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3rd April 2012 Archive

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  • SQL Server 2012 on sale … now!

    New licensing arrangements may cost you more

    Microsoft has shoved SQL Server 2012 down the slipway in a very modern way – with a blog post and a virtual launch event. If you want to play with it, go get a freebie here. That's not quite the fanfare Redmond mustered a decade ago, when its attempts to show it could play with the database big boys meant rather more …

    Software 3 Apr 2012, 00:43

  • Busted in the US? 'Drop your trousers, sir'

    Supremes allow strip search for any offense – nuns too

    Again displaying their infinite law-and-order wisdom, the US Supreme Court has ruled that anyone arrested for any offense, however innocuous, can be strip-searched, even if there's no suspicion that they are concealing contraband. "Every detainee who will be admitted to the general [jail or prison] population may be required …

    Law 3 Apr 2012, 00:53

  • Samsung forging ARM server chips?

    Maybe so, maybe not

    The Wall Street Journal has played a variant of "connect the dots" using LinkedIn profiles of chip techies formerly at AMD and now working at Samsung Electronics across town in Austin, Texas, and has come to the conclusion that Samsung is getting ready to jump into the server-processor market with derivatives of the ARM RISC …

    Servers 3 Apr 2012, 01:04

  • Microsoft makes Top 20 list of Linux kernel contributors

    Linux Foundation reports most key developers are paid

    The Linux Foundation has released its annual report on the state of the software, and reports that Microsoft has made it into the Top 20 of companies that sponsor development of the Linux kernel – quite a change for the operating system Steve Ballmer used to dismiss as a cancer. For contributions made to the kernel since …

    Operating Systems 3 Apr 2012, 01:15

  • Oz launches DNSChanger testing site

    Government service advises of connection-preventing malware infections

    Australia's government has created a website which detects the presence, or otherwise, of DNSChanger, a nasty piece of malware which the sites says “... changes a user's Domain Name System (DNS) settings, enabling criminals to direct unsuspecting internet users to fraudulent websites and otherwise interfere with their web …

    Security 3 Apr 2012, 01:24

  • Fujitsu says sayonara to Toshiba in bid to take on Apple

    Japanese electronics giant still struggling internationally

    Japanese computing giant Fujitsu has bought out Toshiba's share of the firms’ joint mobile venture, to give it a clear crack at unseating Apple, which only recently jumped into top spot in the land of the rising sun. In a brief press release, Fujitsu explained that it had acquired Toshiba’s 19.9 per cent ownership stake in the …

    Networks 3 Apr 2012, 05:28

  • Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 Android media player

    Review Small tablet or big PMP?

    I reviewed Samsung’s first Android media player just over a year ago and frankly thought it was awful. I'm sure I wasn't alone. Undaunted, Samsung tried again with a new device packing a larger screen, faster CPU and bigger battery but only costing £40 more. Second listen: Samsung's Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 Physically the Galaxy S …

    Tablets 3 Apr 2012, 06:00

  • Google ads 'misleading and deceptive'

    Oz court: Advertiser keyword grabs ARE Google's fault

    Australia's Federal Court has found that some Google ads are misleading and deceptive, overturning a previous ruling that the search giant is not responsible for dodgy ads its advertisers create. The case centered on advertisers who bought keywords and created ads using rivals' names. Travel agency STA Travel, for example, …

    Policy 3 Apr 2012, 06:16

  • Chinese shoppers lead way in global e-commerce stakes

    Can't get enough of that online stuff

    Shoppers in China are twice as prolific online as those in the UK and US but retailers are struggling to keep up with the growing sophistication of their multi-channel purchasing behaviour, PricewaterhouseCoopers has found. PwC’s latest global survey on the subject found that around 70 per cent of consumers in the People’s …

    Business 3 Apr 2012, 06:17

  • Sumo Logic slings log file ops into the clouds

    Meet me at the Chatsubo bar for a big data bash

    Sumo Logic CTO and co-founder Christian Beedgen sports a Chatsubo Bar banner on his t-shirt. When you meet a startup guy wearing a Neuromancer t-shirt you know the product is going to be a dreadful self-indulgent failure or an extremely cool resource that delivers the goods. Sumo Logic's Log Management and Analytics Service is …

