The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

11th May 2012 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Office 365 hard enough to penetrate US government

    FISMA fulfilment fuels feud with Google

    Microsoft’s cloud productivity pack Office 365 has won an important certification from the US government, by ticking off all the to-do’s on the list to comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). FISMA requires US government agencies to develop and maintain security controls, the better to protect the …

    Cloud 11 May 00:29

  • Study reveals high price of smut addiction

    Severe social, relationship and legal problems hit habitual viewers

    Habitual viewers of smut often mess up their lives, according to preliminary analysis of a new study conducted by University of Sydney academics, who believe the problem is caused in part by the ubiquitous availability of online video nasties that viewers can watch anywhere, with many devices. Dr Gomathi Sitharthan from the …

    Science 11 May 01:03

  • Citrix snaps up Virtual Computer for VDI

    Project Avalon mashes up XenDesktop, CloudStack

    It has been a busy week for desktop, server, and application virtualization juggernaut Citrix Systems, which is hosting its Synergy user conference in San Francisco this week. It's on the prowl to bolster its virty wares and to that end, it has acquired Virtual Computer, which has a different twist from the XenDesktop tools …

    Cloud 11 May 01:11

  • Shy Venus in rare Sun crossing next month

    Last chance to see until 2117 has exoplanet-spotters excited

    Venus will pass across the face of the Sun just four weeks, the last chance for more than a century to observe our nearest planetary neighbour crossing our star’s fiery surface. Known as a “transit of Venus” the event will take place on June 5th and 6th. The last transit took place in 2004, but the next is not due until 2117 …

    Science 11 May 01:41

  • Twin-track development plan for Intel's expansion into smartphones

    Android-optimization is key to beating Apple

    Intel is planning a two-pronged attack on the smartphone and tablet markets, with dual Atom lines going down to 14 nanometers and Android providing the special sauce to spur sales. Mobile and communications group VPs Mike Bell and Hermann Eul laid out Chipzilla's plans for slurping up market share in the sector. Intel has …

    Mobile 11 May 02:26

  • Tonga gets hitched to Southern Cross

    Alca-Lu lays the cable for island nation broadband boost

    A new US$18 million undersea cable project connecting the Kingdom of Tonga and Fiji to Australia and the US is under construction following the awarding of the contract to Alcatel-Lucent. The Tonga Cable will deliver the fastest high-speed internet access that the island nations have ever experienced and leverage the …

    Networks 11 May 03:33

  • Megacorps accuse Chinese fab workers of pilfering designs

    Little being done to stop blueprints leaking

    Multinationals based in China are increasingly worried about their local workforce stealing valuable intellectual property but many are failing to act in a timely and proactive manner to combat information security threats, according to a panel of security experts. Speaking at the 13th annual Info-Security Conference in Hong …

    Security 11 May 03:42

  • NBN Co keeps Aus unemployment down

    Corning opens new digs and is hiring

    Corning Cable Systems has unveiled a new manufacturing plant in Victoria which will create 400 new jobs as a result of securing a key National Broadband Network Co contract. Corning Cable Systems is the primary NBN Co supplier of optical fibre cable and will invest more than AUS$40 million in its operations in Clayton, …

    Policy 11 May 04:31

  • Government pledges tougher games sales law

    Disrespect Pegi, go to jail

    The government is to toughen videogame sales regulations and introduce a legally enforceable 12 rating. The Video Recordings (Labelling) Regulations (VRLRs) 2012 will put videogame classification solely in the hands of the Video Standards Council, an organisation formed to review video packaging. Under the new regulations, …

    reghardware 11 May 05:00

  • Ten... freeware gems for new PCs

    Product round-up Something for nothing

    If you’ve just purchased a spanking new Windows PC, what to slap on there often leaves pause for thought. The trial bloatware that inevitably came with your machine might keep you busy for a while until the payment nag screens start. Yet those costs and curses aside, there are plenty of free apps out there to protect, enhance …

    reghardware 11 May 06:00

  • Foxconn moves into e-distribution

    Apple supports move, will help with startup costs

    Apple’s controversial Chinese manufacturer Foxconn is moving into e-commerce distribution and opening new headquarters in Shanghai. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou announced that the new operation would be a one-stop shop for services that range from manufacturing to logistics and reselling and be up and running within two years. …

    Business 11 May 06:05

  • Zimbabwe's Mugabe welcomes Chinese tech investment

    Er, cheers Bob but keep it down, yeah?

