked its browser with a pair of zero-day flaws. The update covers Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Chromium OS. Google's Chrome fell to two separate attacks on Wednesday evening, both based on previously unknown vulnerabilities during competitions at the CanSecWest …

    Enterprise Security 9 Mar 11:42

  • Tech titans say sayonara to Japan in quake wake

    Cruel snub after tsunami rebuild struggle

    Almost a year to the day after a huge earthquake and devastating tsunami rattled the north-east corner of Japan, crippling the supply chain of key technologies, the production at some components plants is reportedly still not back to 100 per cent while some tech firms are accelerating their plans to leave the archipelago. The …

    Channel Register 9 Mar 12:01

  • Mass Effect 3

    Review Smokin' Reapers

    I had my doubts whether any game could live up to the amount of hype seen surrounding Mass Effect 3’s release. I shouldn't have been concerned though, I love it. The twisting compelling narrative; the authentic character interaction; the seamless integration of cut scenes and action and, last but definitely not least, the awe- …

    reghardware 9 Mar 12:11

  • Ofcom probes deeper, wider in BSkyB 'fit and proper' test

    Murdoch biz inspection intensifies

    Ofcom has widened a regulatory investigation scrutinising whether BSkyB - under the chairmanship of James Murdoch - passes the so-called "fit and proper" test (PDF) to hold a British broadcasting licence. A Freedom of Information request sought by the Financial Times revealed that the communications watchdog had begun a deeper …

    Music and Media 9 Mar 12:22

  • LYING iPhone 4S mobes claim 4G connection on 3G network

    Updated iOS 5.1 update stumps AT&T customers

    Apple's iOS 5.1 upgrade has left iPhone 4S-owning Americans baffled after their shiny smartphones claimed to have 4G connections, er, when they don't. Here in Blighty, we know we're not going to get 4G internet on our new iPads, or anything else for that matter until at least a few years. But iPhone 4S owners on the AT&T …

    Mobile 9 Mar 12:41

  • UK.gov claims it's giving doubled cash to SMEs ... now 13%

    Crumbs snatched from Whitehall's biz banquet

    Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude claimed today that the government was "on track" to double the monetary value of business going to small- and medium-sized firms by April this year. “Governments might be able to print money but it is SMEs who make it successful. SMEs are crucial to the future of this country and can save …

    Small Biz 9 Mar 13:03

  • 'Regrouping' Android tablet makers extend Apple reign

    iPad to command market for even longer

    The iPad 3 will prevent Apple's share of the tablet market from eroding as quickly as once thought, market watcher IHS iSuppli has admitted. Back in February 2011, iSuppli forecast that Apple's share of the tablet business would fall below 50 per cent in 2013. A year on, and it reckons that point won't be reach until 2015. “ …

    reghardware 9 Mar 13:08

  • 'How often can you hack a govt without going to jail?'

    Quotw Plus: Did someone announce a new fondleslab?

    This was the week in which an event of Earth-shattering proportions took place - rocking the world of technology, spilling lattes everywhere and bringing anyone with even a faint interest in geek gear to their knees. That's right: alleged hackers in website-raiding outfit LulzSec were cuffed by the feds. Suspected members of …

    Bootnotes 9 Mar 13:21

  • Google to app devs: Use our pay system ... OR ELSE

    Nice game, be a shame if anything 'appened to it

    Google has been threatening developers who are using alternative in-app payment mechanisms, enforcing the T&Cs which allow it to kick out anyone accepting payments which are not routed through Google. The news comes from Reuters*, which claims to have emails from Google giving developers 30 days to switch their in-application …

    Developer 9 Mar 13:39

  • MICRORAPTOR dino-pigeon lured mates with glowing feathers

    Ooh, hey pretty bir- AAAARRRRGGGH

    It would have picked holes in your eyeballs if it got its little claws on your face, but it might have glowed prettily just before it did. Scientists from Beijing and the US have discovered that the pigeon-sized Microraptor dinosaur would have had nice shiny feathers after painstakingly analysing a fossil found in Northern …

    Biology 9 Mar 13:57

  • Judge nixes Apple's bid to patent-bash bankrupt Kodak

    US beak rules against 'inappropriate' shakedown

    A US judge has refused to let Apple kick Eastman Kodak while it's down by halting the iPad maker's patent infringement litigation against the bankrupt biz. The fruity firm is freaking out because it's afraid that Kodak will flog its precious patents to sort out its dire finances. Judge Allan Gropper, sitting in a US …

    Law 9 Mar 14:32

  • Wind-up robot in near-space musical experience

    Lucky Elephant lifts toy to 95,000ft

    It seems that world+dog has either sent something into the upper atmosphere suspended under a meteorological balloon, or is poised to go airborne with some form of stratospheric mission, so it's nice to hear of a project which has a little something extra. Back in 2010, James Trosh was studying for a Television Production …

    SPB 9 Mar 15:04

  • Apple wants ebook price class action suit thrown out

    Fruity firm fends off regulators' fingers

    Apple may be keeping quiet publically about allegations of antitrust violations in ebook pricing, but a court filing in a class action lawsuit last week shows that Cupertino doesn't think too much of the claims. The motion to dismiss the case, filed in a New York court, gave a particularly scathing view of the argument against …

    Music and Media 9 Mar 15:27

  • Ever wondered how many limp todgers to the mile?