    Storage 3 Apr 2012, 07:02

  • Success-hungry Valley needs code, not cash

    Open... and Shut When a VC's A round 'ain't enough

    When someone makes the bold claim that 90 per cent of the startups TechCrunch hypes are dead and buried within six months, you'd expect Silicon Valley to be in uproar. Surprisingly, though, the collective response seems to be, "Sounds about right." While I don't think the data support the claim, it is true that a large …

    Developer 3 Apr 2012, 07:27

  • Cable-cutting rogue engineer caused ultra fast broadband havoc

    Ex-SingTel employee given 15 months

    A former SingTel engineer took revenge on the Singaporean telco giant after being given the sack by sabotaging fibre optic cables on a staggering 600 separate occasions. Thirty-five-year-old Terrance Tan Khoon Shan was handed a 15 month prison sentence after the disgruntled engineer was found guilty of cutting cables in …

    Networks 3 Apr 2012, 07:46

  • EU plans tougher punishment for hackers – and their bosses

    Biz could be criminally liable if it 'profits' from employees' cyber attacks

    The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee overwhelmingly voted to approve proposals to criminalise certain activity relating to cyber attacks last week. The proposals contain plans to make specified "legal persons" within companies liable for certain offences. "Legal persons would be liable for offences committed for …

    Law 3 Apr 2012, 08:02

  • Vid storage biz Object Matrix gets over tape hate

    2003: Tape, boo! 2012: Tape, you're all right

    Another object storage supplier is embracing tape. It's Object Matrix and it's following in the footsteps of HDS. There's an irony here as UK-based Object Matrix, with its MatrixStore product, provides storage on near-line disks for large amounts of tapeless video workflow data. Nick Pearce, Object Matrix's co-founder, said …

    Storage 3 Apr 2012, 08:32

  • Runtastic Push Up

    Android App of the Week Push, fat boy, push

    Those of you with six-packs, biceps of iron and a physique from a eugenicist’s wet dream can stop reading now. For the rest of us, who have been planning to “get fit” next week, next month or next year, Runtastic’s Push Up app may be just what’s needed to whet our blunted purpose. The idea behind this app - like all the best …

    Phones 3 Apr 2012, 09:00

  • ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. - Humans begin artificial CO2 emissions

    'Could be an essential part of what makes us human'

    Fossil-furtling boffins have announced that the human race was burning things - and irresponsibly releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - fully a million years ago, some 300,000 years earlier than had been thought. "Human ancestors as early as Homo erectus may have begun using fire as part of their way of life," …

    Science 3 Apr 2012, 09:05

  • Email cock-up blamed in Check Point domain expiry snafu

    Renewal alert 'sent to wrong address'

    Check Point has downplayed the significance of a domain renewal mix-up that resulted in its home page being replaced by a holding page for a brief period on Monday. The problem arose because Network Solutions sent the security firm's domain renewal notice to the wrong email address, a statement by the firewall and VPN firm …

    Hosting 3 Apr 2012, 09:26

  • New Intel flash hardness performs faster for less

    330-series SSD is cheap as chips

    Intel has a new budget 330-series solid-state drive (SSD) coming on Friday, 13 April, according to Amazon and other online bazaars, and it almost doubles the current 320 SSD's performance. Amazon UK lists the 120GB 2.5-inch Intel 330 SSD for £109.05. A Google search on its part number, SSDSC2CT120A3K5, will find dozens of …

    Storage 3 Apr 2012, 09:44

  • Samsung to spank $7bn on China chip fab

    Splashes cash to build flash stash

    Chip behemoth Samsung has decided to sink $7bn into its first memory factory in China, which will build NAND products. The South Korean biz said in a regulatory filing that it will spend $2.3bn initially setting up the production facility and add the rest over the next several years. The factory, located in Xi'an, will start …