    China’s technology industry received an unexpected, and possibly unwelcome, piece of publicity on Thursday when Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe hailed the success of the “technology transfer” between the two countries. The Hitler moustache-fancying tyrant apparently thanked outgoing Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Xin …

    Policy 11 May 06:07

  • North Korean GPS blocking sparks cyber war fears

    Satnav stand-off as signal-stoppers slow ships, planes

    South Korea will lodge an official complaint with the UN over its reclusive neighbour after GPS-blocking by the North for over a week disrupted hundreds of flights, in what some officials are worried could be the first signs of a looming cyber war. Over 500 aircraft flying to or from South Korea’s main airports of Incheon and …

    Policy 11 May 06:11

  • MoJ opens wallet, offers £300m for desktop services

    Department's infrastructure and devices up for tender

    The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is planning to spend up to £300m on end user computing and desktop services as part of a future IT sourcing plan. The tender is for the delivery of effective "infrastructure and devices" across the MoJ's estate, including the supply, management and maintenance of the end computer environment, such …

    Channel Register 11 May 07:01

  • Facebook tests paid post promotion

    “Make sure friends see this” by handing over cash

    Facebook has been spotted trialling a service that allows users to pay a small fee, said to be US$2 dollars, to highlight posts to “Make sure friends see this.” New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz learned of the feature, pictured below, and extracted a confirmation from a Facebook spokesfriend to the effect that the feature is …

    Business 11 May 07:06

  • Europe must shift R&D from car gizmos to infrastructure, honks wonk

    Trying to constipate people's 'movements' is WRONG

    Europe needs to focus on infrastructure and intelligent transport systems, one of the EU's top transport policy wonks said today, introducing the 13th EU Hitachi Science & Technology Forum in London. According to Marcel Rommerts from the EU's Directorate General of Mobility and Transport, the bulk of transport research money …

    Government 11 May 07:28

  • Battle continues over LOHAN's mighty rod

    Vulture 2 launch system a load of ballockets?

    The fierce debate continues down at the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) mosh pit as to whether our proposed launch system for the Vulture 2 spaceplane will actually work. Our beloved reader experts have soundly dissed our cunning plan as a right load of ballockets for several reasons, and have singled out the …

    SPB 11 May 08:00

  • Disabled can't 'Go Compare' on price comparison websites

    Charity: Accessibility issues breach equality laws

    Disabled visitors to five of the UK's most popular price comparison websites are not being provided with sufficient tools to successfully use the sites, which is a breach of laws on discrimination, a charity has said. AbilityNet said a review of comparethemarket.com, gocompare.com, mysupermarket.co.uk and confused.com has …

    Law 11 May 08:27

  • Wolfenstein 3D shoots onto web

    Blast from the past

    Classic proto first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D is now free to play, courtesy of developer Bethesda. The game that paved the way for Doom was released by iD Software 20 years ago, and Bethesda has written it up in handy cross-platform browser form. Once again you can dash through single-storey mazed - with textured walls …

    reghardware 11 May 08:46

  • Knomo Folio iPad 3 case

    Accessory of the Week Padded sell

    Apple’s magnetic Smart Cover is very clever, but it’s far from perfect. For one thing, it doesn't protect the back of the iPad. And if you’re anything like me and habitually leave your iPad on a kitchen counter or table, you’ll have found that its not as immune from scratching as you might have thought. Knomo’s iPad 3 Folio …

    reghardware 11 May 09:00

  • Ubuntu will hit the big time on Amazon: Here's how

    Open ... and Shut Turning love for Linux into cold hard cash

    The cloud is the new operating system, and Amazon owns the cloud. Big iron vendors like IBM and HP are feeling the heat as workloads itch to move off expensive mainframes into Amazon's public cloud. Even Microsoft, the once undisputed king of the operating system, is under siege as its Seattle neighbor embraces and extends .NET …

    CIO 11 May 09:22

  • ISP kills off country-ban dodge after just 48 hours

    Kiwi FYX wobbles on geo-block evasion for punters

    A new ISP has withdrawn its "global mode" that allowed punters to evade country-based blocking of web content - just 48 hours after switching on the service. FYX launched just two days ago, telling New Zealand residents that they can now access geo-blocked internet services. However, it informed customers today that "there are …

    Law 11 May 09:42

  • BOFH: Siri, why do users lie?

