26th March 2012 Archive

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Sir Isaac Newton's life rendered as KML

Italian boffins suggest “georeferenced” lives of notable people

Forget biographies in conventional books. Forget e-books too, while you're at it. A pair of Italian boffins have mashed up the idea of “Georeferences” and an ancient Roman form of travel guide called itineraria to create Keyhole Markup Language (KML) tours of a notable person's life. A.C. Sparavigna and R. Marazzato, both of …

Science 26 Mar 00:18
Samsung joins Telstra's 4G handset party

GALAXY S II 4G joins the range

Telstra now has two 4G-capable handsets competing for your telephonic pleasure and may have signalled the expansion or enhancement of its 4G network.. The newcomer is Samsung's GALAXY S II 4G, an 800x400, 4.5-inch, SuperAMOLED equipped handset with a 1.5GHz dual core processor. Android 2.3.6 (aka Gingerbread) is loaded onto …

Networks 26 Mar 02:51
Election poll shot down by DDoS-ers

Civic referendum hit by MILLION clicks-per-second anti-democracy types

Two local men have been arrested after an online referendum organised by Hong Kong university to poll citizens on their choice of chief executive was disabled in an apparent denial of service attack. Broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported that the men, aged 17 and 28, were arrested at the weekend after the …

Security 26 Mar 04:21
Russia trashes wounded comms satellite

Rescue plans ignored

Despite being the subject of numerous rescue plans, Russia's failed Express-AM4 satellite has been nudged into the atmosphere for a fiery end. The Express-AM4 satellite launched on August 18th 2011, but failed to reach it's intended orbit and ended up in an unwelcome elipse. Several proposals suggested placing the satellite in …

Science 26 Mar 04:45
Safety cert green light points to April iPad launch in China

Unless Proview gets its way before then...

Apple is counting down to an official launch in China by April after regulators gave the new iPad Wi-Fi model the green light, although the 4G model is still years away. According to the state-run China Quality Certification Centre, the pixel-packed fondleslab was granted the China Compulsory Certificate (3C), a five-year …

Hardware 26 Mar 05:00
CSC's selfless offer to new QLD government

Welcomes new administration by hanging out “For Hire” sign

CSC has marked the election of a new government in the Australian state of Queensland by selflessly offering to do some work for it. Preferably in the healthcare sector. The giant integrator let it's kind intentions be known through a press release it emitted at 2:03 AM on Sunday morning - just eight hours after polls closed. …

Public Sector 26 Mar 05:21
Australia Post launches inbox and cloud storage for all

Also plans superstores to make parcel collection easier

Australia Post has announced it will create a “Digital MailBox” for every Australian, as of April 2012. Australia Post Chairman, David Mortimer. Said the service “ … will allow businesses, government entities and customers to communicate through a secure online portal that can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, …

Cloud Business 26 Mar 06:56
London fire brigade outsources 999 control centre to Capita

First brigade in the country to contract out emergency calls

The London fire brigade is to outsource its 999 control centre to Capita. The deal will see Capita run the call centre on behalf of the brigade and also supply a new 999 control system. The 10-year agreement is expected to save the brigade £5m over its lifetime and is expected to go live later this year. Under the contract, …

Channel Register 26 Mar 08:01
Paedophiles ‘disguise’ child abuse pages as legit websites

Report: Hidden paths lead to vile vids and pics

Child abusers are latching onto new methods to distribute paedophilic material online, according to an annual report by the Internet Watch Foundation. The study, published on Monday, reports that paedophiles are ‘disguising’ websites to appear as if they host only legitimate content. However, if an internet user follows a …

Hosting 26 Mar 08:47
Court shuts down site that circumvents Pirate Bay blocks

Dutch anti-piracy group wins copyright ruling against proxy operator

A Dutch anti-piracy group has won a court order forcing the operator of a proxy website to shut the site down after it was used to circumvent blocks to illegal file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. BREIN won the ruling at the Court of The Hague, according to a report by the Torrent Freak website. The operator of the 'tpb.dehomies. …

