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12th April 2012 Archive

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  • Sweden: talk, text and drive? OK

    A ban wouldn’t work anyway

    Sweden is bucking the international trend towards restricting the use of mobiles in cars, reasoning that drivers would just ignore a ban. Swedish news site The Local is reporting that the Swedish National Road and Transport Institute (VTI) has decided there is “no reason” to ban drivers from talking or even texting – partly …

    Odds and Sods 12 Apr 00:03

  • Bacteria isolated for four million years beat newest antibiotic

    Ancient bacteria share genes with bugs exposed to modern medicine

    Bacteria found deep inside a cave that has had scant exposure to the outside world for at least four million years share some of the same antibiotic-resisting traits that other bugs are supposed to have developed in response to modern medicines. That’s the finding of a new research article, Antibiotic Resistance Is Prevalent …

    Science 12 Apr 00:30

  • Cloud Foundry aiming to be 'the Linux of the cloud'

    One year in and VMware adds new features

    Steve Herrod, CTO of VMware, has high ambitions for the company's app development platform Cloud Foundry, saying he wants it to be the Linux of the cloud. Speaking at the one year anniversary of the Cloud Foundry rollout, Herrod said that the company was betting on open source and open cloud management as the future of the …

    Cloud 12 Apr 00:47

  • Intel discloses sub-10-watt 'Centerton' Atom chip

    You've seen microservers - behold the, um, picoserver?

    Server chip juggernaut Intel is hosting its Forum Beijing summit with partners and customers this week, and Diane Bryant, the new general manager of the company's Data Center and Connected Systems group, talked a little bit about some forthcoming Xeon and Atom processors for microservers. It took Intel a little while to warm …

    Servers 12 Apr 02:30

  • Over half of IT hires in Asia are duds

    Employers not happy with recruits

    The IT and telecoms sector will lead the way when it comes to hiring expectations in Asia over the next three months, but over half of new recruits in China and Singapore are duds, according to new stats from Hudson. The recruitment consultancy’s latest report for the second quarter of 2012 takes an in depth look at China, …

    Jobs 12 Apr 04:14

  • NetBank unavailable to 'many customers'

    CBA looking into problems with 64-bit Windows 7 and Internet Explorer

    Some users of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's NetBank service are unable to use the service, thanks to a bug that impacts PCs running the 64-bit version of Windows 7. A Register reader let us know of the problem, which he says has been apparent "for several weeks now." An email to the reader from an "Online Specialist" …

    Software 12 Apr 04:27

  • Aus apps take on Chinese handsets

    Smart Trans gets appy with Digitone

    Australian mobile software developer SmartTrans has secured a break through deal in China in an agreement with Beijing Digitone Telecom. Under the deal Smart Trans will load its MyLife software on all Android Smartphones sold by Digitone’s retailer D.Phone with an initial 1,000,000 unit run. D.Phone, the country’s largest …

    Networks 12 Apr 04:54

  • Japanese bank palms off customers with biometric ATMs

    “You are the cash card”, apparently

    Japan-based Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank is claiming to be the first in the world set to offer its customers the option of using ATM services without the need for a cash card or passbook, thanks to palm-scanning biometric technology from Fujitsu. The technology works by mapping and identifying the unique pattern of veins in the user’s …

    Security 12 Apr 05:30

  • Ten... Kitchen Gadget Treats

    Gizmo Week 'Why didn't *I* get any soup?'

    Most of us actually have more gadgets in the kitchen than anywhere else in the house. And looking at the list here, it’s easy to see why. There are gizmos for every conceivable task, from opening a tin of beans to knocking up a homemade Scotch broth. Most of the gizmos here are genuinely useful and would be a great addition to …

    reghardware 12 Apr 06:00

  • Chinese coders beat all-comers

    Technology gulf between east and west clear to see

    Does China have the best hackers in the world? Well, new stats from code sprint site Interview Street would seem to indicate that they certainly dominate the global rankings when it comes to programming skills. The Bangalore-based web company provides a platform for coders to measure their abilities in a series of pre-assigned …

    Software 12 Apr 06:48

  • Gov: Give Ofgem clout to force energy firms to cough up

    Regulator 'well-placed' to haggle over compensation payments

    Gas and electricity companies that breach regulations could be forced to compensate customers directly under plans being consulted on by the government. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said it wants to give the UK's energy regulator Ofgem, the power to "compel" the companies to pay compensation if it deems …

