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29th May 2012 Archive

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  • Researchers find backdoor in milspec silicon

    Claim world's first finding of secret features in chips

    A pair of security researchers claim to have found a back door in a commercial field-programmable gate array (FPGA) marketed as a secure tool for military applications. The FPGA in question is the Actel ProASIC3, a device manufacturer MicroSEMI recommends for use in “portable, consumer, industrial, communications and medical …

    Security 29 May 2012, 03:02

  • Foxconn receives Apple smart TV order - report

    Shenzhen factory set for trial run

    The Apple ‘iTV’ rumour mill has gone into overdrive after the latest reports from China suggesting that Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant has received orders from Cupertino to build the much-hyped sets on a trial run. China’s First Financial Daily (via Sina) got the news from the obligatory un-named inside sources, although there was …

    Hardware 29 May 2012, 04:09

  • CBA tussles with NFC security

    Launching Kaching on Android in six weeks

    The Commonwealth Bank’s four-year, AUD$1.1 billion technology upgrade is starting to yield results, but the bank claims NFC tech industry standardisation is holding back progress. On the back of the bank’s latest celebrity-styled marketing push, the CBA unveiled the latest features for its NetBanking platform and mobile …

    Business 29 May 2012, 04:24

  • Google Apps win ISO 27001 certification

    FISMA fisticuffs forgotten?

    Google has proudly told the world its online productivity suite, Google Apps, has gained the ISO's good cloudkeeping seal of security approval, in the form of the ISO 27001 security certification. Eran Feigenbaum, Google Enterprise's Director of Security let us all know the good news on Monday, US time, and named Ernst & Young …

    Cloud 29 May 2012, 05:05

  • Shanghai cops set for online 'crime' crackdown

    Only 800,000 sites to keep an eye on, officer

    Shanghai police will start a hi-tech crime team tasked with monitoring all of the web sites registered in the city, as China’s law enforcers look to combat an apparent spike in domestic online crime. Lu Weidong, deputy chief of Shanghai police bureau, told a cyber crime forum attended by China Daily that the extra resources …

    Policy 29 May 2012, 05:19

  • Vauxhall Ampera hybrid e-car

    First Look The electric car comes of age?

    Only the most ardent electric-vehicle advocate would argue that the current state of battery technology and absence of recharging infrastructure isn’t an impediment to the widespread adoption of the e-car. On paper, the new Vauxhall Ampera – the European version of the Chevrolet Volt – has the perfect answer to this problem: …

    Science 29 May 2012, 06:00

  • Chinese rocket parts land on village

    30kg piece of wreckage takes out power lines, shocks locals

    Residents of a remote Chinese village became unwitting participants in China’s much-vaunted space program over the weekend when debris from a recently launched carrier rocket took out a 10 kilovolt (kv) power line and damaged several houses. The Long March 3B rocket launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in western …

    Science 29 May 2012, 06:28

  • Are you handcuffed to the rails of your disk array's sinking ship?

    Blocks and Files How your data could end up tied down to a supplier

    Are your storage arrays now so big, you can't easily migrate your data off them? If so, you've handcuffed yourself to your supplier, open interfaces or not. There are good reasons to need a new storage array, such as the existing one running out of gas or lacking the features you need in the new one. Allow us to demonstrate …

    Storage 29 May 2012, 07:02

  • Google now gets 250k copyright takedown requests EACH WEEK

    More than all requests made during 2009, Choc Factory says

    Google now regularly receives more copyright 'notice and takedown' requests from rights-holders in a week than it did during the entirety of 2009, the company has said. The internet giant said it has experienced a 'rapid' increase in the number of takedown requests and added that it is "not unusual" for it to receive requests …

    Law 29 May 2012, 07:32

  • Sheer weight of Brits' interest knackers new tax tool

    HMRC web calculator flooded by 400,000 punters

    Hundreds of thousands of Brits were so keen to check what the government does with their tax that they crashed a new online expenditure calculator. The service was launched on Monday by HMRC, and promptly fell down again after getting 400,000 visitors before midday - although the service is now limping back to functionality. …

    Small Biz 29 May 2012, 07:56

  • Hard disk drive prices quick to rise, slow to fall

    ASPs remain 58 per cent above pre-flood levels

    The cost of hard disk drives remained reassuringly expensive in the opening four months of this year despite product availability improving. Long gone are the tales of a declining HDD sector hit by product shortages - sales through distribution were up 36 per cent and 78 per cent in Western Europe and the UK respectively from …

    The Channel 29 May 2012, 08:19

  • The stage is set: Prepare for Hamburg cluster carnage

    ISC 2012 Sprints, mystery apps and less amps in student contest

    Now that China has settled on its two entrants to the ISC’12 Student Cluster Challenge (I’m dubbing it iSCC for short), it’s time to get a feel for the number-cruncher design competition and what the entrants will face. Airbus is the big-name sponsor of the iSCC this year and has played a vital role in getting this fledgling …

