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13th March 2012 Archive

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  • New Yorker sues Apple: 'Misleading and deceptive' Siri ads

    Is the ol' girl getting dumber? Woz says she is

    A New York man has filed a class-action suit alleging that Apple's adverts and claims about its Siri voice-activated info system are bunk, guff, bosh, and bull – and no, that's not the name of the law firm he has hired. That firm is Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, which wrote in its complaint lodged in the federal court in San …

    Mobile 13 Mar 2012, 00:25

  • Anchors away for Aus web hosties

    Sets up POP in California

    Australian hosting outfit Anchor has expanded to the US to service Australian companies with a growing US customer base. Anchor’s investment in the US was stimulated by client demand, particularly from fast growing web based start-ups. The hosting company has completed the installation and configuration of web server …

    Cloud 13 Mar 2012, 00:34

  • CEO takes leave of Sensis

    CEO Akhurst out as profits plunge

    Telstra's directory business, Sensis, has parted ways with CEO Bruce Akhurst. Once lauded by ex-CEO Solomon Trujillo as superior to Google, Sensis has of late endured a steady decline in revenue and relevance as small business declined to renew their ads in Yellow Pages paper directories and instead sought out digital …

    Broadband 13 Mar 2012, 00:59

  • Halo friends frag harder, longer

    Study says more kills and betrayals when friends play together

    Playing Halo with or against close friends means more kills, according to a new study titled Friends FTW! Friendship and competition in Halo: Reach by US researchers Winter Mason and Aaron Clauset. The pair conducted an online survey of Halo players and also used the Halo API to suck down anonymous data describing 2,445,617 …

    Games 13 Mar 2012, 04:13

  • Microsoft wants super-sensitive finger strokes

    Says fondleslabs must go faster to satisfy

    Microsoft says today's touch screens have latency of 100 milliseconds between a finger hitting the glass and the image on the screen changing. At that speed, says Paul Dietz, Assistant Director of Microsoft Applied Sciences, fingers have moved ten centimetres and the “analogy of moving a real physical object breaks down.” At …

    Hardware 13 Mar 2012, 04:48

  • IT pros lack recent skills

    CompTIA says technology outpaces training

    46% of IT workers struggle to keep their skills up to date with new technology, according to CompTIA, a non-profit trade association advancing the global interests of information technology professionals. The organisation's latest State of the IT Skills Gap research found that 43% of organisations cannot find the resources …

    Jobs 13 Mar 2012, 05:07

  • China's online video giants shake hands on $1bn deal

    Merger will create new SUPERCOMPANY

    Chinese online video giants Youku and Tudou have announced they are to merge in a billion dollar deal which should see the two finally put their well publicised courtroom battles behind them. The all-stock deal, expected to close in the third quarter, will give birth to Youku Tudou Inc, reportedly to be headed up by Youku …

    Business 13 Mar 2012, 05:16

  • Asian PC market slowed by HDD misery

    Thai floods continue to hamper shipments in south-east Asia

    Hard disk drive production levels may be reaching full capacity again after the widespread flooding in Thailand last year but the PC market in south east Asia is likely to be disrupted for some time to come after taking a severe knock in the last quarter, according to IDC. The analyst’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker for Q4 …

    The Channel 13 Mar 2012, 05:45

  • SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD

    Review Sata 3 Sandforce speedster

    Another week and yet another new range of Sandforce controlled drives has been pitched into battle in an already crowded market place. Still, here’s hoping the increased competition will impact on prices. Arriving hard on the heels of Intel’s new 520 range reviewed recently, is the Extreme series from flash memory experts …

    Hardware 13 Mar 2012, 07:00

  • Unlocking value with Business Intelligence

    Live today Initiatives that work for you

    Live today at 11:00GMT El Reg front-man Jon Collins is packing our studio with some information management experts that we hope will give you a leg-up on your BI initiatives. Tony Lock from Freeform Dynamics is coming along with a stash-bag of findings from the latest research that many of you took part in. We’ve also got …

    Business 13 Mar 2012, 07:55

  • Report: UK falls behind as smart meters rolled out across Europe

    'Deregulated' Blighty could struggle to fit smart meters by 2015

    The number of smart meters installed in European homes is likely to "accelerate swiftly" over the next three years, according to research published by a provider of the technology. The report (1-page / 213KB PDF), which was commissioned by Cambridge-based supplier Sentec, predicted that although few regions in Europe were yet …