    Energy 12 Apr 07:02

  • Softphones strangled by smartphone battery life

    PC startup times also an issue, says ShoreTel

    Softphones aren’t making inroads onto smartphones or the desktop because the former lacks battery life and the latter take too long to start up, according to Jamie Romanin, ShoreTel’s Regional Director for Australasia. Softphones are applications that do everything a telephone handset can, but run on a PC or smartphone. Often …

    Networks 12 Apr 07:20

  • Microsoft opens trenchcoat, reveals 'in-memory' Big Data column

    Just the (100 billion) facts, man

    If there’s one thing scarier than the big data tsunami, tech vendors tell us, then it’s tech vendors getting left out of the big-data conversation. Microsoft is the latest software maker to crowbar itself into the debate on big data, this time claiming a place at the table on in-memory databases. According to a blog here and …

    Applications 12 Apr 07:32

  • UK.gov has shaved off 16% of IT staff in 4 years

    Department for Transport ICT lost 1 in 5 workers

    The number of IT staff members working at four key Whitehall departments has fallen by 16 per cent in recent years. According to figures from the departments, total IT headcount at the four organisations has dropped from 3,552 in 2008-09 to 2,971 in 2011-12. The statistics were provided by the Ministry of Defence, the …

    Jobs 12 Apr 08:02

  • Dot-London squeaks under ICANN deadline

    Offshore firm picked to run capital's vanity address

    London's official PR agency has filed its application with ICANN to get its hands on a new .london top-level internet domain, just before the deadline closes. London & Partners today revealed that it has contracted Minds + Machines Ltd, a local subsidiary of British Virgin Islands-based Top Level Domain Holdings, to help apply …

    Hosting 12 Apr 08:27

  • Most anticipated videogames of 2012 revealed

    Which titles whet your appetite?

    With current-gen consoles nearing the end of their lifespans, 2012 has hardly been a golden year for game releases. But that hasn't stopped punters from getting excited at what is to come. US market watcher Nielson has compiled a list of the year's most anticipated games for each console and the results are not what you might …

    reghardware 12 Apr 08:31

  • LOHAN dives into Reg forums mosh pit

    Get to close quarters with our heavenly sky queen

    At the behest of reader Joeman, there's now a Reg forum open into which which you can throw your Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) comments and/or suggestions. We reckon this is a better place to slog it out than in comments on individual stories, because we find we keep having to answer the same questions, such as …

    SPB 12 Apr 09:00

  • Publishing giants sue open textbook startup over layout

    Suit alleges web firm nicked pagination, image-labelling

    A copyright lawsuit has pitted three of the four big American textbook publishers against a web startup in a dispute over the layout of textbooks. Facts may not be copyrighted, but how they are laid out is, contends the joint complaint that publishers Pearson, Cengage Learning, and Macmillan Higher Education filed last month …

    Law 12 Apr 09:18

  • Banks on the business end of DDoS attack surge - report

    Shorter, bigger attack trend continues

    Financial firms were in the crosshairs of cyber-attackers during the first three months of 2012, while a threefold increase in DDoS attacks was recorded. DDoS mitigation biz Prolexic reports that the growth in the number of attacks against its clients in banking and insurance was accompanied by a 3,000 per cent increase in …

    Enterprise Security 12 Apr 09:39

  • Break out the bubbly: World PC market GREW 2.3%

    Doom'n'gloom analysts caught with pants down in first quarter

    Such is the parlous state of the global PC market that a return to marginal growth is lauded as a pretty good result - especially since declines were forecasted by bean-counters. First quarter sales into the channel were up 1.9 per cent to 89 million units, Gartner prelims reveal, while IDC estimated 87.1 million units were …

    Channel Register 12 Apr 10:01

  • Teens break up with Facebook

    Open... and Shut Bad for IPO, good for Twitter ...