Law 26 Mar 09:01
Elgato Thunderbolt SSD

Geek Treat of the Week Solid-state speed merchant

This Elgato drive combines a solid-state drive with Intel’s lightning-fast (sorry) Thunderbolt connector. Inside its charcoal metal enclosure is a 3Gbps Sata SSD, 120GB in this case, made by SanDisk. There’s a single Thunderbolt connection on the back. Bus-powered Thunderbolt drives like this one must always be the last drive …

reghardware 26 Mar 09:02
Giant paper plane thunders across Arizona sky

45ft beast nudges 100mph

An Arizona aircraft museum reckons it has taken the record for the launch of the biggest ever paper plane: a 45ft (13.7m) long monster which glided to Earth last week from a height of 2,703ft (824m). Pima Air & Space Museum's hefty 800lb (363kg) Arturo's Desert Eagle needed a helicopter to haul its 24ft (7.3m) wingspan off the …

SPB 26 Mar 09:18
ISS 'nauts take to the escape pods in Russian sat-prang debris peril

Conspiracy-theory space wreckage passes close to station

'Nauts crewing the International Space Station were forced to take to the escape capsules over the weekend, as a chunk of wreckage from a mysterious satellite collision in 2009 hurtled towards the orbiting outpost. Fortunately as it turned out the speeding fragment passed by more than 11km from the station. Normally the ISS …

Space 26 Mar 09:23
The future of the fondleslab belongs to the Fire

Well, devices the same size, price as the Amazon Kindle tab

Well over half the of the tablet market will be comprised of cheap tablets by 2016, it has been forecast. Cheap is defined by market watcher ABI Research, which made the prediction, as costing less than $400 (£253). That's where the vast majority of new entrants into the arena will come, ABI reckons, many of them aimed at …

reghardware 26 Mar 09:41
Microsoft takes down ZeuS botnets

Disrupted ... but not dismantled

A Microsoft-led operation resulted in the takedown of key servers associated with the infamous ZeuS and SpyEye banking Trojan botnets on Friday. Months of investigation culminated in the coordinated seizure of command-and-control servers associated with the botnets and hosted in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Lombard, Illinois. …

Malware 26 Mar 10:03
Nokia, Microsoft bung student mobe devs £7.5m to 'ideate'

Cash pot lure to find the next Rovio

Nokia and Microsoft are pumping €9m (£7.5m) into a university to promote app development and startups that'll feed their mobile tech alliance. Finland's Aalto University will receive the cash to fund a new software development programme called AppCampus over the next three years, the companies said Monday. The scheme aims to …

Developer 26 Mar 10:14
Americans resort to padlocking their dumb meters

We don't like smart meters round here

Campaigners across America are resorting to padlocks and metal cages to protect their 'leccy meters, convinced that the smart versions will damage their health. The Georgia Senate is busy passing a bill allowing customers to opt out of having a smart meter fitted, and without cost, but some of the locals are concerned that …

Wireless 26 Mar 10:29
Baidu! boss! says! no! to! Yahoo! gobble!

Chinese search giant has eyes on Apple's iOS

Baidu.com boss Robin Li has said the Chinese search giant will not buy troubled web biz Yahoo! Baidu hopes to grow its share of China's search market, as well as expand abroad, by building a bang-up HQ in Beijing. However, at the IT Leadership Summit in Shenzhen at the weekend Li denied a big money swoop for Yahoo! was on the …

CIO 26 Mar 10:46
Pioneer SC-LX85 9.2 AV receiver with AirPlay

Review An amp for all seasons

The Pioneer SC-LX85 is AV receiver royalty. It lords it over the rest of the brand’s home cinema range, resplendent in the latest audio visual finery. Priced at £2K, this is red carpet home cinema. AV aristocracy: Pioneer's SC-LX85 There’s little doubt that the SC-LX85 is exquisitely built. It sports a convoluted, rigid …

reghardware 26 Mar 11:00
Barclaycard pay-by-bonk fraud risk exposes Amazon's security

NFC cards savaged in privates' slurp probe

Channel 4 News has found out that pay-by-wave phones are compatible with pay-by-wave cards, and wants something done about it, but it's web bazaar Amazon that's lacking basic security. The investigation, which was carried out by viaForensics at Channel 4's behest, discovered that one can lift the credit card number, expiry …

Wireless 26 Mar 11:13
Don't let the cloud obscure your software's performance

Keeping an eye on SaaS

Software as a service (SaaS) can be a great cost saver for companies willing to abandon their own hardware and software, but what happens if productivity leaves the building too? Giving control of your business applications to someone else can also mean losing control of performance. When staff complain to the help desk that …