    Government 13 Mar 2012, 07:59

  • ICT for Highlands and Islands fire and rescue 'inadequate'

    Wads of cash needed to bring Scots' systems up to scratch, says watchdog

    Highlands and Islands fire and rescue service's ICT infrastructure is inadequate and requires significant investment to be effective, says an Audit Scotland report on behalf of the Accounts Commission. The fire service covers a predominantly rural area with many islands, rugged coastline and mountainous terrain. According to …

    Government 13 Mar 2012, 08:33

  • China's soft censors clamp down on micro blogs

    'Weibos' riddled with 'harmful' rumours

    New research by a US university has shone a little more light on the murky world of Chinese web censorship to tell us that, yes, home grown social media is policed pretty damn effectively in the People’s Republic. In what they claim is the first study of its kind into “soft censorship” – that is, deletion of individual …

    Security 13 Mar 2012, 08:48

  • iPlayer repeat fees threaten BBC earthquake

    Analysis What's fairer than 'pay as you go'?

    Is it fair to ask people to pay a second time for media they've already paid for? Or is it fair to charge people for media they never use - and send them to prison if they decline to pay? Of these two injustices, which is the greater? Last week, PaidContent UK revealed a few details on plans by the BBC to charge for repeats …

    Media 13 Mar 2012, 09:02

  • Just like a real computer: Android gets Android IDE

    What's developed on Android stays on Android

    Android developers can now hack code on the move with the beta release of AIDE, the Android developer kit which runs on an Android device to create Android applications. AIDE is at beta version 7, but already allows the editing and compiling of apps, as well as automatic error checking (and fixing) and LogCat visibility. The …

    Developer 13 Mar 2012, 09:33

  • TuneIn Radio Pro

    Android App of the Week Radio killed the video star

    I stumbled across TuneIn while reviewing the Archos 35 Home Connect - it’s preinstalled as that device’s main radio portal - and since that chance encounter it has ended up on all my Android devices. TuneIn allegedly offers over 50,000 internet radio stations and 1.2m on-demand programmes. I’m not about to count them to see if …

    Phones 13 Mar 2012, 10:00

  • Microsoft hikes SQL Server 2012 price 'by 20 per cent'

    April Fools' Day will be no laughing matter

    Microsoft will hike licensing prices for the soon-to-launch SQL Server 2012 Enterprise edition by an average of 20 per cent, resellers have claimed. From, er, April Fools' Day, customers who buy the top level version will be charged based on the numbers of cores licensed rather than the number of servers used. The Standard …

    The Channel 13 Mar 2012, 10:04

  • Microsoft shakes SQL Server 2012's business end at big data

    Review Still holding out for Hadoop

    Those not in “Denali Denial” will be interested in SQL Server 2012, which has just been unwrapped and is currently being delivered to manufacturers. In this review (I used Release Candidate 0) I’ll focus on how the new database looks, feels and compares with the existing server. I’ll also take a look at how SQL Server's big …

    Developer 13 Mar 2012, 10:29

  • Tim Cook scoffs $11m slice of warm Apple pie

    Fruity tech chief flogs 20k shares

    Tim Cook took advantage of some of his oodles of Apple stock over the end of last week, taking possession of 37,500 shares and converting them to cash. Cook sold 20,178 of the shares for a tidy profit of $11.1m, using the rest of the shares to pay off the tax and other expenses of the transactions, according to a filing with …

    Financial News 13 Mar 2012, 10:39

  • West Yorkshire Gay Police Association in email list leak FAIL

    Details of Pride sign-ups spilled

    The Information Commissioner's Office is looking into an alleged breach of the Data Protection Act after the West Yorkshire branch of the Gay Police Association (WYGPA) mistakenly leaked names and email addresses to around 100 people signed up to an LGBT mailing list. The Register was first alerted to the email gaffe by an …

    Law 13 Mar 2012, 11:01

  • Big biz nuts about iPad, says researcher

    And that's before the new one was announced

    Think tablets are just for folk at home? Think again. New research suggests big business is becoming increasingly keen on the iPad. The data come from research company ChangeWave which talked to 1600-odd technology buyers in US firms. Around 22 per cent of them said they will be buying tablets during Q2 2012, and of those 84 …

