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18th May 2012 Archive

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  • Stanford boffins create light-powered artificial retina

    Prosthetic works without batteries

    A group of researchers led by Stanford University has created a prosthetic retina that works without an external power source. Instead, by combining a light sensor with photovoltaics, the implant is driven by light. Since ambient light doesn’t provide enough power, the system pulses the implant with infrared light from goggles …

    Science 18 May 2012, 01:27

  • $US38 share price values Facebook at US$104b

    Each member worth about $115

    Facebook has decided it is worth US$104b, valuing each of the shares that will go on sale early Friday US time at US$38. The price means the company expects to raise US$18.4 billion or so, a lazy billion or so behind the biggest first-day fund-raiser of all time, Visa. It also means, if we round Facebook's member numbers down …

    Business 18 May 2012, 02:27

  • Anonymous turns its DDoS cannons on India

    Takes out government, court and political party sites

    Hacktivist collective Anonymous has turned its attention to India, taking down the web sites of the Supreme Court, the country’s two major political parties and several government sites in retaliation for a court injunction which led to the blocking of several video sharing and bit torrent sites. The web sites of the …

    Policy 18 May 2012, 03:28

  • Twitter signs up for Do Not Track

    Small print refreshed after data-ignoring pledge

    Twitter has signed up to the US Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Track (DNT) initiative and now offers its users the chance to avoid having their data shared with third parties. Twitter announced the move with a Tweet which says, in part, "We applaud the FTC's leadership on DNT." A new Twitter page explaining the …

    Business 18 May 2012, 04:48

  • Chinese 3G users top 150 MILLION but most still on 2G

    Operators launch HSPA+, cheap deals to snare more punters

    China may boast staggeringly large internet and mobile phone user numbers but the latest government figures show that the quality and speed of the services most are receiving still leave a lot to be desired. Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) vice minister Shang Bing used the occasion of World …

    Networks 18 May 2012, 04:50

  • Hey big spender: China set to take Asian IT spending crown

    US safe as global leader ... for now

    China’s ascent to the top of every conceivable tech rankings list is set to continue in 2013 when it becomes the biggest IT spender in Asia, leapfrogging ailing Japan as it prepares to fork out $173bn (£110bn) on tech kit, according to IDC. The analyst firm’s latest IT Black Book reckonings predict next year will see the …

    Business 18 May 2012, 05:52

  • Diablo III

    Review Hell’s bells

    Back in 1997, I worked in a youth centre and some fool gave me the keys to the place. So I would sneak in every night to continue a degrading tryst with Diablo I, cutting down waves of monsters in anticipation of a loot splurge. It was a while before I worked out the portal system – I used to moan about the amount of walking – …

    Games 18 May 2012, 06:00

  • Atlassian warns of critical security flaw

    Confluence customers urged to upgrade

    Atlassian has warned of a critical security flaw in its Confluence product. All versions of Confluence up to and including 4.1.9 are at risk, the company says, thanks to what it calls an “XML parsing vulnerability” that could lead to “denial of service attacks against the Confluence server” or allow intruders to “read all …

    Security 18 May 2012, 06:50

  • Will UK.gov crack down on itself for missing Cookie Law deadline?

    In other news - Pope actually Jewish

    Most government websites will fail to comply with new laws on cookies when the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) begins formally enforcing them next week, the Cabinet Office has said, according to reports. Websites store cookies on a user's computer, but new EU laws say users should be given the choice whether they …

    Law 18 May 2012, 07:03

  • iPad factory towns in China to finally get Apple Stores

    Need to send money to California may puzzle locals

    Apple will start selling fondleslabs in the Chinese cities where they are made, a job advert reveals. A job posting for "Store Leaders" on the Hong Kong branch of JobsDB reveals that Apple is looking to set up Apple stores in the southern Chinese cities of Shenzen and Chengdu, where Apple assemblers Foxconn and Pegatron have …

    Business 18 May 2012, 07:32

  • CSC's UK techies get one extra month to find new jobs

    Unite says US biz has taken its finger off the trigger

    The Unite union claims it has succeeded in postponing compulsory layoffs by CSC in the UK in the aftermath of the NHS IT project fiasco. CSC had announced two lots of cuts, adding up to 1,140 staff members at risk. The IT contractor said it would reassign workers or allow them to take voluntary redundancies, but added it would …

    Jobs 18 May 2012, 08:03

  • Scotland considers dishing out more iPads to schoolkids

    Maybe, if it's 'promoting new teaching behaviours' elsewhere

    The Scottish government has announced plans to "explore" the option of rolling out more mobile devices to education institutions in the country. Education Secretary Michael Russell revealed the plans on a visit to a primary school in Edinburgh, which is already using technology such as iPads. He said that the government will …