    Hardware 3 Apr 2012, 10:01

  • Sky joins BBC for Olympics coverage

    24 sports channels inbound

    Sky is celebrating the London Olympics through two dozen new BBC channels, dedicated to live coverage of the event. Up to 24 HD and SD channels will run simultaneously during peak times, covering every sport during the games, the satellite broadcaster said today. These will be available through the Sky EPG, meaning those with …

    Hardware 3 Apr 2012, 10:12

  • O2 Wi-Fi slips into McDonalds, steals The Cloud's lunch

    Snatched just in time for the Olympics

    O2 continues to expand its free Wi-Fi offering, this time donning a hairnet to push into 1,200 McDonalds hotspots which will become O2 branded just in time for the London Olympics. Not that there will be any additional Wi-Fi coverage; the clown-branded eateries already offer free Wi-Fi connections complete with family-friendly …

    Broadband 3 Apr 2012, 10:21

  • Hitachi GST lays 4TB Easter egg

    Highest capacity enterprise drive

    Hitachi GST has laid a nice Easter egg: a 4TB enterprise disk drive and a first at this capacity level. It's HGST's second 4TB product. This 3.5-inch drive technology first surfaced in September when Hitachi GST launched its 4TB G-Drive external Thunderbolt product. Now it has updated its Ultrastar line, jumping from the 3TB …

    Storage 3 Apr 2012, 10:39

  • Apple to take shine off glossy iMacs, say moles

    Adding anti-reflection tech

    Your iMac's screen to shiny for you? The next version of the Apple desktop will have a reflection resistant coating applied to its ('retina'?) display, it has been claimed. Says a piece on DigiTimes yesterday: Taiwan's G-Tech Optoelectronics is expected to supply anti-reflective glass for Apple's all-in-one computers, …

    Hardware 3 Apr 2012, 10:43

  • Game of Thrones Blu-ray disc set

    Review The greatest fantasy TV show ever made?

    Historically, TV generally doesn’t do ‘epic fantasy’ well: Merlin, Robin of Sherwood, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. All noble efforts, but ultimately flawed in vision and execution. Heck, outside of Jackson’s Rings trilogy, even the movies often fail to get the genre right. Thrown in extras But you don’t need to …

    Hardware 3 Apr 2012, 11:00

  • Home Sec: Web snoop law will snare PAEDOS, TERRORISTS

    May asks Blighty to 'think of the children'

    The Home Secretary has defended her department's decision to resurrect net-snooping plans that were abandoned by the previous Labour government in 2009. Theresa May, writing in The Sun, finally put forward her opinion two days after the tabloid's sister paper – The Sunday Times – ran a story containing a small amount of …

    Law 3 Apr 2012, 11:13

  • 'Leap year' bug drives TomTom satnav users up the wall

    GPS fix fail

    TomTom's satnavs have been caught out by a "leap year bug" this week which has caused the company's GPS receivers to suddenly stop working, driving users crazy. The company coughed to the flaw this morning, posting a public confession and telling satnav owners that an update may be necessary to fix the problem. "Since …

    Science 3 Apr 2012, 11:21

  • Canon reaches for stars with DSLR refresh

    Aimed at astrosnappers

    Canon sent its latest DSLR into orbit today with the launch of the EOS 60Da, a high-res snapper designed for astrophotography. The Canon EOS 60Da - essentially a refresh of the 20Da - packs a modified infrared filter and low-noise sensor, which along with a "heightened hydrogen-alpha sensitivity", makes it an ideal candidate …

    Hardware 3 Apr 2012, 11:38

  • Regulator probes Groupon as shares tumble

    SEC looking into daily deal site's accounting snafu

    Daily deals site Groupon has seen its stocks tumble nearly 17 per cent, after mistakes in its fourth quarter results announcement forced the firm to issue a revision over the weekend. Groupon shares finished US trading on Monday down 16.89 per cent to $15.27, meaning its stock has now fallen 41.5 per cent from its debut close …