    In May 2012 Facebook is set to launch one of the top-25 IPOs in history. By May 2013 it may well be scrambling to keep investors happy, given the apparent flight of teenagers to Twitter, Pinterest, and flavor-of-the-month social media. It's not that Facebook has lost its mojo. It's that it may be becoming cool with the wrong …

    CIO 12 Apr 10:16

  • Amazon green-lights in-app purchasing for Android

    Whacks down another plank in Googleplex assault

    Amazon has enabled in-application billing for Android apps sold through its US Appstore, though it's reserving the right to control the amount punters end up paying. Amazon's In-App Purchasing API has been in beta for a while, but now any application can throw up an "insert coin to continue" dialogue linked directly to the …

    Applications 12 Apr 10:29

  • Sony axes 10,000 workers, eyes up mobile and medical biz

    Cash-squandering giant in global spring clean

    Sony Corp confirmed today that it will lay off 10,000 workers worldwide in a move to turn around its TV biz, strengthen its core digital imaging, gaming and mobile divisions, and chase sales in emerging markets. The consumer electronics giant's newly installed CEO Kazuo Hirai hoped that his strategy would allow loss-making …

    CIO 12 Apr 10:44

  • 'Woz' wants $100,000 for Mac 128K prototype

    Early integrated 5.25in drive included

    A functional Macintosh 128k prototype has been put up for sale on eBay, complete with rare "Twiggy" 5.25in floppy drive, original keyboard, mouse and power lead. The only non-authentic thing here is that the seller, who calls himself 'Woz', isn't actually Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak - a fact he's happy to highlight - but …

    reghardware 12 Apr 10:50

  • Wondershare PowerCam

    iOS App of the Week Powerful photo effects with no editing

    I thought that the recent one-two punch of Adobe's Photoshop Touch and Apple's iPhoto would have knocked out most of the competition from other photo apps, but Wondershare’s PowerCam shows that the big-name boys don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. Pick your effect At first glance, PowerCam looks like a fairly routine photo …

    reghardware 12 Apr 11:00

  • Death Star dinosaur aliens could rule galaxy

    Boffin: 'We would be better off not meeting them'

    Rather than dying out in the dimly lit aftermath of a ginormous asteroid impact, dinosaurs on Earth may have instead spread to other planets and built a terrifying space-conquering empire. Organic chemistry expert Prof Ronald Breslow has suggested from new research into DNA that the Jurassic Park monsters may in fact be living …

    Biology 12 Apr 11:16

  • Emirates wedges national ID cards inside NFC phones

    ID-by-handset to become norm after gov inks deal with Etisalat

    The United Arab Emirates has signed up local operator Etisalat with a view to getting the national ID card embedded into mobile phones. The memorandum of understanding, signed by the Emirates Identity Authority and Etisalat, sets out a plan for both parties to examine the feasibility of implementing the existing ID Card as an …

    Wireless 12 Apr 11:32

  • Whitehall needs to dump 'unacceptable IT' – outbound G-Cloud chief

    Updated Our cloud or the highway (please pick our cloud)

    Outgoing government G-Cloud programme director Chris Chant has harangued civil servants and tech vendors telling them times are a-changing and so must they. Chant, a career Whitehall civil servant, has warned his fellow CIOs they are “hiding behind the comfort blanket” and must change how they buy IT. “That blanket is on fire …

    Channel Register 12 Apr 11:46

  • .XXX registry in .porn, .adult, .sex extension grab bid

    Exclusive ICM promises not to stiff smut stars

    ICM Registry, which runs the controversial .xxx top-level domain, today revealed that it has applied to ICANN for the gTLDs .porn, .sex and .adult. The Florida-based company hopes to avoid "shakedown" accusations this time around - last year it faced severe criticism and a lawsuit when it raked in millions of dollars in …

    Hosting 12 Apr 12:00

  • 1&1 outage knocks down websites in Spain, UK

    But hosting company's UK team 'not aware' of issues

    Websites using hosting firm 1&1 are down today while the company deals with a problem with "one of its nodes", according to some of its customers. 1&1's service status page claims that all systems are functional, but British and Spanish customers are complaining on Twitter that their websites are down or they're having issues …

    Hosting 12 Apr 12:13

  • LARs to Microsoft: Please make deal reg programme that works

    Updated Tool still useless months after launch

    Microsoft is being urged by large account resellers (LARs) to take steps to speed up the deal registration process more than two months after launch. LARs continue to complain of the Partner Sales Exchange (PSE) – the centralised system underpinning the process – crashing intermittently, forcing Partner Account Managers to …

    Channel Register 12 Apr 12:29

  • Scotland Yard under fire over ex-Murdoch man role

    Cop watchdog: 'Professional boundaries became blurred'

    Senior Met police officials "breached" Scotland Yard employment policies and demonstrated "poor judgment" when it came to their relationship with Neil Wallis – a former News of the World deputy editor – the UK's cop watchdog said today. The Independent Police Complaints Commission also confirmed today that it had planned to …

