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8th May 2012 Archive

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  • US Judge says IP addresses don't identify pirates

    “Abusive litigation” by copyright trolls criticised

    A US judge has labelled an attempt to sue internet subscribers whose accounts were used to download four pornographic films “abusive litigation” and also criticised legal arguments that an IP address is a valid way to identify an individual online. The comments were made by Gary R Brown, United States Magistrate Judge, in a …

    Policy 8 May 01:03

  • Lenovo targets mobile market with new R&D centre

    Smartphones and tablets on the way from the Chinese giant

    Chinese computing giant Lenovo is set for big expansion into the mobile space after breaking ground on a new facility in the central province of Wuhan. Thew new facility will be the company's source for new tablets and smartphones. Although it was coy on exactly how much of its own cash would be ploughed into the 'Lenovo ( …

    Data Centre 8 May 01:34

  • Apple and Proview in talks to end IPAD dispute

    Report suggests "big gap" between parties over settlement amount

    After several months, a few false dawns and lots of waiting, the trademark stand-off between Apple and Proview over the use of the IPAD name in China may finally be nearing an end, according to new reports which claim settlement talks have begun. Xie Xianghui, a lawyer with failed monitor and LED lighting biz Proview, is …

    Business 8 May 02:45

  • Hong Kong turns factories into datacentres to fuel cloud growth

    SAR aims to beat Singapore as leading Asian digital hub

    An innovative approach to datacentre development is helping to see off Hong Kong’s competitors and establish it as the number one cloud computing hub in Asia, according to the government CIO, Daniel Lai. Speaking to The Reg at the 13th annual Info-Security Conference in Hong Kong, Lai dismissed suggestions that Special …

    Business 8 May 05:44

  • Chrome beats IE for a weekend

    Google creeps up on leisure time browsing crown

    Fresh from knocking off Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the web's most-used browser for a single day in March, Google's Chrome browser has now claimed more users than Redmond's HTML-cruncher for a whole weekend. Data gathered by StatCounter shows Chrome has enjoyed a day of dominance on most weekends since its March …

    Software 8 May 05:56

  • WTF is... Intel's Ivy Bridge

    Feature Inside Core i's third generation

    Intel’s latest processor architecture, codenamed Ivy Bridge, is its previous one, Sandy Bridge, shrunk. Sandy Bridge chips, marketed as second-generation Core i CPUs, were produced using a 32nm process. Ivy Bridge is 22nm Actually, there's a little bit more to it than that. The Ivy Bridge die layout is indeed much the same …

    reghardware 8 May 06:02

  • Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K quad-core CPU

    Review The generation game

    Intel loves marketing jargon for most things it produces, and the company’s processor architecture roadmap is no different. In Intel speak, this moves along in "Tick-Tock" sequence. The Tock refers to a major revamp to the core architecture, while the Tick covers changes to the manufacturing process. Chip off the old block …

    reghardware 8 May 06:04

  • Boffins embiggen data storage space with 'phase-shifting' material

    'Works 100 times faster' than current flash

    A team of researchers has found a way of manipulating Phase-Change Memory (PCM) – a material with special properties – so that it can transform into various states at once, allowing the boffins to create multi-level PCM cells. If all goes well, this should pave the way for development of the next generation of data storage media …

    Storage 8 May 07:02

  • UK's big-spender councils shovel IT workers into a skip

    West Sussex County Council axes 9-in-10 techies

    A number of the UK's largest councils have significantly cut their IT workforce in recent years, according to local government figures. According to figures published in response to freedom of information requests by Guardian Government Computing by some of the highest spending local authorities on IT in the UK, several …

    Government 8 May 07:32

  • WH Smiths tills insist shop sells The Queen's Knickers only

    It was a cockup by us NOT hackers, insists firm

    WH Smiths tills would only dispense receipts for 'The Queen's Knickers' for several hours yesterday, after a technical mistake in the tills screwed up receipt printing in the chain's outlets across the country. Transactions were able to process as normal, said a WH Smith spokesperson, but the cash registers would only print …