    HPC 29 May 2012, 08:41

  • Dole office to roll out digital benefits to north-west – 6 months early

    Greater Manchester and Cheshire testing ground for universal credit

    The government has announced plans to launch universal credit six months ahead of the national rollout in October 2013. The scheme will go live in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire region in April 2013. The Department for Work and Pensions said that the early rollout of its new benefit system is expected to see up to 1,500 …

    Government 29 May 2012, 08:59

  • Microsoft invades Iraq, installs first distributor

    Windows into Baghdad

    Microsoft is officially open for business in Iraq, reportedly opening its first local distributor. The world’s largest software company has named Baghdad-based Legend Lands (Beqaa Al-Estora) as its partner for the war-torn country. Microsoft manager of business development for emerging markets, Rajai el-Khadem, reportedly …

    The Channel 29 May 2012, 09:21

  • Virgin Media flushes pipes clogged by piles of Spotify fans

    Exclusive Capacity to be beefed up after music streams flood tubes

    Virgin Media has been forced to reconfigure routing of its network traffic after some of the telco's customers complained that Spotify kept jamming, The Register has learned. The music-streaming service inked an "exclusive" deal in July last year with Virgin Media to dish up Spotify bundled with various broadband packages to …

    Business 29 May 2012, 09:49

  • BBC report urges Halo troops to end bloodshed in Syria

    Vid United Nations Space Command criticised for al-Assad soft touch

    The BBC has apologised after criticising a fictional space empire from the 22nd century for not intervening against ongoing atrocities in Syria. In a News at One telly segment reporting Amnesty International's disapproval of the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) lack of action in the blood-soaked nation, the Beeb …

    Media 29 May 2012, 10:11

  • Samsung snafu grounds blue Galaxy S III

    CAD file mismatch mayhem

    Samsung confirmed the Galaxy S III Pebble Blue version has been delayed as it has to meet the "highest internal quality standards", although factory-line sources claim a company blunder is to blame. While the Samsung Galaxy S III launched today across the globe, only the white version of the handset will be available, with the …

    Phones 29 May 2012, 10:21

  • Bloke with spanners attacks LOHAN's dodgy plumbing

    REHAB vacuum pump tubery-pokery

    The epic task of getting our Rocketry Experimental High Altitude Barosimulator (REHAB) experiment ready to test solid rocket motors at low temperature and pressure continued over the weekend with the deployment of some proper garden shed toolage: spanners and pipe-cutters. Last week, we took delivery of a proper vacuum pump …

    SPB 29 May 2012, 10:24

  • Ofcom king Ed Richards seeks BBC throne

    From regulator to regulated in one easy move

    Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards has applied for the job of BBC director general, so he will have to be excluded from conversations related to the national broadcaster from here on in. Confirming the application yesterday, Ofcom insisted that "robust procedures" would prevent any conflict of interest, and that during the …

    Media 29 May 2012, 10:41

  • Who will fill legal RIM job after latest exec exit?

    Chief brief Karima Bawa retires amid mass exodus

    RIM's has confirmed that its top legal eagle Karima Bawa is to join the ranks of other senior figures that have left the beleaguered mobile player. The departure of the BlackBerry maker's chief brief comes amid industry talk that RIM is axing some 6,000 jobs – or more than 36 per cent of the workforce – with some reports …

    The Channel 29 May 2012, 11:01

  • Why Zuck will go soft for Facebook Phone - and rebrand Android

    Analysis Do some actual electronic engineering? Unlike

    Facebook's attempt to recruit smartphone engineers is being taken as proof that the boy Zuck is chasing mobile hardware again - but this ignores the cheaper and faster alternative of installing a Facebook OS onto existing devices. Creating electronic kit is expensive, tricky and risky. However, if Facebook focussed its …

    Business 29 May 2012, 11:19

  • Hey! Put down that Cat6 and plug the cloud app gap instead

    Channel MSPs should bone up on new skills ... or else

    Cloud computing isn’t the future; services are the future – and vendors are increasingly talking about “managed services” opportunities in the cloud. Such talk may perk up the ears of managed service providers (MSPs) that have spent years honing their craft and practices. Unfortunately, vendors aren’t talking about those types …

    The Channel 29 May 2012, 11:42

  • Pocket

    Android App of the Week Read it later. Literally.