    Hardware 18 May 2012, 08:33

  • IK Multimedia iRig Mic Cast

    Accessory of the Week Pick-up trick

    IK Multimedia’s newest microphone is aimed squarely at podcasters. The package comes with a plastic stand which props up an iPhone at just the right angle for talking into the mic. You can use it with an iPod Touch too, though you’ll have to turn it upside down in order to plug the Mic Cast into its headphone jack. The mic …

    Hardware 18 May 2012, 09:00

  • SpaceX Dragon to smuggle SECRET package to the ISS

    Mysterious cargo buried in the belly of the beast

    Just to add some icing to the SpaceX Dragon launch cake, the cargoship may be carrying a secret payload that nobody knows about. The first ever commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station, due to go up tomorrow, will already be carrying nonessential food, student science projects, clothes and other …

    Science 18 May 2012, 09:23

  • Inside Nvidia's GK110 monster GPU

    Fermi, Tesla, and Maxwell would all want one

    At the tail end of the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose this week, graphics chip juggernaut and compute wannabe Nvidia divulged the salient characteristics of the high-end "Kepler2" GK110 GPU chips that are going to be the foundation of the two largest supercomputers in the world and that are no doubt going to make their …

    HPC 18 May 2012, 09:42

  • The Great El Reg Private Cloud survey: Results are in!

    Applications must work for the cloud to float

    We were surprised at the strength of positive feedback from the 570 readers who participated in our recent Reg reader survey on private cloud. It was quite a contrast to surveys on hosted cloud services, or even cloud computing in general. Whenever we run these, readers tend not to be shy about telling us how much they think …

    Cloud 18 May 2012, 09:56

  • Txt-speak is a sign of humanity 4 U

    Something for the Weekend, Sir? But don't ask your dentist for oral sex, OK?

    It barely warranted a mention in Reg Hardware's recent Retro Week, but mobile telephony will be celebrating a couple of anniversaries this year. Groupe Spécial Mobil (GSM) was founded 30 years ago and the first commercial GSM networks came into service ten years later. More significantly for what old farts call 'yoof culture …

    Phones 18 May 2012, 10:00

  • Post-pub nosh deathmatch: Mealy pudding v migas

    Hispano-Caledonian full-fat fryfest

    Following a long winter hibernation burning the fat reserves gained from a generous serving of Dutch delicacy kapsalon, our Special Projects Bureau post-pub nosh team has emerged blinking into the spring sunshine to bring you a further selection of quality international cuisine designed to soak up the excesses of a night on the …

    SPB 18 May 2012, 10:14

  • Senator probes NASA airfield deal for Google's jets

    Is space agency giving Larry a break on government's jet fuel?

    A US senator has asked NASA (PDF) to cough up five years of data about Larry Page and Sergey Brin's personal jets – in the latest flare-up in the rumbling controversy over whether NASA is cutting Google bosses a soft deal by storing their private airplanes in a government-funded research airport. Google rents 42 acres of land …

    Government 18 May 2012, 10:32

  • Amazon drops planned 8.9in Kindle Fire for 10.1in job

    Oi vapour

    Amazon, it has been claimed, will be dropping a version of the Kindle Fire it might, maybe, put into production in favour of a different model that it could, possibly make in the future. Yes, the mooted 8.9in Fire, recently the subject of rumour, is to be replaced by a no less vaporous 10.1in Fire as Amazon, it's said some …

    Tablets 18 May 2012, 10:36

  • 'Facebook ads are very boring and not very imaginative'

    Quotw Plus: 'IT boys, hiss it through your teeth – Shut up, bitch!'

    This was the week when investor interest hit ever higher feverish pitches as (not sure if you heard about this or not) Facebook prepares to go public. The temperature rise was enough for the issue to get oversubscribed, giving the social network the room to raise its valuation even more: to a mind-boggling, eye-watering, pants …

    Media 18 May 2012, 10:46

  • Hands on with the Motorola Razr Maxx

    First look Marathon runner

    In the time since Motorola's Razr was launched in 2011, rivals have released powerhouse handsets that make the Razr feel more Bic than Wilkinson Sword. An upgrade beyond a simple Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich patch was always a needed move, but with battery depletion the number one gripe among smartphone users, Motorola's …

    Phones 18 May 2012, 10:56

  • Can SMEs score those big gov contracts?

    Public sector doesn't make it easy for smaller suppliers

    The UK public sector spends £230bn on goods and services a year, roughly 15 per cent of the UK economy and £1 for every £7 spent in Britain. The procurement of these goods and services is a massively complex undertaking, fraught with inefficiency accumulated over successive governments. When the Coalition government was …

    The Channel 18 May 2012, 11:00

  • The Register is rocking on Windows Phone 7

    App of the week?