    Financial News 3 Apr 2012, 11:39

  • Virgin Media tightens throttle on hardcore hogs

    Bust the limit, lose half your downlink speed

    Virgin Media has introduced new throttling "trigger levels" for customers who make heavy use of its network. The telco updated its subscriber traffic management (STM) policy yesterday to "ensure the vast majority of customers get the high quality of service they expect from Virgin Media's fibre optic broadband without being …

    Broadband 3 Apr 2012, 12:02

  • Teen hacker suspect Ryan Cleary in the clink for bail breach

    LulzSec accused broke the offline rule

    Teenage LulzSec suspect Ryan Cleary is back behind bars after breaching his bail conditions by going online, it has emerged. Cleary, 19, from Wickford in Essex, who was charged with participating in denial of service attacks against the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the British Phonographic Industry last June, violated an …

    Security 3 Apr 2012, 12:19

  • Sony to bring Google TV to Europe

    £167 set-top setting for ad giant's content store

    Google TV will be coming to Europe this September, two years after the little loved web telly service was launched in the States. Sony is bringing the online advertising giant's offering over here, initially through a €200 (£167) set-top box and later in a Blu-ray Disc player, French daily Les Echos reports. Both gadgets will …

    Hardware 3 Apr 2012, 12:23

  • Sony diagnoses Xperia S screen jaundice

    Users blue over yellow display

    Sony admitted that tis flagship smartphone, the Xperia S, has display issues after reports surfaced that the screen goes yellow when the device gets too warm. "Sony Mobile Communications has identified that the display on a limited number of Xperia S smartphones may show a slight yellow tint if exposed to temperatures above 40 …

    Phones 3 Apr 2012, 12:30

  • Motorola refreshes Razr with huge battery boost

    Talk for over 17 hours

    Motorola extended the battery life of its newly-designed Razr handset, releasing the Razr Maxx, a jazzed-up version of smartphone with more than 17 hours' talk time. The Motorola Razr Maxx features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 1GB Ram. The Kevlar fibre cased phone measures a smidgin under 9mm in thickness and features a …

    Phones 3 Apr 2012, 12:32

  • LOHAN checks into REHAB chamber

    Shed-built hypobaric rig hewn from living steel

    Hot on the heels of the first test of the improvised vacuum pump for our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) Rocketry Experimental High Altitude Barosimulator (REHAB) experiment, we're pleased to report that we've put together the shed-built hypobaric chamber which will form the centrepiece of our explosive tomfoolery …

    SPB 3 Apr 2012, 12:42

  • James Murdoch QUITS BSkyB chairmanship

    Remains as non-exec board member

    BSkyB chairman James Murdoch is reportedly stepping down from his role. The company declined to comment on the news story that was "broken" by Sky News, an organisation owned by BSkyB. According to that report James Murdoch - the son of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch - will quit the chairman role this afternoon. His decision to …

    Media 3 Apr 2012, 13:02

  • Foxconn staffer lets slip iPhone 5 ship date

    Hiring thousands of workers to assemble handsets

    iPhone 5 rumours picked up a couple of notches today after a Foxconn recruiter let slip that the manufacturer is hiring staff for the next-gen Apple phone's production. A human resources worker from Foxconn's Taiyuan, Shanxi Province plant said the company is hiring 18,000 workers for the fifth-generation iPhone, the World …

    Phones 3 Apr 2012, 13:12

  • Motorola Mobility in double Euro probe over patent warfare

    Apple, Microsoft trigger antitrust investigation

    The European Commission's anti-competition division has opened two formal investigations into Motorola Mobility after complaints from Apple and Microsoft about how it uses its patents against them. The commission said in a canned statement that it wants to figure out if Motorola Mobility has "abusively, and in contravention of …

    Mobile 3 Apr 2012, 13:27

  • How to manage IT like a (service) pro

    Live broadcast Can corporate IT learn from managed service providers?