    Bootnotes 8 May 07:58

  • Microsoft delays license price hike for current SPLA users

    'Our customers expect consistency'

    Microsoft has given customers locked into existing contracts for the Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) a six month grace period before they feel the brunt of its licensing price hike. The vendor confirmed last week it set to align list prices across the EU to the Euro from the start of July, raising the cost of its …

    Channel Register 8 May 08:18

  • Old-school Mars rover water findings confirmed

    Veteran machine to resume work as summer approaches

    Old-school Mars rover Opportunity has found "clear evidence" of water in the first four months of tootling around the rim of the Endeavour Crater. A vein of calcium, sulphur and gypsum. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU The crater is around four billion years old and 22km across and has been a long-term goal of the rover …

    Space 8 May 08:39

  • Skynet emerges in Greenwich, monitoring hearts to light switches

    'City operating system' controls environment with sensor matrix

    London's Greenwich Peninsula will become the testbed for new software promising to create the smart city of the future. The experiment, backed by science minister David Willetts, teams up tech houses Hitachi Consulting, Philips and McLaren Electronic Systems with Living PlanIT to work on the latter's Urban Operating System. " …

    Networks 8 May 08:58

  • TSMC zaps 3.1GHz ARM processor with 28nm shrink ray

    Dual-core Cortex-A9 turbocharged for microservers

    If you thought there was pressure on chip foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC) up until now - with Nvidia and AMD leaning on the fab to crank out more GPUs and in the case of AMD, more hybrid CPU-GPUs - wait until the army of designers and sellers catch wind of its 28nm Cortex-A9 ARM RISC processors. TSMC has …

    PCs & Chips 8 May 09:21

  • Finally, it’s the year of Linux on the desktop IPv6!

    Sysadmin blog Are you following protocol?

    One month from now, World IPv6 Launch Day with be upon us. Numerous online services will be enabling IPv6 and leaving it on. AAAA records will be published, and those of us with IPv6 enabled systems will start to use IPv6 preferentially to IPv4. But what does this all mean? For the short term at least, the truth is "not much …

    Servers 8 May 09:42

  • Cheap MacBook Airs for all!

    Apple pondering 25 per cent price cut, apparently

    Apple's cheapest MacBook Air will currently set you back $999 or£849, depending on where you buy it. Wait until August, and it could cost you just $799/£640. So says Digitimes' inevitable unnamed laptop industry mole, but it's worth noting that the rumour is simply that Apple is thinking about cutting the price of the skinny …

    reghardware 8 May 09:44

  • Boffins baking big-data single chip architecture

    Graphene, electrons and the end of 'conventional silicon electronics'

    Some use software – caching, in-memory transactions or BigTable-style algorithms to cluster and control groups of servers. For others, the answer lies in the hardware: packing more cores into chips or making the transistors faster. Both schools are looking for ways to make applications, computers and servers capable of …

    PCs & Chips 8 May 10:00

  • Microsoft scrapes Windows Azure name off cloudy kit

    Marketing blues or something more?

    Windows Azure is the latest brand name to be scratched off Microsoft’s labels. The name “Azure” and in some cases even “Windows Azure” are being dropped from components and services in the company’s cloud, according to a report here. For example, Windows Azure Compute will now be Cloud Services, Windows Azure CDN is CDN, SQL …

    Platform 8 May 10:16

  • 2,000 dot-word bids rocket ICANN onto $350m cash pile

    gTLD explosion four times bigger than expected

    The upcoming expansion of the internet's domain name system could see more than 2,000 new top-level domains come into existence, according to policy overseer ICANN. The organisation revealed at the weekend that it has received 2,091 applications for its controversial new gTLD programme, and could see up to 214 more before it …

    Hosting 8 May 10:31

  • Yahoo! chief! says! sorry! for! CV! snafu!