SaaS 26 Mar 11:30
Phones4U Samsung banner doesn't flag Galaxy S III launch

Store opening date, not next-gen smartphone launch

Samsung fanboys will be disappointed to learn that banners spied at Phones 4U's flagship store in London's Oxford Street - one of which teases with a 30 March date - bears no relation to the release of the eagerly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone. Refurbishments to the Oxford Street store were under way this morning, with a …

reghardware 26 Mar 11:31
Dot Pharmacy: New web weapon in war on duff drug peddlers

gTLD bid to tackle bogus treatment biz

An American trade group wants to create top-level domain name .pharmacy to stem the sale of bogus medicines online. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) will file the application with internet policymaker ICANN, according to FairWinds Partners, a domain name consulting firm. "The goal of .pharmacy is to …

Hosting 26 Mar 11:46
DDN delivers pint-sized big data boxes

They can grow you know ...

DataDirect Networks (DDN) is offering its big data array technology in small data arrays that can grow to become big ones, and come at a lower price point. The SFA10K-Ms are pint-sized versions of DDN's SFA series of high-performance computing and now big data arrays. The SFA10K-M supports up to 720TB of capacity and can …

Channel Register 26 Mar 11:58
OAP sues Apple for $1m after walking into store's glass door

Pane-full face plant

An octogenarian is to take Apple to court after a visit to one of the computer company's glass-fronted stores put her nose out of joint - literally. The 83-year-old New Yorker walked slap bang into one of stores' see-through doors and broke her nose, she claims. Now, Evelyn Paswall, 83, has asked for $75,000 (£47,000) in …

reghardware 26 Mar 12:04
Google asked to bin autocomplete results for Japanese man's name

Global search giant defies court order in cyber-defamation case

Google has refused to co-operate with a Japanese court order to suspend autocomplete searches for a man's name. The court made the ruling against Google after the man complained that autocomplete search suggestions for his name were defaming him, by linking him with crimes he did not commit. The man's lawyer Hiroyuki Tomita …

Law 26 Mar 12:19
Game CEO steps down

Insert coin to continue

High street retailer Game formally entered administration this morning. The first casualty of the move: CEO Ian Shepherd resigned from his role. “I’ve said a number of times that the administrator, once appointed, take charge of the business,” said Shepherd in memo to staff. “Having two people try to do that is both confusing …

reghardware 26 Mar 12:28
Brazilian cops hunt pillaging 'gang of blondes'

Pic Sao Paulo express kidnapping she-devil cuffed

Brazilian cops have cuffed two members of the so-called "gang of blondes" - a pack of she-devils who allegedly carried out up to 50 express kidnappings in Sao Paulo between 2011 and 2012. The group - led by Wagner de Oliveira Gonçalves and his wife Monique Awoki Casiota - are accused of targeting visibly affluent female …

Bootnotes 26 Mar 12:41
UK.gov gives nod to .scot

Ye can take oor lives but ye'll nivver take our gTLDom

While the Coalition government may oppose Scottish independence, it has nevertheless given the go-ahead to a Scottish move for independence on the internet. The UK government has reportedly granted Dot Scot Registry, a not-for-profit company, with approval to apply for .scot, a new internet top-level domain. The wannabe …

Hosting 26 Mar 12:59
RM investors spared a second heart attack in latest numbers

Steady as she goes through Q1

Beleaguered education IT supplier RM had no surprises in its fiscal Q1 trading update, bearing in mind that its sales tend to stroll in during the second half of the year. The firm has carved up non-core parts of the operation and flogged or closed them, launched a redundancy programme and got rid of two chief execs since a …

Channel Register 26 Mar 13:14
Microsoft stamps on HTTP 2.0's pedal, races to mobileville

Web titans pile aboard as protocol shifts up a gear

The HTTP protocol - one of the web's foundation specifications - is getting a speed and security revamp. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is this week holding meetings on what it's calling HTTP 2.0, "a major new version" of the ubiquitous data transfer protocol. The changes apply to HTTPbis, the core of the …

Developer 26 Mar 13:32
Cabinet Office unveils Public Services Network suppliers list

12 firms ink deals worth up to £3bn to build gov infrastructure

The Cabinet Office has confirmed that 12 out of 16 bidders made it onto the Public Services Network (PSN) framework. The pan-government agreement – a brainchild of the previous administration – is made up of managed telecoms services to "ease collaboration and communication" between various public sector departments. …