    Read It Later was one of the better Android apps for archiving web content to read at a later date and it has just been given a full makeover, a new name and a welcome price reduction. It'll now cost you absolutely nothing. The principle behind Pocket couldn’t be simpler: if you find something you like on the web just open the …

    Phones 29 May 2012, 12:02

  • The more science you know, the less worried you are about climate

    'Abandon focus on sound science', say trick-cyclists

    A US government-funded survey has found that Americans with higher levels of scientific and mathematical knowledge are more sceptical regarding the dangers of climate change than their more poorly educated fellow citizens. The results of the survey are especially remarkable as it was plainly not intended to show any such thing …

    Science 29 May 2012, 12:04

  • Japan to get Android phone with built-in radiation dosimeter

    'Think of your children and buy my phone', says CEO

    Japan's third network operator, Softbank, has outfitted its latest mass-market handset with a radiation dosimeter, proving that the inscrutable Japanese are just as vulnerable to fear-driven advertising as the rest of us. "I hope that mothers of children will feel safe by carrying this smartphone" said the operator's CEO …

    Science 29 May 2012, 12:23

  • Ex-Computacenter bigwig O'Hara now Colt big gun

    Rolls into town as veep of services and solutions

    Former Computacenter big hitter Julie O'Hara has been lured to Colt as veep for services and solutions. She left London-based CC in February after 15 years at the firm, most recently as director for the unit managing financial services and retail customers. Her exit resulted in a rejig of the UK sales floor. The move is …

    The Channel 29 May 2012, 12:41

  • Super-powerful Flame worm could take YEARS to dissect

    Analysis But it shares same scripting tech as Angry Birds

    The exceptionally complex Flame malware, this week found on numerous systems across the Middle East and beyond, is likely to take months if not years to analyse. Early indications suggest that Flame is a cyber-espionage toolkit that has penetrated computers primarily, but not exclusively, in Iran and Israel. The worm may have …

    Business 29 May 2012, 13:11

  • Germany's KIT drives hot-shot boffins to Klusterkampf

    ISC 2012 Carries hopes of a continent into cluster compo

    Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany is the lone European entry in the ISC'12 Student Cluster Competition. As such, they’re carrying a huge weight on their solid Teutonic shoulders. KIT, as Team Germany, is charged with defending home-country student clustering honour against powerhouse teams from China …

    HPC 29 May 2012, 13:36

  • Speaking in Tech: How to grill an American VC

    Podcast Biz bigwig Chris Lynch on how venture firms view Big Data investments

    It's another enterprise and consumer tech cast hosted by The Dude of enterprise tech, Greg Knieriemen, cloud and storage playa Ed Saipetch and web2.0 maestra Sarah Vela. Their special guest this week is Christopher Lynch, a partner at Atlas Venture and former CEO and President of Vertica (which was sold to HP last year) and …

    Management 29 May 2012, 14:04

  • The Private Cloud outlook

    Visual snapshot of Reg hive mind

    We set the designer's beret to a jaunty angle and told him to tell us a little visual story, based on the information you shared with us in this report, based on reader research about private cloud. The result is what many call an infographic. We are not so rash. Check out our visual snapshot (PDF) of the Private Cloud …

    Cloud 29 May 2012, 14:25

  • Lenovo plans clip-on physical keyboard for tablets

    True to type

    Tablet owners have so far had to opt for keyboard docks to take their typing physical. However, that may be about to change after recently published Lenovo patents revealed an interesting clip-on. As you can see from the designs, the keyboard features a clamp and can be used in a multitude of ways. The split keys can be …

    Tablets 29 May 2012, 14:32

  • Westcoast sales up, profits flat

    Distie says took share from price cutting rivals in 2011

    Westcoast posted sales growth last year but intense price competition among rivals prevented a bounce in profits. The privately held UK wholesaling outfit turned over £826m in the 12 calendar months, up 2 per cent on the previous year, while operating profit was flat at £6.9m as was retained profit at £4.5m. This represents a …

    The Channel 29 May 2012, 14:52

  • Dell ARMs up for hyperscale servers

    But are they dangerous to anyone except HP?

    Look out Intel. Here comes another ARM box to the microserver party. If people didn't want ARM-based servers, Dell wouldn't build them, and so with the launch of the "Copper" ARM server sled for the "Viking" C5000 microserver chassis we know that people want ARM servers. And this is not some experiment that Dell is doing, …

    Hardware 29 May 2012, 15:01

  • Amazon shops for mobile ad slinger to gobble – report

    Customers who viewed AdMob also looked at Jumptap

    Amazon is apparently scoping out mobile ad companies with a view to boosting the ad revenue from its Kindle Fire as well as pushing adverts into its web properties. The news comes from Ad Age, which has been talking to the ever-present "people familiar with the talks" and reports that although Amazon hasn't fixed on Jumptap, …

    Small Biz 29 May 2012, 15:29

  • Al Gore pumps $12m into cheapo TLC flash upstart

    Greenbacks for Greenbytes

    GreenBytes announced a good but unexceptional Solidarity all-flash array in February. It has now morphed it into what we believe may be the first enterprise TLC flash array on the market. And it has an astounding price/performance: a single VM instance costs $12. Investors have been so impressed by the specs that Generation …