    Thompson says will cooperate with board's review

    Yahoo!'s CEO Scott Thompson has issued an emailed apology for his gilded CV to employees at the company, as the board decides what it's going to do about his misstated education. Thompson is in hot water over a discrepancy in his CV that said he held a computer science degree when he doesn't, an issue Yahoo! called "an …

    CIO 8 May 10:44

  • National Rail Enquiries

    Android App of the Week The train now arriving on Platform 3...

    I should use local trains more often, but there are several reasons why I don’t. One is I’ve no idea where most of my local stations are, let alone the ones dotted further afield around Manchester. Secondly, I can’t be bothered picking up timetables. The new National Rail Enquiries app solves both these problems and could …

    reghardware 8 May 11:00

  • Planet systems with 'hot Jupiters' PULVERISE innocent strays

    Should help boffins narrow search for Earthlike second home

    Hot Jupiter planet systems aren't harbouring any Earthlike worlds because they're too busy systematically decimating any planets that pop up. Boffins have discovered that because of the way so-called hot Jupiters are formed, they're generally the only planets in their systems as they destroy any other low-mass planets made. …

    Space 8 May 11:14

  • Now India snaps on gloves, bends Google over for antitrust probe

    'Competition is a click away' ad giant retorts

    Google is undergoing an antitrust investigation in India, the Competition Commission (CCI) in that country confirmed on Monday. The Economic Times, citing sources, reported over the weekend that the CCI was readying a competition inquiry into the search giant's "alleged discriminatory practices" relating to its AdWords …

    Law 8 May 11:28

  • NHS's chances of getting world's best IT: 80% ... maybe*

    *Assuming its CIO meant 8 in 10, not 8 in 100

    The NHS has possibly an 80 per cent chance of having the world's best IT in healthcare in 10 years, its CIO Katie Davis told the 2012 Health Informatics Congress. Meanwhile Sir Muir Gray, director of NHS National Knowledge service, blamed the managerial culture of Blighty's health service for previous technology fiascos, and …

    Government 8 May 11:44

  • Exercises to keep your data centre on its toes

    Flatten the structure to stay nimble

    Given the size of networks today, networking should be open to promote interoperability, affordability and competition among suppliers to provide the best products. Let’s drill down a little to explore new developments in the ubiquitous Ethernet standard and see how open networking can help you do jobs more efficiently. Hub …

    Data Networking 8 May 12:00

  • Apple 'iTV' looks like Cinema Display, says Throat

    But with Siri and a webcam

    This, according to a mole who claims to have seen one in action, is what Apple's new TV looks like: Yes, it's the Cinema Display, and it's a scaled down version of the so-called 'iTV', the insider, who spilled the beans to Cult of Mac, said. The Deep Throat also said the telly uses Siri technology for voice control and …

    reghardware 8 May 12:10

  • Investors queue for chance to glance at Zuck's FACE

    But scrutinising the BOOK might yet throw up some furballs

    Mark Zuckerberg told investors yesterday that he wouldn't hesitate to splurge another $1bn on a Web2.0 app. The Facebook boss presented his initial public offering plans to hundreds of money peeps in New York on Monday ahead of floating the company on 18 May. He defended his decision to buy photo-sharing outfit Instagram for …

    CIO 8 May 12:23

  • Zombie PCs exploit hookup site in 4Square-for-malware scam

    Ill-used 'adult' dating site riddled with infection

    Security researchers have discovered a strain of malware that uses the geolocation service offered by an adult dating website as an easy way to determine the location of infected machines. Thousands of infected machines in a zombie network all phoned home to the URL promos.fling.com/geo/txt/city.php at the adult hookup site …

    Malware 8 May 12:38

  • Java jury finds Google guilty of infringement: Now what?