    On April 17th at 10:00 BST, we’ve got a live broadcast featuring a service management workshop. Organisations are often told that running their IT as a service is the right thing to do, but how realistic is this and what does it mean in practice? How exactly do service providers operate, and how do their best practices map to …

    Management 3 Apr 2012, 13:36

  • Star's guts turned INSIDE OUT in supernova mega-blast

    Pics Young Cas A star spews stellar innards

    An X-ray study of Cassiopeia A, one of the youngest exploded stars in our galaxy, has found that it not only blew up, but also ripped its insides out in the process. Before and after the Cas A supernova. Left: NASA/CXC/M Weiss; Right: NASA/CXC/GSFC/U.Hwang & J Laming Credit: NASA Cas A, which is about 11,000 light years …

    Science 3 Apr 2012, 14:01

  • G-Cloud rep: We'll mop up data breach flood with red tape

    Security accreditation is vital, says MoJ ICT manager

    The government is speaking out about “myths and confusion” surrounding its plans for security accreditation on G-Cloud. A civil servant working on No 10’s big IT catalogue has re-assured Whitehall types that G-Cloud accreditation is most certainly not an unnecessary piece of bureaucracy. She has also warned, however, that just …

    The Channel 3 Apr 2012, 14:17

  • Facebook logins easily slurped from iOS, Android kit

    Exclusive Team Zuck working on slapping crypto into mobile app

    Facebook's iOS and Android clients don't encrypt users' logon credentials, leaving them languishing in a folder accessible to other apps or USB connections. A rogue application, or two minutes with a USB connection, are all that's needed to lift the temporary credentials from either device – a problem compounded by Facebook's …

    Security 3 Apr 2012, 14:39

  • Distie giant Arrow acquires Ireland's Altimate for €48.1m

    DCC sells, bites down on €8m writedown

    American distie Arrow Electronics has scooped up smaller Irish-owned rival Altimate Group for €48.1m. Channel-bestriding behemoth Arrow bought the distributor off Irish financial holding company DCC. Altimate is DCC's Enterprise distribution business and in 2011 reported a yearly operating profit of €3.7m on €257m of global …

    The Channel 3 Apr 2012, 14:41

  • iPad app that lets mute kids speak menaced by patent lawsuit

    Hardware that makes the 'slab look cheap and flexible

    A company that makes specialist talking tablet computers for speech-disabled children has mounted a patent lawsuit which seems set to kill off an iPad app that does the same thing for a tenth of the price. The firm is making no commitment to provide replacement affordable software for consumer devices. Prentke Romich's …

    Developer 3 Apr 2012, 15:02

  • Phonedeck pushes out web 'n' mobe app for Android

    Reach into the cloud to get to your pocket

    Phonedeck's promises to integrate an Android phone with a desktop computer though PIM synchronisation could yet prove its downfall. The service launches today, with an Android application and an HTML5 control panel. The application enables the control panel to make and answer calls (on the mobile) as well as manage SMS …

    Mobile 3 Apr 2012, 15:33

  • Citrix champions CloudStack, throws OpenStack under a bus

    'Project Olympus is dead' - fabric rivalry begins

    If you have been wondering how Citrix Systems was going to juggle two different cloud fabrics in its product line – its own open-source CloudStack and a commercialized variant of the similarly open-source OpenStack project started by NASA and Rackspace Hosting – you can stop wondering. Because Citrix isn't going to juggle at …

    Cloud 3 Apr 2012, 16:04

  • Facebook accused of 'wanton' use of Canadian woman's pics

    You signed up for this ... bitch

    A Canadian woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook in the Supreme Court of British Columbia for "wanton, reckless and callous" use of her photo and profile in the social network's ads. Debbie Douez is claiming that Facebook used her face and profile in ads without getting her permission or paying her a penny, …

    Networks 3 Apr 2012, 16:33

  • EMC shoots mystery virtual weapon into cloud next week

    Miracle-cream-slathered tool spurts on 12 April

    EMC's VSPEX emerged out of the Hopkinton void on Friday. Now EMC has an event scheduled for 12 April that looks a lot like a VSPEX launch. Point your browser here and gaze on this image: It begins with V and ends with an, er, X... EMC's puff quote says: "Join us as EMC and other industry leaders announce an offering that …

    Virtualization 3 Apr 2012, 17:01

  • Google pockets card payment biz, slips it into Wallet

    Token effort - or strategic brainwave?