    Episode 4 You have no evidence. Han-stupid destroyed everything.

    "My bloody voicemail isn't working. Again." the Boss snaps. "You've forgotten your PIN number again, haven't you?" the PFY asks. "No, it's just not working!" "What's not working about it?" "It won't let me log in. It tells me there's a message but won't let me log in." "Because you're using the wrong PIN number..." the …

    BOFH 11 May 10:01

  • 'Call Corporate Of Apple and tell them to stop there persuit!!'

    Quotw Plus: 'Google knew it needed a licence'

    This was the week when the Oracle v Google trial over the Chocolate Factory's use of Java in the Android OS rumbled on, and the jury didn't help matters much. The jury started deliberations last week, but were stuck by the weekend, though Judge William Alsup encouraged them to keep trying: If there is hope for reaching a …

    Bootnotes 11 May 10:17

  • Leica goes all out B&W for M-Monochrom camera

    Large sensor and superzoom snappers too

    Leica unveiled several camera models today, including the world's first digital rangefinder camera with a dedicated black and white sensor for monochrome photography, as well as a compact with a 20x optical zoom. The Leica M-Monochrom looks like an M9, but replaces the innards with an 18Mp B&W CCD sensor that records true …

    reghardware 11 May 10:37

  • Logica's UK order book crashes by 80 per cent

    So sorry we did too well last year

    Logica's UK outsourcing ordering book took a hammering in Q1, falling 80 per cent year-on-year – albeit against a strong 2011. At group level the integrator turned over £971m in sales during calendar Q1, down 1 per cent year-on-year. The pipeline slid by nearly a quarter to £1.05bn and the outsourcing backlog was down 4 per …

    Channel Register 11 May 10:42

  • Colour Kindle incoming says mole

    E-book reader, not Fire

    Colour Kindle, anyone? Yes, we thought that would mean the arrival of the Kindle Fire over here, but the inevitable Taiwanese contract-manufacturer moles say, no, it's a colour e-ink device with a multi-touch sensor overlaying the display. And it'll be out during the second half of the year, they add, by way of Digitimes. The …

    reghardware 11 May 10:54

  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Blu-ray

    Review Your father smelt of elderberries

    Round and round we go the video format bush. First you recorded it off the telly. Then you bought it on VHS. Finally, you acquired a perfectly brilliant version on DVD. And now, finally again, Sony Pictures has found yet another way for you to part with your money for the love of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Repeat …

    reghardware 11 May 11:00

  • Is HP's printer-and-PC mashup good for channel?

    Euro channel insight IPG-PSG merger winners and losers

    An admission to start with. As some of you will know I have a soft spot for HP, this is based on being a former employee at the company. I joined when the LaserJet One was in full swing and the LaserJet Two was just starting to be sold. It was a time of stellar growth across all product categories, and this was as true for HP …

    Channel Register 11 May 11:15

  • Third teen TeamPoison hack suspect quizzed by cyber-cops

    Lad cuffed in anti-terror hotline attack probe

    British cyber-cops have arrested a third suspected member of the infamous TeaMp0isoN hacker crew. The unnamed 17-year-old was cuffed in Newcastle on suspicion of breaking the Computer Misuse Act. Detectives seized computer equipment for forensic analysis, and quizzed the youngster on Wednesday at a nearby cop shop. Met Police …