    Small Biz 29 May 2012, 16:04

  • Microsoft forbids class actions in new Windows licence

    You're on your own now

    Microsoft will make it harder for customers to club together with lawyers to file lawsuits against its products. The company is rolling out new End User License Agreements (EULAs) that forbid punters from joining class-action proceedings. Assistant general counsel Tim Fielden announced the tweak here and said the changes will …

    Business 29 May 2012, 18:01

  • 10gen bags another $42m for MongoDB roadmap

    NoSQL, plenty 'o cash

    10gen, the commercial entity behind the open source MongoDB NoSQL data store, has just had its coffers stuffed with cash so it can rev up the software engineers and accelerate its product roadmap. The company, which has dual headquarters in New York and Palo Alto, has secured $42m in Series E funding from venture capitalists …

    Software 29 May 2012, 18:04

  • Apple confirms WWDC keynote for June 11

    Steve's long shadow hangs over show

    Apple has confirmed the schedule for this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), with a 10 am keynote on June 11 where 5,000 developers will gather for the first conference since the passing of Steve Jobs. Tickets for this year's event sold out in around two hours, and left one fanboi offering to change his name …

    Software 29 May 2012, 19:49

  • Who needs Spotify? Samsung launches Music Hub

    Not down with OTT

    Samsung is giving its music service a major overhaul. While the new global No 1 phone manufacturer also has the hottest handset brand after Apple – in the shape of the Galaxy - its own music offerings have been a bit of an afterthought. To remedy this, the Korean giant has decided to shun over-the-top brands such as Spotify …

    Business 29 May 2012, 20:03

  • RedSleeve does RHEL-ish clone for ARM

    Put 'er there, Linux pal

    If you are tired of waiting for Red Hat to do an official port of its Enterprise Linux commercial distribution to the ARM architecture, well then Red Sleeve Linux has just what you are looking for. Like many of you, El Reg had no idea that RedSleeve Linux, a port of the upstream RHEL reworked to run on ARM RISC processors …

    Operating Systems 29 May 2012, 20:12

  • Megaupload founder gets uncuffed

    Allowed to record album and wait at home for extradition

    Notorious Megaupload.com kingpin Kim Dotcom has been relieved of his electronic monitoring cuffs and is returning to graze in his NZ$30 million mansionette rental in suburban Auckland. Dotcom is on bail awaiting an extradition hearing to the US. He and his co-accused, Mathias Ortmann, Fin Batato and Bram Van der Kolk are …

    Policy 29 May 2012, 21:47

  • Netherlands jumps off ACTA train

    Also: new leaks detail ‘EC failures’ in negotiation

    ACTA’s European disintegration continues, with the Dutch house of representatives rejecting the treaty. The Netherlands parliament has decided (Google translation) that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement can be interpreted in ways that are inimical to privacy and Internet freedom, and that it therefore should not be …

    Policy 29 May 2012, 22:15

  • Silicon backdoor: not an international crisis

    Researcher’s second lesson: how to troll the entire Internet

    Is it something to do with Slavic names? The Register is quite accustomed to Eugene Kaspersky’s astonishing ability to escalate every threat into a “cybergeddon”; now Cambridge researcher Sergei Skorobogatov seems to have taken his lessons to heart. Let’s pick up the high points of Skorobogatov’s story again: (1) a ‘military …

    Security 29 May 2012, 22:24

  • Amazon lets you barf VMs out of EC2

    What sucks can also blow

    If you want to be the public cloud of choice, as Amazon Web Services most certainly does, then you need to have a rich set of tools that allows companies to take virtual server instances running inside their data centers and suck them onto the EC2 cloud and link them into S3 or EBS storage. But you also need to be able to let …

    Cloud 29 May 2012, 22:38

  • Big data is not just for the big boys

    Analytics goes downmarket

    It may take a while but eventually any good technology embraced by large enterprises trickles its way down to small and mid-sized businesses in some appropriately modified and re-priced form. It will be no different for modern business analytics tools. The time could be ripe for mid-range customers to start thinking about …

    Data Warehousing 29 May 2012, 22:39

  • Fedora aims cloudwards with Beefy Miracle release

    New build updates OpenStack and adds Gnome 3.4

    As promised by the new Fedora boss Robyn Bergeron, version 17 of the Fedora Linux build aka "Beefy Miracle" is looking towards the cloud, with an update to OpenStack and new virtualization tools, as well as adding a spiffy new Gnome 3.4 interface. OpenStack gets an upgrade to the "Essex" build, including the most recent …

    Operating Systems 29 May 2012, 22:40