    We’re gradually updating our mobile app efforts. First out of the gate is this beauty for Windows Phone 7. It’s a jazzy little number in a sleek black outfit delivering you all of our content from the convenience of your Win 7 phone. And it's completely free. Before you ask, yes. We did listen to you - this one comes fully …

    Site News 18 May 2012, 11:00

  • Facebook's Eduardo Saverin: I'm not a tax-dodger

    Meanwhile, US senators try to get him banned from the US

    Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has insisted that he will pay taxes in the US and his decision to change his citizenship to Singapore had nothing to do with the country's more hospitable tax environment. "I am obligated to and will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the United States government," he said, in a …

    Management 18 May 2012, 11:04

  • Shoreditch's sparkle smokescreen leaves BBC journo 'tech-struck'

    Analysis Why is Auntie (literally, this time) in bed with Google?

    “I haven’t felt so good having spoken to a businessman for ten minutes in about 25 years. That’s not normally how I feel! So thanks very much!” And thanks to you, BBC presenter Fi Glover, for sharing the feel-good factor with us. Glover was bringing the miracle of Shoreditch’s internet companies into the nation’s living rooms …

    Media 18 May 2012, 11:14

  • GM snatchback of $10m Facebook ad cash = amateur move

    Open ... and Shut When a sell is more than a sale

    Talk about bad timing. Right before Wall Street set up to open the curtain on Facebook's $100bn IPO, General Motors (GM), which spends $40m on its Facebook presence, announced that it's pulling the plug on Facebook advertising. The reason? Advertising on Facebook apparently hasn't worked. My question: how would GM possibly …

    Management 18 May 2012, 11:29

  • Vulture 2 trigger triggers serious head-scratching

    Just how do we fire that LOHAN rocket motor?

    It's fair to say that the question of just how we fire the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) Vulture 2 spaceplane rocket motor is a touch thorny. We've been mulling the possibility of using a barometric-pressure-operated setup, and yesterday threw the problem over to you lot for your expert input. Evidently, there …

    SPB 18 May 2012, 11:44

  • Iran threatens to chuck sueball at Google over missing gulf

    State unhappy that 'Persian Gulf' name is gone

    Iran's Foreign Ministry has threatened to take legal action against Google because the web firm removed the name Persian Gulf from its Maps and left the stretch of water nameless. "One of the seditionist acts taken as part of the soft war against the Iranian nation has been Google's shameless act to drop the name 'Persian Gulf …

    Government 18 May 2012, 12:01

  • Apple scrubs dirty iCloud data centre with second solar wash

    2012 clean date stated

    Apple is flying the green flag on the North Carolina data centre that will power iCloud – the very same one that was slammed by Greenpeace for being dirty. The iPad shop has disclosed information on a second solar-power generation facility at the data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, while also launching a a new page to …

    Cloud 18 May 2012, 12:19

  • Big Issue sellers could soon be flogging QR Codes

    Homeless move into digital downloads

    Glasgow-based INSP, which represents magazines distributed by the homeless, is planning to go digital - assuming it can raise enough cash to pay for some trials. The plan is to allow hard-up vendors to buy cards as well as copies of publications to flog; each card has a unique QR code permitting the bearer to download a …

    Broadband 18 May 2012, 12:35

  • UK prosecutions for hacking appear to be be dropping

    But plenty of caveats apply

    The number of prosecutions under the UK's computer hacking laws may have declined over recent years, according to the latest available government figures. The number of prosecutions under the Computer Misuse Act came in a written Parliamentary answer by Crispin Blunt, prisons minister at the Ministry of Justice, in response to …

    Security 18 May 2012, 13:02

  • UK.gov: ICT in schools ain't dead, it's just resting

    And there'll be tech contracts for the kids when they grow up, honest

    The UK government denied today that it was dropping IT entirely from the national curriculum while adding that tech contracts would be more bite-sized and flexible at some point soon. Back in January Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was axing the current ICT classes and getting folks together for one of those well- …

    Government 18 May 2012, 13:19

  • ICO on new Cookie Law: 'Don't expect torrent of enforcement action'

    Plans to wait for user complaints as the law comes into effect

    Amid criticism that hardly any UK government websites comply with the new EU-mandated "Cookie Law" that comes into force on 27 May, the ICO has announced that it will be sending out some letters, and then waiting for people to complain. The ICO will send out 50 letters to the UK's biggest websites over the next few days, its …

    Law 18 May 2012, 13:31

  • Is it time for enterprise PC outfits to carry Apple Macs?