    Security 11 May 11:21

  • 7.85in 'iPad Mini' said to sport retina screen

    Like the iPad 3, just smaller

    The 7.85in iPad will sport a "retina" display after all, it has been claimed, but will still come in at $200-250 retail. We've heard rumours before that the so-called 'iPad Mini' will be cheaper than the current, 9.7in model, but thus far all such suggestions have come with the caveat that a low price will mean a low …

    reghardware 11 May 11:38

  • Grab your L-plates, flying cars of sci-fi dreams have landed

    But queues, no parking and dodgy drivers all sound very familiar

    Far from being a mere staple of science fiction, plenty of flying cars really do exist, we're told. But there's one problem: hardly anyone knows how to fly them. That's according to Professor Michael Decker of MyCopter, the personal helicopter project at German university KIT. Speaking at the Hitachi EU Science & Technology …

    Science 11 May 12:04

  • Swarm of investors crave 'more shares than Facebook is selling'

    Whose IPO is oversubscribed? Mine ... bitch

    Facebook's IPO is already oversubscribed with too many investors eyeing up more shares than those available, according to a well-placed source. The rumour emerged as the Nasdaq said it expects a jump in the number of companies going public on the coattails of the social network's market buzz. A mole whispered to Reuters that …

    Financial News 11 May 12:19

  • Vote now for the worst movie NEVER made

    Poll The horror, the horror...

    The moment has arrived for you, our beloved cinemagoing readers, to vote for the worst movie never made. To recap, we invited submissions for an imaginary nightmare celluloid creation more hideous than this cinematic list of shame - the 10 worst films ever made, according to El Reg readers: Battlefield Earth The Phantom …

    Bootnotes 11 May 12:45

  • Sony stock slides to 30-year low after record loss

    Investors unsure tired corp can turn things around

    Sony shares dropped to a 30-year low on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today after reporting a record loss of $5.7bn. The Japanese tech goliath predicts the first profit in five years in 2013, but investors seem unconvinced that the company can turn around its TV business and make any inroads into the smartphone market. Its shares …

    Financial News 11 May 13:07

  • HP Software goes back to drawing board with MSP scheme

    'Cumbersome and tedious' programme needs reworking

    HP Software is taking its global managed service provider programme back to the drawing board after admitting that it is unworkable at a country level. The plan is to rework the scheme for launch on 1 November, the start of HP's fiscal 2013, said Paul Toffis, manager for channel and alliances at the vendor. "The current …

    Channel Register 11 May 13:34

  • Yahoo! CEO! didn't! even! read! his! own! CV!

    CompSci degree gaffe dates back to PayPal days

    Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson has said that the fuss over his CV and the computer science degree that never was is totally not his fault - because he never gave the web firm his résumé or told them what qualifications he had. Thompson is in hot water over a discrepancy in SEC-filed paperwork that stated he held a computing degree …

    Business 11 May 13:36

  • UK court rules Nokia infringed patent, Finns party on anyway

    Loses 'priority call' appeal in battle against IPCom

    A top UK court has ruled that Nokia's old 3G handsets infringed a telecoms patent owned by technology warehouse IPCom, which wants a ban on every mobile made by the Finns. The Court of Appeal yesterday rejected Nokia's attempt to dismiss IPCom's case against it. The two companies, both of which claimed victory, continue to …

    Broadband 11 May 14:03

  • RM dumps cash-bleeding ISIS Concepts onto ex-owner

    Here, mate, you can have this one back

    RM has offloaded its loss-making classroom furniture biz ISIS Concepts to its former owner and current managing director Nick Topliss for £205,000. This is the last divestiture for the troubled education IT supplier which last September began closing or flogging parts of the business it deemed non-core to improve its …

    Channel Register 11 May 14:19

  • Samsung sheds light on low-cost WinPho blower

    Tile be back

    Samsung announced its latest offering based on the Windows Phone platform today, the Omnia M, a low-end alternative for those who want Microsoft's tile UI, but don't fancy one of Nokia's budget Lumia. The Samsung Omnia M features a 1GHz processor and just 384MB of Ram. That actually means it's less powerful than the Lumia 710 …

    reghardware 11 May 14:20

  • Using a Lenovo All-In-One? Grab a fire extinguisher!