    Policing 12 Apr 12:36

  • Real-time movie FX editing on the Flash PCIe cards

    Fusion-io ioFX's 420GB block bluster for blockbusters

    Fusion-io is putting a rocket up workstations in Hollywood with an ioFX flash card that features some of the technology used to create the visual effects in orphan-meets-robot family flick Hugo. The ioFX is a PCIe-connected card with 420GB of non-volatile memory on it, providing a tier of storage between the workstation's DRAM …

    Storage 12 Apr 13:01

  • Nintendo puts 3DS in the Louvre

    Itsa me... Mona Lisa

    Nintendo has bridged the gap between videogames and art through a partnership with the Louvre which will see visitors use 3DS consoles as an interactive tour guide. Parisian holidaymakers and anyone popping along to the museum for a glimpse of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, now have the option to take Ninty consoles with them for an in …

    reghardware 12 Apr 13:06

  • Motorola's bid to sink Windows, XBoxes sales snubbed

    US judge rules German Microsoft ban bid is kaput

    Microsoft has won its fight in the US to stop Motorola Mobility from enforcing a banning order on Windows and XBox sales that a German court may award the phone-maker. Redmond had asked a court in Seattle to prevent Motorola from using an injunction, backed by patents for the H.264 video codec, to stop Microsoft from selling …

    Law 12 Apr 13:26

  • Reseller insolvencies at 9-year high: 89 firms hit the wall

    Graydon stats show no let-up in pressure on channel in Q1

    Reseller fatalities remained close to highs not seen since the dot-com bust as small generalist dealers and independent retailers succumbed to economic pressure. Figures from credit reference agency Graydon UK showed that 89 channel firms went under in Q1, edging up from the 88 firms that hit the skids in Q4 and 17 per cent …

    Channel Register 12 Apr 13:41

  • Apple, publishers and ebook pricing – what does it all mean?

    Analysis Answer: Champagne corks popping at Amazon

    Aren’t monopoly watchdogs supposed to bust monopolies rather than create them? That question is fairly widespread today after the US Department of Justice’s intervention into the nascent ebook market. You’d need to be Solomon to regulate ebook pricing wisely at this stage in the market’s development, and it isn’t clear whether …

    Music and Media 12 Apr 13:59

  • Naked gyrating iPad vid exposes truth behind Apple's billions

    Video Behind-the-scenes shock tape rocks web

    Foxconn has allowed a journalist to film inside an Apple iPad factory in Shenzen, revealing a fresh-faced workforce. The resulting three-minute video shows young Chinese employees at the quarter-of-a-million-strong factory filing into work at 7am, fitting motherboards into cases on clean, brightly lit assembly lines and …

    PCs & Chips 12 Apr 14:26

  • Max Payne shoots onto mobiles

    Slow-mo phone blows

    Bullet-time fans twiddling thumbs in anticipation of next month's Max Payne 3 might like to get practice in on their smartphones first, as the original version has just launched on iOS devices. The game, Max Payne Mobile, sees the vengeful cop's first outing ported to mobile with HD graphics, hi-res textures and customisable …

    reghardware 12 Apr 14:36

  • We were right: EMC's VSPEX will take on FlexPods

    Sub-Vblocks built by channel

    EMC has devised a set of converged server system reference templates called VSPEX, offering complete application, soup-to-nuts modular stack designs to be sold and built by its Velocity Partner channel. Customers get faster and simpler implementations while EMC's channel gets additional high-margin business with EMC selling …

    Channel Register 12 Apr 14:58

  • Nokia on 'brink of failure', warns analyst

    Prepare Plan B

    Nokia's comeback will fail unless Microsoft pulls its finger out, according to one analyst. Ian Fogg of IHS isn't isn't optimistic, however, and recommends the Finns develop a Plan 'B' - in case Windows Phone fails to crack the Android-Apple duopoly. Fogg commends Nokia for a strong comeback product range in the shape of its …

    Mobile 12 Apr 15:28

  • Facebook updates data archive tool, upsets privacy warriors

    Falls short of handing TOTAL CONTROL to users

    Facebook is dishing up a more comprehensive archive of the data it stores and tracks, after the Irish data protection commission requested that the dominant social network give its users full control of that information. But Facebook's updated tool – which allows users to download different types of data held by the company – …