    Tablets 13 Mar 2012, 11:05

  • Samsung Galaxy S II punters get a lick of Ice Cream Sarnie

    Older models fed Gingerbread+

    Samsung has started upgrading its handsets, with the Galaxy S II getting Ice Cream Sandwich. The aging Galaxy S, meanwhile, will be upgraded to Gingerbread with extra bits. They include face-unlocking and a photo editor, but it's the Galaxy S II and the Samsung tablets – including the Note – that will get a full upgrade to …

    Operating Systems 13 Mar 2012, 11:18

  • Sony intros Xperia Sola with no-need-to-touch screen

    Cursor controlled with floating fingers

    Sony today introduced an Android smartphone, the Xperia Sola, that you can can control without touching. The latest Sony handset features a "floating touch" navigation system, which detects hovering fingers as a cursor on the display and lets users surf the web without physically touching the screen. Until you need to click …

    Phones 13 Mar 2012, 11:26

  • Computacenter's Euro ops outshine sluggish UK biz

    Delighted, excited and confident...

    Computacenter saw UK revenues slip in 2011, but strong growth in its European operations boosted revenues overall and underpin a bullish forecast for 2012. The mega reseller and services firm’s German, French and Belgian operations now account for just under half its adjusted operating profit, emphasising its success on the …

    The Channel 13 Mar 2012, 11:27

  • JavaScript shogun deflects Google's mid-air Dart attack

    QCon 2012 Wirfs-Brock preaches Harmony

    Google might be pressing on solo with JavaScript-killer Dart, but those backing JS reckon their language - while not perfect - will thrive for another 25 years. Allen Wirfs-Brock, editor of the ECMAScript 5 standard, thinks JavaScript will expand beyond its web stronghold, thanks to the use of browsers to run apps in a dawning …

    Developer 13 Mar 2012, 11:42

  • DLNA blesses HomePlug Ethernet-over-mains tech

    Stream your content over power lines

    The Digital Living Network Alliance, the organisation behind the DLNA media streaming standard, has given the thumbs-up to powerline networking. The DLNA said it likes HomePlug powerline technology in particular, and will add the specification to its device interoperability guidelines, which are due to be revised shortly. …

    Broadband 13 Mar 2012, 11:43

  • Panasonic CF-53 Toughbook 14in rugged laptop

    Review A bit of a hard case

    Skinny Ultrabooks may be getting all the press at the moment but what it you want a laptop that will withstand the knocks, drops and tribulations of use on the road and in the great outdoors rather than the board-room? Panasonic’s semi-rugged CF-53 Toughbook may be just the ticket. Ready for the rough and tumble: Panasonic's …

    Laptops 13 Mar 2012, 12:00

  • iPad 3 benchmarked

    1GHz CPU, 1GB Ram confirmed?

    The iPad 3 does indeed contain 1GB of memory and sports a processor clocked at 1GHz, it has been claimed. So says one Vietnamese lad who managed not only to get hold of the device but to install the Geekbench performance testing app on it. And, according to Geekbench, the iPad3,3 - the new tablet's internal moniker - has a …

    Tablets 13 Mar 2012, 12:06

  • Top DARPA bomb boffin in explosive move to Google

    Counter-terror expert disarmed by Choc Factory's charm

    Google has reportedly poached DARPA chief Dr Regina Dugan, who will apparently shortly be joining the Chocolate Factory as a top exec. According to Wired, Dugan is quitting her job at the Pentagon's research arm because she couldn't resist Google's charms. It's unclear what her exact role will be at the world's largest ad …

    Science 13 Mar 2012, 12:21

  • Capcom to unleash zombies onto UK streets

    Clean infected cities with smartphones

    Capcom will bring a zombie outbreak to the streets of the UK this month with the release of a free augmented reality app in which gamers must track down and eradicate the undead. And it's doing it for real - kind of - in central London on Thursday, 22 March. The games publisher will celebrate the launch of Resident Evil: …

    Games 13 Mar 2012, 12:28

  • CBS supremo: Apple TV is still dead to me, just like ...