    Mac-maker is hard to ignore, despite being a 'difficult' vendor

    For years, the Apple Mac has played a small and niche role in enterprise computing, finding favour in areas such as desktop publishing, graphical design and video or content production. But on the whole, a perception of a high price coupled with the lack of a broad spread of general purpose applications has had the tendency to …

    The Channel 18 May 2012, 13:39

  • Ethernet sales slump punches Brocade in the wallet

    Business not so good

    Ethernet sales slumped a bit and caused Brocade's second 2012 quarter results to stumble. Its fiscal Q2 revenues were $543.4m, down 3 per cent sequentially and 1 per cent annually. Half a billion dollars plus revenue is nothing to sneeze at – startups would kill to be in this territory – but it's disappointing if you are …

    Financial News 18 May 2012, 13:59

  • Some vendors know how to treat a channel

    Market analysis Are you getting what you want?

    Current research indicates that we are seeing vendor-channel partner relationships changing quite dramatically, and for the better. Let’s be honest: the old-school formula for channel effectiveness was based on a cost-determined division of labour: Tech vendors invented, marketed, and then sold direct to the bigger, more …

    The Channel 18 May 2012, 14:00

  • RIM-Moto sketch THIRD nanoSIM design as peace offering

    Duo dump Nokia to end SIM war with Apple - report

    RIM and Motorola reportedly hope to break the deadlock over the design of future SIM cards by offering a blueprint that'll either appease every party or alienate all sides equally. At issue is the shape and size of the standard next-generation SIM: Apple and a band of network operators want a tray-requiring shape and contacts …

    Broadband 18 May 2012, 14:27

  • HP pumps cash into EVA range capacity boost

    May refresh time unaffected by 3PAR buy

    It's May and an time for HP to refresh its evergreen EVA storage line. HP said it would keep investing in the EVA when it bought 3PAR and has kept its promise, with two new models being announced, with larger drive support and better management SW. Being "announced" means HP storage product marketing manager Matthew Morrissey …

    Storage 18 May 2012, 15:03

  • Does Britain really need a space port?

    Analysis Plus: Sky TV accounts for most of UK's 'space sector'

    Everyone knows about Britain's soaraway space sector. It turns over £8bn a year – the same sort of money as the remaining automotive industry – it employs tens of thousands of people, and it's growing faster than the Chinese economy. And, famously, it has done all this without any significant government help. Some people think …

    Science 18 May 2012, 15:27

  • Next UK.gov CloudStore lumbers online

    Digital Dunkirk spirit

    The second incarnation of CloudStore has floated, but don’t get too excited. Despite some rather aggressive Twitteresque drum-beating for the redesigned service Friday, the new CloudStore does not deliver the functionality expected – while a flagged feature fell down on launch day. The new-look site, which happens to look a …

    The Channel 18 May 2012, 16:01

  • Call of Duty hacker behind bars after college burglary

    18 months' porridge for banking malware-spreader

    A Brit who distributed a Trojan horse that posed as a patch for popular shoot-em-up game Call of Duty has been jailed for 18 months. Lewys Martin, 20, of Deal in Kent, used the malware to harvest bank login credentials, credit card details and internet passwords from the compromised Windows PCs of his victims. Martin then …

    Security 18 May 2012, 16:34

  • What's on the cards at EMC's casino royale next week?

    EMC World is not enough - time to live and let Flash die

    What news will be revealed to the 13,000 people attending EMC World in Las Vegas next Monday? The Reg has already reported that the VMAX 10, 20 and 40Ks are turning up along with federated tiered storage, but what else will be announced during the four-day shindig? There will be several confidential briefings under a for-your …

    Storage 18 May 2012, 17:02

  • Facebook jumps then slumps in first few minutes day's trade

    Round and round she goes, where she stops....

    Facebook's shares debuted on the Nasdaq today at $42 and immediately skidded downwards to the original IPO price of $38. The social network set its IPO price last night at $38, valuing it at $104bn. However, through the mysteries of IPOing, it actually opened at $42, shortly after 11am Eastern Time. That price values the …

    Financial News 18 May 2012, 17:18

  • Apache OpenOffice security fixes emerge

    Under new management: First revamp passes one million downloads

    Details have emerged about the security fixes that came bundled with Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0, the latest version of the open-source productivity suite. Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0, released last week, included fixes for three security vulnerabilities, all rated as "important". The trio included an integer overflow error involving …

    Security 18 May 2012, 17:33

  • Microsoft to devs: Don't ruin Win 8 launch with crap code

    Unofficial APIs are the new fruit of temptation

    Microsoft has urged developers to only use approved Windows 8 software interfaces to avoid spoiling the launch of its new operating system with dodgy code. In a stark warning this week, the company said third-party programmers should “resist the temptation” of invoking APIs that aren’t included in the official Software …

    Windows 8 18 May 2012, 18:04