    Music and Media 12 Apr 16:02

  • Publishers fork out $52m in Apple ebook pricing settlement

    US states follow DoJ suit, but they're looking for cash

    Publishers Hachette and HarperCollins have forked out $52m to settle a lawsuit that alleged the pair had been involved in price-fixing in the ebook market. Just as the ink was drying on the US Department of Justice's suit against Apple and five publishing houses over alleged price-fixing, 15 State Attorneys General and the …

    Law 12 Apr 16:29

  • Student's Linux daemon 0-day triggers InfoSec Institute outcry

    Updated Network software fingered in after-school game

    Controversy has accompanied the discovery by a student of a critical vulnerability in BackTrack, a flavour of Linux that's a favourite among security pros. The previously undiscovered (hence zero-day) privilege escalation bug in the network penetration-testing distro was discovered during an ethical hacking class organised by …

    Enterprise Security 12 Apr 17:04

  • OnApp spins up bullet-proof SAN, punts it to cloud providers

    Bombastic sprog or the real thing?

    UK-based cloud infrastructure supplier OnApp says it has created a scalable and resilient SAN for cloud service providers by using the provider's virtualised application server's local storage and aggregating it with virtual smart controllers running in the same servers. The approach has some similarities to Virtual Storage …

    Storage 12 Apr 17:31

  • Amazon turns A9 search engine into a cloud service

    CloudSearch added to other heavenly wares

    Retailing giant and cloud computing juggernaut Amazon has taken its in-house A9 search engine and converted it into a search service that you can buy through its Amazon Web Services unit to comb through your own documents and files. The cloudy version of the A9 search engine is called CloudSearch, appropriately enough, and …

    Cloud 12 Apr 17:43

  • El Reg hurls EMC onto the rack, drills into VSPEX

    Channel, software questions answered

    On Thursday EMC announced its new stackable and modular server box templates called VSPEX - a piece of kit that raised more questions than a particularly fast-paced edition of University Challenge. Your humble El Reg hack's subsequent Q&A with an EMC bod, published here, reveals among other odds and sods software availability …

    Channel Register 12 Apr 18:03

  • Red Hat joins OpenStack community

    Governance suits Shadowman, finally

    Commercial Linux and middleware distributor and server virtualization and cloud wannabe Red Hat has finally joined the open source OpenStack community, in the wake of the hammering out of the governance rules for a foundation that will control OpenStack. Since launching the OpenStack project in July 2010 along with NASA, …

    Cloud 12 Apr 19:15

  • Developer leaks Microsoft product plans for next two years

    Updated Launch details on Office 15, Phone and IE 10

    A Microsoft developer has taken the unusual step of publishing a partial Redmond roadmap for some of the company's most important software. Maarten Visser, CEO of Dutch cloud developer consultancy Meetroo, posted the plans, which were issued by Redmond at the end of last year, on his Twitter stream and they include launch …

    Windows 8 12 Apr 19:30

  • Top US science wonk wants Grand Challenges and 3D printers for the kids

    But asks for curiosity driven jellyfish poking to continue too

    Challenging engineers to build a starship and giving school kids 3D printers were among several big ideas put out by a top US Government science wonk in a speech in Washington this morning. Citing President Kennedy's challenge to put a man on the moon, Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director of the Office of Science and Technology …

    Science 12 Apr 21:15

  • Boeing plans super-secure Android smartphone for top echelons

    Stealth phone due to take off later this year

    Boeing is planning to launch an own-brand super secure Android smartphone for military, government, and high-level commercial users by the end of the year. Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network and Space Systems, told National Defense Magazine that this is probably the first time the company had got into the cellular phone …

    Mobile 12 Apr 21:31

  • Google splits stock in bonus for investors, but keeps control

    Revenue results at top end of estimates

    Google has reported good figures for the last quarter, with revenues up 24 per cent, and is to split the company's stock, creating a new non-voting stock in the company quoted on NASDAQ. "We recognize that some people, particularly those who opposed this structure at the start, won’t support this change - and we understand …

    Financial News 12 Apr 22:09

  • Map of Tasmania to be redrawn

    State government kicks off Spatial Information Foundations project

    Tasmania will spend $AU3m to refresh the technological framework that underpins the State's Land Information System (LIST). The new project aims “develop a contemporary platform for the management and distribution of spatial information across all tiers of government and the private sector and facilitate the improved use of …

    Public Sector 12 Apr 22:27