    Shan't be prying it out of anyone's hands

    The CEO of broadcasting company CBS made Steve Jobs furious by telling him that he knew more about the "television business" than him. Jobs apparently blew up at brodcast exec Leslie Moonves because he had refused to sign up to a content agreement for Apple TV. Moonves trotted out the anecdote of his meeting last year with …

    Media 13 Mar 2012, 12:39

  • Phone-hack cops nab six 'including Prime Ministerial horse lender'

    Op Weeting plods search gaffs, bracelet suspects

    Officers arrested five men and one woman this morning in a coordinated swoop relating to the Met's probe into alleged phone-hacking at Rupert Murdoch-owned News International. The six people, cuffed by Scotland Yard cops working on Operation Weeting, include a 43-year-old woman who was collared at her home address in …

    Media 13 Mar 2012, 13:01

  • Apple, Motorola Mobility held patent war peace summit

    EU Googorola papers reveal licensing chitchat

    Apple and Motorola Mobility held peace talks at the end of last year to end their patent row with a cross-licensing agreement, according to an EU document. On Friday the European Commission revealed its thinking [PDF] behind sanctioning Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The paperwork mentions the talks in late 2011 …

    Mobile 13 Mar 2012, 13:18

  • Blighty's pay-by-bonk gang goes cap in hand to Euro watchdog

    Project Oscar files plan, US's ISIS bangs out a logo

    In the United States, the ISIS platform for NFC apps finally has a logo and is preparing itself for launch, while the UK equivalent – Project Oscar – is off to Europe for competition approval. Coming to a retailer near you – if you're American and live in Salt Lake City Both platforms hope to make the SIM the default …

    Broadband 13 Mar 2012, 13:42

  • Apple to kick start 'iTV' production in Q2

    2-5m units pipelined, reckons analyst

    Apple will start punching out 2-5m so-called 'iTVs' during the latter part of Q2, one financial analyst has forecast. Peter Misek, an analyst with US stockbroker Jeffries, told investor clients this week that he believes the companies making the display units have already started receiving core components, albeit in small …

    Hardware 13 Mar 2012, 14:01

  • Dell splashes cash on SonicWall's powerful firewall erections

    Updated Buys up biz to lock down end-point to data center

    John Swainson, president of Dell Software, took control of the giant's nascent software business last week and has moved fast, using the Dell checkbook to snap up SonicWall – a firewall and threat-management software and appliance maker – for an undisclosed sum. SonicWall, which was founded in 1991 by brothers Sreekanth and …

    Security 13 Mar 2012, 14:07

  • Sony shines light on A57 single-lens translucent snapper

    Fixed mirror refresh

    Sony has unveiled the Alpha 57, a 16Mp single lens translucent camera, which boasts 12fps shooting speeds and a 15-point AF system. The Sony A57 is a refresh of 2010's popular A55, the company's first dip into translucent mirror tech. The fixed mirror enables light to pass through to the sensor while being reflected into the …

    Hardware 13 Mar 2012, 14:10

  • TalkTalk takes broadband to 80Mbps

    High fibre gobbles

    TalkTalk has doubled its broadband speed, offering customers up to 80Mbps through a new fibre optic setup. For an additional £15 per month, the telco will double a punter's maximum download rate from the 40Mbps introduced last year to a whopping 80Mbps. The peak upload speed is 20Mbps, TalkTalk said. Punters considering …

    Broadband 13 Mar 2012, 14:13

  • Google bod: Fast net 'absolutely CRITICAL' to UK future

    Digital London Pukka mobile needed to save hard-up Brits

    Google is championing the need for improved fixed and mobile internet access while flying the flag for British small businesses online. High-speed broadband and mobile coverage go hand-in-hand, helping businesses get online and helping consumers to buy their services, Google's man said, adding that this in turn boosts the UK's …

    Broadband 13 Mar 2012, 14:17

  • Jester hacker brags of mobe attack on Anonymous, baby-kisser

    Pwned by QR code - or wind-up?

    A hacker known as The Jester claims to have siphoned personal information from prominent members of Anonymous, a US politician and other assorted "enemies" after running a mobile malware-based attack that relied on the curiosity of his intended victims. The raid is unconfirmed. In a blog post reminiscent of the penultimate act …

    Security 13 Mar 2012, 14:38

  • Everything Everywhere grabs UK 4G wheel, rivals thrown off bus

    Ofcom green-lights 2012 LTE monopoly

    Everything Everywhere will be allowed to deploy 4G this year, at 1800MHz, while the other UK operators will just have to stand in line for next year's auction. That might sound anti-competitive, but Ofcom reckons that any first-mover advantage will be short-lived and that the benefits of getting 4G deployed outweigh the …

    Mobile 13 Mar 2012, 15:02

  • Could tiny ebooks really upset the mighty Apple cart?