    Recall of flame-risk ThinkCentres hits 188,000

    Lenovo is recalling another 15,000 All-In-One desktops due to concerns about over-heating and potential fire hazards, taking the tally to 188,000. The vendor announced a voluntary recall of 160,000 ThinkCentre M70z and M90z desktops in March and another 13,000 in April following a complaint to the US Consumer Product Safety …

    Channel Register 11 May 14:39

  • Whiptail flashes new kit, launches 72TB storage monster

    Little and large

    Whiptail, the flash array startup from Whippany, New Jersey, has boosted and renamed its XLR8r flash array, and launched a 72TB flash storage monster called INVICTA. The XLR8r array becomes ACCELA, a brand name reminiscent of New England's high-speed Acela train service, and gets this new stuff: Random Read IOPS go from >175 …

    Storage 11 May 15:01

  • Rovio flies away from Angry Birds for all-new puzzler

    No pigs or birds this time

    With Rovio's Angry Birds hitting the billion-download mark recently, the Finnish developer has turned its attention to its next mobile game, revealed this week as Amazing Alex. No birds. No pigs. No plush toy merchandise or movie tie-ins… just yet, anway. Amazing Alex is an upgraded version of a 2011 iPad game Casey's …

    reghardware 11 May 15:06

  • BeyondTrust gobbles Code Red vuln firm eEye

    IIS hole-plugger snapped up

    Access control biz BeyondTrust has acquired vulnerability management vendor eEye Digital Security. The financial terms of the deal, announced on Thursday, were not disclosed. BeyondTrust plans to integrate the two vendors' respective products to come up with a range of "context-driven security and compliance" products. These …

    Small Biz 11 May 15:29

  • Xyratex jumps out of drive drawers... onto converged racks

    Puts money on supercomputing storage growth

    Following a slump in sales of its disk drive array drawers, Xyratex is moving into clustered and converged compute, storage and networking HPC racks, with Cray as a lead customer. The company has two businesses. The first is Enterprise Data Storage Solutions (EDSS), which provides hard disk drive (HDD)-based storage enclosures …

    Storage 11 May 16:03

  • Amnesty International UK site flung Gh0st RAT at surfers after hack

    Do-gooders done for

    Amnesty International UK's website was hacked early this week in an assault ultimately geared towards planting malware onto the PCs of visiting surfers. Malicious Java code was planted on the site in a bid to push the Gh0st RAT Trojan onto vulnerable Windows machines. If successful, the attack plants malware onto machines that …

    Security 11 May 16:28

  • AppSense revs up user virt tools to 8.4

    Quick and easy

    AppSense figured out that managing users was a headache long before virtual desktop infrastructure became a possibility for enterprises. The company has spent the last decade evolving user management tools that spanned many different kinds of systems and application virtualization layers, such as the Citrix Presentation Server ( …

    Virtualization 11 May 17:01

  • GTC 2012: Not your average vendo-loveathon

    HPC blog Why I geek out for GTC

    One of my very favorite industry events is coming up next week: the NVIDIA-organised GPU Technology Conference, aka GTC 2012. I’ve been in the tech industry for almost 20 years; roughly half that time was spent working for The Man in vendor firms, and the other half at my own boutique industry analyst firm. Not surprisingly, I’ …

    HPC 11 May 18:04

  • Egenera runs virty tools on IBM BladeCenters

    Control freak spans the Big Three in blades now

    Egenera, the virtualized server infrastructure pioneer, has certified its PAN Manager control freakery to run on IBM's BladeCenter blade servers. With the certification on Big Blue's blades, Egenera now supports the major suppliers of X86-based blade servers – that's Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Dell – as well as Fujitsu – which …

    Virtualization 11 May 19:09

  • SpaceX and Bigelow sign deal for inflatable space stations in orbit

    Budget hotel mogul offering bubbles in space

    SpaceX has signed a partnership deal with Bigelow Aerospace (BA) to offer a taxi service to and from the inflatable habitats BA intends to put into orbit. A SpaceX representative told El Reg that it expect to be ready for manned flight by 2015, and commercial services would start shortly afterwards. Bigelow is partnering with …

    Science 11 May 20:05

  • Facebook co-founder renounces US citizenship pre-IPO

    Smart tax move for Eduardo Saverin

    Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook, has abandoned his American citizenship ahead of the social networking company's possibly oversubscribed IPO in May. “Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time,” his spokesman Tom Goodman …

    Business 11 May 21:56