    Google has bought payment processor TxVia to beef up its Wallet offering, putting scalable payment and token management into the Chocolate Factory's hands. TxVia provides a back-end service for prepaid cards including gift tokens, loyalty schemes and travel cards. It has 100 million customers and links to all the important …

    Mobile 3 Apr 2012, 18:04

  • Facebook: Server management systems 'a big headache'

    Collaboration Summit 2012 Open Compute Project goal: stripped and minimalist

    Amir Michael, manager of systems engineering at Facebook and a key player in the company's Open Compute Project (OCP), used his opening keynote at the sixth annual Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit to decry the current state of server-management code. Michael said that too many server manufacturers – and the hardware …

    Servers 3 Apr 2012, 18:27

  • IBM's DB2 database update does time travel, gets graphic

    'Continuous data ingest' gorges on bits, compression crunches 'em

    With the launch of DB2 10.1, Big Blue is adding a slew of new features that make DB2 more useful for modern, big-data workloads. Depending on how you want to count it, IBM is either the world's number-two or number-three seller of database management systems, and it has a lot of secondary systems and services business that are …

    Applications 3 Apr 2012, 18:56

  • RIM extends management software to iOS, Android

    Releases 'BlackBerry Mobile Fusion' in bid to stay alive relevant

    Beleagured Research in Motion has extended its mobile-device management software, now dubbed BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, to embrace not only its own BlackBerry handsets and tablets, but also iOS and Android devices. "BlackBerry Mobile Fusion allows organizations to manage a mixed environment of devices in the most secure, simple …

    Mobile 3 Apr 2012, 19:31

  • Equinix throws another US$50m at cloud

    Bankers and cloudsters drive data

    Equinix is pouring an extra US$50 million into its new Sydney based data centre. Due to demand work on phase two of Equinix’s third Sydney International Business Exchange data centre has commenced six months ahead of schedule. Cloud and financial service providers are providing the stimulus for additional capacity requirements …

    Business 3 Apr 2012, 22:57

  • Broadband a climate champion: ITU

    Puts forward ICT to bridge the ‘carbon emissions gap’

    The ITU’s Broadband Commission report, The Broadband Bridge: Linking ICT with Climate Action, is a good piece of advocacy – but can its prescriptions work? The premise of the report is simple enough: the Copenhagen Accord seeks a capping of emissions at 44 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2020, but that’s unlikely to be achieved. There’s …

    Broadband 3 Apr 2012, 22:58

  • Intel outlines open source development projects

    Collaboration Summit 2012 Connman has fingers in many pockets

    The director of Intel's Open Source Technology Center Imad Sousou outlined the chip giant's plans to invest in the open source community and provided an update on two key projects, speaking at the Linux Foundation's Collaboration Summit in San Francisco. Intel is fully committed to open source, Sousou explained, because it …

    Operating Systems 3 Apr 2012, 23:11

  • Why new iPad renders your pile of slab mags as garbage

    PNGs scuppered by high-res screen

    The pixel-dense screen on the new iPad - which makes high-resolution photos of flowers pop and delight - actually renders a lot of things rather badly, specifically old copies of tablet-based magazines and other made-for-iPad content stored as PNG image files. The latest retina display screen displays old content worse than …

    Media 3 Apr 2012, 23:15

  • Nvidia: No magic compilers for HPC coprocessors

    No free lunch for MIC, either

    Steve Scott, the former CTO at supercomputer maker Cray, joined Nvidia last summer as CTO for the chip maker's Tesla GPU coprocessor division, and the idea was to shake things up a bit and not only sell more Tesla units, but to shape expectations in supercomputing as we strive to reach exascale capacities. And so, in his first …

    HPC 3 Apr 2012, 23:53