    Analysis All eyes on Judge Alsup as big questions remain unanswered

    No judge has tried harder than Judge Alsup, presiding over the Oracle-versus-Google case, to persuade two warring parties not to go to court. But he hadn't counted for the egos of the two billionaire Larrys. The jury seems to affirm Alsup's instincts were correct. At the weekend, after five days of deliberating, the panel …

    Applications 8 May 12:57

  • Micron chucks down $2.5bn lifeline to Elpida

    If bid succeeds, embiggened firm will be number 2 in DRAM industry

    Micron is bidding $2.5bn for worn-out and failing DRAMurai starveling Elpida after SK Hynix and Toshiba walked away. Elpida is a bankrupt Japanese DRAM manufacturer that has fallen on hard times and is weighed down by $5.6bn debt. It has been searching for a white knight with a phased bid process. Toshiba and SK Hynix were …

    Financial News 8 May 13:28

  • AMD girds its engineering cloud for X86 battle

    No Intel Inside – and whitebox Solaris workstations

    The battle for the X86 market may end up in the desktop, laptops, and servers of the world, but it begins in giant compute grids that engineers use to simulate, test, and increasingly to design the future processors we all will crave if they do their work right. Advanced Micro Devices has undergone many changes in the past …

    Infrastructure 8 May 14:01

  • Apple Store moped raider suspect to face trial in October

    Bloke denies involvement in iPad grab caper

    A man accused of perpetrating a smash-and-grab raid at the Apple Store in London's Covent Garden will stand trial in October, Met Police have confirmed. A gang of seven moped and motorcycle marauders, most carrying pillion riders, plundered shiny new kit including iPads and other gear from the London-based retail outlet last …

    Channel Register 8 May 14:17

  • Avaya poaches Huawei veep Culmer to run UK ops

    Exec fires parting shot at bureaucratic Chinese giant

    Avaya UK has poached Huawei Enterprise veep Simon Culmer to replace managing director Andrew Shepperd less than 10 months into his tenure, The Register can reveal. Culmer, who also had a nine-month spell as UK veep at the enterprise wing of Huawei starting last summer, built a UK management team including the recruitment of …

    Channel Register 8 May 14:41

  • Samsung, Qualcomm team up to take on Wireless Consortium

    SIII's wireless charging part of WiPower relaunch

    Samsung is the promised power behind Qualcomm's relaunch of WiPower, with wireless charging coming for the SIII and the partners forming a new alliance around the technology in the hope of supplanting the nascent Qi standard and its Wireless Consortium backers. The "Alliance for Wireless Power", which likes to be known by the …

    Wireless 8 May 15:01

  • The Pirate Bay cries foul over Pirate Bay copycats

    Leeching proxies face leechers' wrath

    Beware of unauthorised copies of The Pirate Bay, comes a warning from, er… The Pirate Bay. The Swedish site notorious for indexing unauthorised copies of music, films and books has found itself being copied, and it doesn't like it one bit. On its blog, The Pirate Bay advises fans to use the authentic, original ThePirateBay and …

    Media 8 May 15:19

  • CCS to dish out Tony Sale award for computer restoration

    Crypto-machine rebuilder honoured with new annual prize

    Renowned Colossus-rebuilder Tony Sale has inspired a new international award for computer conservation, which will be handed out for the first time this year. The Computer Conservation Society (CCS) has launched the award in memory of the man who led the project to rebuild the world's first electronic computer, the Colossus, …

    PCs & Chips 8 May 15:37

  • Solar quiet spell like the one now looming cooled climate in the past

    Vast fireball as big as a million Earths does affect us

    German researchers say they have found solid evidence that a past "solar minimum" period of prolonged low solar activity – of the sort which some hefty physicists believe will commence within a few years – significantly cooled the climate. The research flies counter to theories offered by carbon-alarmist climate scientists, who …

    Energy 8 May 15:58

  • Dell puts Sputnik open-source laptop on launch pad

    Drivers engaged, set course for Planet Github

    Dell is building a laptop loaded with open-source software ideal for developers. One of the company’s open-source geeks has announced Project Sputnik, a six-month venture that will marry the tech titan's XPS 13 Ultrabook, Canonical's Ubuntu 12.04 and cloud-based user profiles. Barton George, Dell cloud computing group …

    Infrastructure 8 May 16:22

  • VeriFone takes on Square with cheaper iPhone-friendly kit

    But is it hip to be triangular?