    16,896 according to miracle online wizard

    We know our regular readers are keen on unorthodox units of measurement, so you're invited today to while away the time until pub o'clock with an entertaining online Weird Converter. The website's creator explains that "while watching the Discovery Channel one day, listening to the narrators compare the size of a truck to blue …

    Bootnotes 9 Mar 16:03

  • US telly big boys open fire on 'cloud streaming' biz Aereo

    Ban sought on video service

    The US "free to stream" service Aereo has, as expected, run into a hail of legal fire within one week of its unveiling, as major networks NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox waste no time responding to what they consider a threat to revenues. The broadcasters have requested a court injunction blocking Aereo’s service even before its first …

    Cloud Business 9 Mar 16:31

  • iPad 3 'first tablet' with Bluetooth 4.0

    Yeah, but WTF is Bluetooth 4.0?

    The Bluetooth SIG, overseer of the wireless communications standard, was quick this morning to state that Apple's iPad 3 "is the world’s first Bluetooth Smart Ready tablet, incorporating Bluetooth 4.0 and its hallmark feature low energy technology". The SIG didn't say as much, but this is no surprise since not only the iPhone …

    reghardware 9 Mar 16:48

  • Star Wars exhibit explores identities through art

    Darth painter

    In preparation for a Star Wars exhibition which, ahem, explores the theme of personal identity in both ourselves and characters from the film, advertisers have released a series of stunning portraits. Each of the following posters, knocked out by ad agency Bleublancrouge, focuses on inspiration from a character's individuality …

    reghardware 9 Mar 16:51

  • Cops nab mobile net workmen for snarfing punters' data

    Gang allegedly tracked and sold Koreans' info

    Police in South Korea have arrested five men working as sub-contractors for the country’s two biggest mobile companies. The men were nabbed on suspicion of snarfing personal information and location data from potentially hundreds of thousands of mobile users and selling it on to private detectives. The Korea Herald reported …

    Crime 9 Mar 17:02

  • Computer system designer jobs boom in the US

    Unemployment rate holds steady

    The US economy continued to add jobs in February, with a big jump among firms engaged in computer systems design. But enough people came back into the labor pool after sitting on the sidelines for heaven knows how long that the official unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 per cent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its …

    PCs & Chips 9 Mar 17:42

  • Apple using Texas cash to boost US hiring

    $21m from Texas, 3,600 jobs to Austin

    With the help of a $21m investment from a Texas job-creation fund, Apple will construct a $304m campus in Austin that will add over new 3,600 jobs to its current 47,000 US employees. "Investments like this further Texas' potential to become the nation's next high-tech hub," said Texas governor Rick Perry in a statement. The …

    Business 9 Mar 17:52

  • Feds shift DNSChanger cut-off deadline to July

    Extra month granted to clean up infected gear

    The FBI's DNSChanger deadline extension has been approved by a US Federal Court, buying infected punters more time to clean up their systems. The move means that machines riddled with the Trojan will still be able to use temporary DNS servers to resolve internet addresses until 9 July. Before the order was granted, infected …

    Malware 9 Mar 18:07

  • Facebook's viral activism is really good... for admen

    Open ... and Shut Teens for causes, dollars for clicks

    Normally I hang out on Facebook for casual conversation with friends and family. But not last night. Last night I settled down to browse Facebook to discover that Kony 2012 had overrun Facebook, turning it into a maelstrom of "Watch this now!" and subsequent feelings of having done something noble. One minute they were LOL'ing …

    CIO 9 Mar 19:01

  • Microsoft shuttering Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace

    App customers pushed to Phone 7

    Microsoft has announced that it will close the application marketplace for Windows Mobile 6.x users on May 9, and is warning people to get their last updates in now. "Applications and games acquired from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service installed on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone will continue to work after the …

    Mobile 9 Mar 19:46

  • Users: 'Personalized internet? Fuggedaboutit!'

    Survey shows Business Plan 2.0 to be unpopular

    A new research report will make worrying reading for Google and social media companies, as it shows that most consumers don't want their online activity used to personalize search results or advertising. The study of 2,253 adults, conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life, found that 73 per cent of search-engine users didn …

    Music and Media 9 Mar 21:25

  • Big Blue trots out Xeon E5-2600 server lineup

    One tower, two racks, one blade ... and this other thing

    IBM announced a passel of shiny new x86 iron this week, all built around Intel's two-socket Xeon E5-2600 chip, which formally debuted on Tuesday – although select customers such as Big Blue have been fiddling with that server chip for months. IBM generates a lot of its revenues and profits in hardware and software from …

    Servers 9 Mar 21:55