Channel Register 26 Mar 14:01
RIM pushes BlackBerry 10 kit out to thousands of devs on 1 May

Freebies for app-makers at BlackBerry World

Attendees travelling to Orlando for BlackBerry World will get their hands on alpha-release hardware as RIM seeks to seed the developer community ahead of a commercial launch. The hardware won't be the finished article, but RIM reckons it's close enough for devs to start making applications. The Canadian firm will be handing …

Developer 26 Mar 14:19
React Technologies rises from ashes of burning balance sheet

Pre-pack administration deal wipes off suppliers' debts

React Technologies has executed a textbook dive into administration followed by a phoenix-like rise from the ashes - and now trades as React Enterprises having wiped off suppliers' debts in the comeback. The network reseller, led by boss Jess Thompson-Hughes, called in receivers Leonard Curtis on 16 March and installed Mark …

Channel Register 26 Mar 14:22
Microsoft SQL Server medusa turned into cloud pussy cat

Upstart startup virtualises sprawling database beast

Companies running many instances of SQL Server can try startup DH2i's DxConsole to virtualise the database's processes. Clients using the virtualised SQL Server instances think they are accessing their own private copy of the software but they are not; they are using a shared infrastructure of databases, servers and storage, …

Virtualization 26 Mar 14:39
Tripleton touts telephone for double-ohs

Enigma unhackable, maker claims

You'd think MI6's top agents would carry the most feature-packed smartphones on the market, but folk with a true sense of security should apparently opt for Tripleton's new handset, the Enigma E2. It claims the phone is hackproof. The E2 is supposedly the world's most secure mobile ever, providing protection even against would …

reghardware 26 Mar 14:39
Avnet TS swallows Ascendant Technology

IBM VAR and consultancy part of distie's cloud plan

Avnet Technology Solutions has swallowed IBM middleware reseller and consultancy Ascendant Technology (Atech) for an undisclosed sum. Atech – which has offices in North America, Europe, Brazil and India – has several IBM Lotus awards but also makes software tools including apps for e-commerce, enterprise portal and …

Channel Register 26 Mar 14:44
Angry Birds Space flings 10 MILLION downloads in 3 days

Fanbois and fandroids flock to zero-grav game

The latest outing of Angry Birds - this time in spaaaace - has been downloaded 10 million times since it launched three days ago. The catapult-pinging galactic avian game was unveiled amid huge publicity on Friday. Rovio announced the expectation-smashing numbers on its Twitter feed this morning. Angry Birds Space, which …

Music and Media 26 Mar 15:01
Ofcom puts UK VoD regulator up for review

2 years on, the scrutiniser will be scrutinised

Video on Demand regulator ATVOD has completed its two-year run, and Ofcom wants to know if people think the regulatory split is working, and if it's going to work in future. Ofcom hived off regulation for internet video to The Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD) in 2010, separating VoD services from broadcast services, …

Music and Media 26 Mar 15:31
CD: The indestructible music format that REFUSES TO DIE

Annual number crunching shows vinyl rebound too

This is almost getting boring to report each year - but here we are again. Twelve years after sales peaked the music CD format is stubbornly refusing to die. You can shutter the dedicated record shops, hide the CDs behind fondleslabs and video games in the megastores, offer the public instant access to cheaper legal alternatives …

Music and Media 26 Mar 15:59
Microsoft set to launch Xbox Lite in 2013

360 sees a shrink

Microsoft plans to cash in further on its current-gen console tech through the launch of the Xbox Lite, a smaller, inexpensive version of the 360, it has been claimed. Renowned Microsoft speculator, MS Nerd, provided details about the Xbox Lite last week and has been quick to reply in depth to questions posted on the Reddit. …

reghardware 26 Mar 16:07
Game closes 277 stores

Reward Cards, pre-orders, trade-ins suspended

High street retailer Game's administrators started the company shakedown in frantic fashion today, announcing the immediate closure of 277 stores in the UK and Ireland, and suspension of refunds and exchanges, store credit and the company's Reward card scheme. While points can still be earned through purchases in Game's …

reghardware 26 Mar 16:13
Smoked by Android: Microsoft coughs up free laptop

Widget-waggling blogger stoked

An Android user who reckons he beat Microsoft's speed challenge fair and square will be getting his free laptop and phone after Microsoft's PCGuy stepped into the fray. Sahas Katta admits he won the promotional race, which pitches a staff member wielding a Windows handset against challengers in a test of speed, by sheer luck …