    Payment-terminal giant VeriFone is finally taking the fight to upstart Square, with its own iPhone-friendly card reader and lower transaction fees along with a cloud-based control panel and promises not to treat every customer as a potential criminal. VeriFone dubs its Square clone "Sail", on the basis that its iPhone …

    Cloud Business 8 May 16:43

  • Secret's out: Small 15K disk drive market is 'growing'

    Not just flash and trash

    The market for small and fast disk drives is actually growing – rather than shrinking, as flash array vendors are enthusiastically implying. At Western Digital's executive forum event in Vienna today, a person close to WD said: "In our business 15,000rpm drives are not all dead. In the 2.5-inch, 15K enterprise disk drive area …

    Storage 8 May 17:02

  • Google's self-driving car snags first-ever license in Nevada

    Gambling state lets Google spin its wheels

    The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has issued the first license plates that will allow Google's autonomous cars onto public highways. Nevada is the first state to devise licensing procedures for autonomous vehicles, and Google is the one of the leaders in that field, having hired some of the top talent that took part in …

    Rise of the Machines 8 May 18:38

  • Microsoft, Motorola legal bickering sparks judicial disgust

    'Arbitrary, arrogant, and based on hubris'

    If you are sick to death of the persistent patent pettifoggery puking its way through the global justice system, take a moment to pity the poor judges who have to endure being slathered by legal excrescences as part of their daily routine. Take, for example, US District Judge James Robart, who is enduring presiding over the …

    Business 8 May 19:54

  • Apache releases new OpenOffice build, promises faster upgrades

    New graphics focus and more to come from IBM additions

    The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has released an updated version of the OpenOffice free software suite, with enhanced graphics and better encryption support. Version 3.4 of the office suite has had major changes in the graphics capability of the package. OLEObject handling has been improved, thanks in part to volunteer …

    Applications 8 May 21:47

  • Oz candidate menaces Facebook users

    Ex-soldier’s ballistic response to satirical article

    A Facebook satire in Tasmania has turned into a cyber-bullying row involving a local political hopeful. It was neither original nor especially funny when Tasmanian satirical Facebook page The New Examiner borrowed a premise from The Onion. “Candidate may have lied about heroic death in Vietnam”, read the original, with local …

    Policy 8 May 22:00

  • Budget cash for online services trials

    Australia funds MOBILE MUSEUM ROBOTS, data mining, e-health, OLPCs

    Australia will conduct a trial of government service delivery via video conference, after A$6.2m was allocated to the Department of Human Services (DHS) for a trial of “high definition video conferencing access to DHS specialist services, such as social workers and financial information officers, from a customer's home, a DHS …

    Policy 8 May 22:47

  • NASA spots the light of a ‘super-Earth’

    Spitzer space ‘scope serves up surprise

    While NASA’s Kepler mission has turned up plenty of evidence for planets in distant solar systems, the light from stars makes it very difficult to ‘see’ them. Now, in what the space agency is trumpeting as an important first, the Spitzer Space Telescope has detected the light emanating from a super-Earth planet called 55 Cancri …

    Science 8 May 23:15

  • Understanding data retention in Australia

    A primer: what you need to know

    Data retention is once again on the media and political agenda, with the government last week (via attorney-general Nicola Roxon) canvassing public input on the topic. The laws which the government proposes amending include those covering interception, telecommunications, and intelligence agencies – all, of course, under that …

    Policy 8 May 23:45