    Analysis Steve Jobs' last big deal may turn into costly roadblock

    You wouldn't think that Apple had any problems right now. Its share price is so grossly high that it is ranked as the most valuable company in the world. Fans will queue up in their thousands for the chance to buy its latest iDevice – the new iPad – so much so that there won't be anywhere nearly enough devices in stock to …

    Media 13 Mar 2012, 15:32

  • Finders of lost mobes can't resist staring at privates

    Experiment: Half of them try to find the owners

    A Symantec-sponsored experiment has discovered that people who find lost smartphones* almost invariably attempt to have a sneaky peek at their owners' data. As part of the Smartphone Honey Stick Project, 50 specially configured smartphones were deliberately abandoned in public locations (eg, food malls, public transport stops …

    Mobile 13 Mar 2012, 16:01

  • Lords say data roaming costs 'unacceptably high'

    Do something about it, govt told

    The House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on the Internal Market, Energy and Transport has said that Britons are paying too much to use smartphones for data when traveling to other European countries. Current roaming charges are "deterring consumers from accessing increasingly important smartphone services while abroad", the Sub- …

    Mobile 13 Mar 2012, 16:31

  • Atari pings Pong Apple champion wannabes

    Bushnell judging $100,000 App Store race

    Atari founder Nolan Bushnell will judge entrants in a $100,000 competition to bring iconic ball-fondling game Pong to Apple iGadgets. Forty years after he scored his first hit with the arcade version of Pong, Bushnell will help oversee the Pong Indie Developer Challenge to “re-imagine” the primitive game for iPhones, iPods and …

    Developer 13 Mar 2012, 16:32

  • UK Home Secretary approves TVShack's O'Dwyer extradition

    Website bod faces five in the slammer

    Blighty's Home Secretary Theresa May has approved the extradition of Richard O'Dwyer to the US on charges of copyright infringement stemming from his TVShack website. According to his mother Julia, O'Dwyer's extradition was signed off by May on Tuesday as the Prime Minister David Cameron flew into the US for talks with …

    Law 13 Mar 2012, 17:10

  • Apple patches steaming heap of Safari bugs

    Fixes record number of security vulns, adds speed

    Apple has released an update for its Safari browser that patches a record number of serious security vulnerabilities, promises JavaScript performance improvements, and eliminates the annoying "white flash" page-switching bug. The JavaScript performance increase isn't trivial: Apple promises an "up to" 11 per cent speed-up. …

    Security 13 Mar 2012, 17:28

  • Tech industry climbs out of Silicon Valley, moves abroad

    Open... and Shut Have open source, will travel

    Silicon Valley may well be the center of the technology universe, but it's no longer the locus for technology jobs. That honour now goes to the Washington DC area, according to new research, followed by New York and with a range of other metro areas growing their tech presences at a torrid pace. In short, while Silicon Valley …

    Management 13 Mar 2012, 18:02

  • CSIRO: warming up to five degrees by 2070

    State of the climate report casts gloomy predictions

    Even an La Niña event and cool weather in Australia in 2010 and 2011 haven’t reversed the overall long-term trend to a warmer globe, according to Australia’s latest State of the Climate report. The report was assembled by Australia’s peak science body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and the …

    Science 13 Mar 2012, 21:03

  • EC researchers demo multi-gigabit fibre-to-the-home

    Running rings around copper broadband

    European Commission-funded researchers have declared a high speed broadband research project a success, stating that the “Sardana” project (Scalable Advanced Ring-based Passive Dense Network Architecture) has demonstrated the feasibility and robustness of 10 Gbps fibre-to-the-home networks. The project, which was supported by …

    Networks 13 Mar 2012, 21:04

  • Oracle revs home-tweaked Linux kernel to 2.0

    RHELison gets all kinds of new goodies

    Software giant Oracle has gussied up the second iteration of its own kernel for Ellison's Enterprise Linux distro, dissing Red Hat's own tweak on the mainstream Linux 3.0 kernel. Back in October 2011, Edward Screven, chief corporate architect at Oracle and the person responsible for the company's Linux operating system and Xen …

    Servers 13 Mar 2012, 21:06

  • Microsoft warns of RDP attack within next 30 days

    Mozilla stalls own update because of Patch Tuesday

    Microsoft has released six updates in this month's patch Tuesday, including one critical hole that Redmond warns will be hit in the next 30 days. The critical flaw covers all versions of Windows and is found in the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It allows attackers to run code remotely behind the firewall, although Vista users …

    Software 13 Mar 2012, 22:30