Mobile 26 Mar 16:27
Intel comfortably conquers chip market in 2011

All your transistors are belong to us

The chip heads at market watcher IHS iSuppli have tallied the sales figures for the world's semiconductor makers for 2011, and guess what? Intel won while just about everybody else, with a few notable exceptions, lost some ground. iSuppli said in a statement that worldwide chip revenues rose by 1.3 per cent in 2011, to $311. …

PCs & Chips 26 Mar 17:01
Overland tugs parachute cord as storage biz hurtles earthwards

Bosses tout $5.8m of stock in recovery bid

Overland Storage hopes to raise $5.8m from a stock offering and may use the cash for working capital - raising questions over its ability to fund its operations from sales until the biz recovers. It's that phrase "may use the cash for working capital" that gets you feeling nervous. Let's have a look at the revenue and profit/ …

Storage 26 Mar 17:28
Opscode gets more venture dough for its Chef

Cooking up cloudy treats for 'insatiable and unending' capacity hunger

Opscode, the maker of the open source Chef tool that the company says can help system administrators "rule the cloud", has lured more big backers as momentum builds for that tool's open source, hosted, and licensed versions. The $19.5m infusion is Opscode's third round of financing, led by Ignition Partners, and with existing …

Cloud Business 26 Mar 18:39
Feds issue final 'Do Not Track' privacy recommendations

Welcome online protections or 'Big Brother' overreach?

The US Federal Trade Commission has issued its final report on the "best practices" companies should put in place regarding the collection of consumer information. "If companies adopt our final recommendations for best practices – and many of them already have – they will be able to innovate and deliver creative new services …

ID 26 Mar 19:09
Microsoft censors Pirate Bay links from IM

Malware blamed – but other torrent links still allowed

Microsoft has confirmed that users of its instant messaging app will not be able to send each other links to popular torrent site The Pirate Bay, citing malware fears. "We block instant messages if they contain malicious or spam URLs based on intelligence algorithms, third-party sources, and/or user complaints. Pirate Bay URLs …

Music and Media 26 Mar 19:57
HP gives huge chunk of storage business to channel

New customer storage goes indirect

HP is giving a huge chunk of its storage business to the channel with a couple of 100 Percent sales initiatives. Most sales of HP's storage-portfolio products to new US customers, defined as end-user accounts not having bought from HP in the last three years, will go through channel partners in a 100 Percent New Accounts …

Channel Register 26 Mar 20:17
TSA bars security guru from perv scanner testimony

Last minute excuse blocks Bruce Schneier

Security expert Bruce Schneier was been banned at the last minute from testifying in front of congress on the efficacy – or otherwise – of the US Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) much-maligned perv scanners. Schneier is a long-time critic of the TSA's policies for screening travelers, and was formally invited to …

Security 26 Mar 21:03
Oz national broadcaster goes open with archives

Releases historical snippets under CC license

While national digital archiving strategies in Australia move slowly, some agencies are taking things into their own hands. The latest is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which has put slabs of archival material under a Wikimedia license. The move is part of the ABC’s 80th anniversary celebration, centered around its …

Public Sector 26 Mar 22:06
Leighton rolls out map of Tassie for NBN Co

AUD$300m tender and 800 local jobs created

Leighton Contractors has taken out the AUD$300 million tender for the NBN Co rollout in Tasmania, covering around 200,000 homes. The four year project – with a two year extension option-will be deployed by Leighton subsidiary, Visionstream, in three tranches including Passive Fibre Network Construction, Field Services Delivery …

Networks 26 Mar 22:48
Telstra sparks up Reach cable

More capacity for anticipated demand

Telstra International has deployed a 40 Gbps DTN solution for the Reach optical subsea network in Asia, using Infinera gear. The installation spans approximately 9,000 kilometers between Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Infinera’s DTN platform allows service providers to upgrade existing submarine cables with …

Networks 26 Mar 23:13
Facebook files to dismiss ownership dispute

Ceglia's lawsuit 'a fraud and a lie', says Zuckerberg & Co.

Lawyers acting for Facebook have filed a motion to dismiss the ownership case brought by former fuel salesman and alleged fraudster Paul Ceglia, which claims he is owed at least half of the company after an early investment of $1,000. According to the motion, Facebook has had a chance to forensically search Ceglia's computer …

Law 26 Mar 23:47