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31st May 2012 Archive

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  • Microsoft offers Office 365 build tailored for government

    FISMAed up and ready to go

    Redmond has released a new build of its Office 365 cloudy productivity suite that's been specially hardened and certified for government use. "Office 365 for Government is a new multi-tenant service that stores US government data in a segregated community cloud," blogged Kirk Koenigsbauer, VP of Microsoft's Office division. " …

    Cloud 31 May 01:30

  • New Zealand considers yourname.nz domains

    Kiwis want personalised internet

    New Zealand's Domain Name Commission has commenced a consultation process to discuss the possible introduction of a yourname.nz domain name registration service. The Commission says it's doing so because Kiwi punters want it: research it conducted in 2011 found 60% of respondents in favour. Global fervour for new top level …

    Hosting 31 May 01:44

  • Flexibility needed to score expat gigs in Asia

    Employers want to cut hiring costs and improve quality

    Ex-pat IT pros are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade Asian employers to put them on the payroll, but opportunities exist for those who prove they can be flexible, adapt easily to a new working culture and have deep knowledge at the cutting edge of technology, according to experts. International recruiter Hudsons …

    Jobs 31 May 03:14

  • Thai webmaster walks after insulting royals

    Suspended sentence sees activists warn of ominous future

    If you plan to unleash the snark online over Jubilee weekend, spare a thought for a Thai webmaster Chiranuch Premchaiporn, who has just been sentenced to eight months porridge - thankfully suspended - for online statement deemed harmful to Thailand's monarchy. Campaigners against growing internet censorship in Thailand aren't …

    Public Sector 31 May 04:29

  • CIO says Telstra becoming 'best IT shop in APAC'

    Agile methodologies and 'fail wall' changing culture

    Telstra’s CIO has boldly claimed that the carrier’s ongoing Agile IT transformation will soon be one of the most successful stories of enterprise Agile at scale in the world. Speaking at the Agile Australia 2012 conference in Melbourne, Telstra CIO Patrick Eltridge said that his team was also “busy building the best IT shop in …

    CIO 31 May 04:37

  • Windows 8 release preview imminent

    Missing post says 31 May, SkyDrive update says 'first week of June'

    Microsoft is about to release a new Release Preview of Windows 8, according to a pair of blog posts. One of the posts, reported widely, suggested May 31st would be the big day. That post quickly vanished from the web. But a post announcing new features in Microsoft's SkyDrive says we can expect the preview in “the first week …

    Windows 8 31 May 05:32

  • Panasonic DMC-GX1 compact system camera

    Review Micro Four Thirds maestro

    Panasonic’s DMC-GX1 camera is the Lumix model many Micro Four Thirds enthusiasts have been waiting for since the release of popular DMC-GF1 back in 2009. This 16Mp shooter will appeal to seasoned users with easily accessible controls for customisation on an enticingly compact aluminium body – a combination that will take it …

    reghardware 31 May 06:00

  • Alibaba's Linux phone pulls in one MILLION punters

    Handset business buttresses bazaar's bank balance

    Chinese web tat flogger Alibaba finally has some good news to report after sales of smartphones based on its Aliyun OS hit the million sales milestone in the People’s Republic less than a year after its launch. The e-commerce firm’s profits have been taking a hammering recently thanks to a slowing Chinese economy, investments …

    Networks 31 May 07:00

  • Facebook smacks away hardness, sticks MySQL stash on flash

    Replaces HDD with Fusion-io flashiness

    Facebook is using Fusion-io server flash cards in its datacentres to store MySQL data as well as process it faster because it's better than using disk drives. Piper Jaffray analyst Andrew Nowinski tells us that Facebook is using Fusion-io ioDrive PCIe flash cards for capacity as well as performance acceleration through flash …

    Storage 31 May 07:04

  • Singapore pours cash into gov.cloud

    S$1.2b up for grabs in "co-creation" projects between government, vendorland

    The Singapore government has unleashed tenders for S$1.2 billion (£600,000) worth of technology projects for 2012. During 2011 the IT-centric government awarded 638 infocomm contracts worth more than S$1.12 billion. The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA),said that the new tenders would open up opportunities in …

    Public Sector 31 May 07:06

  • Most of Home Office's savings scored from haggling over ICT deals

    But £24.2m just a drop in £1.8bn target

    The majority of procurement cost savings in the Home Office for the third quarter of 2011-12 came from ICT, according to its permanent secretary Dame Helen Ghosh. According to a report by the Home Affairs committee, Ghosh said that the £24.2m came in particular from the purchase of hardware, software and ongoing support. The …

    Government 31 May 07:39

  • China sends likely pair to student cluster smackdown

    ISC 2012 Meet Tsinghua U and NUDT

    China is sending two teams to the ISC Student Cluster Competition (iSCC) this June in Hamburg. Tsinghua University and the National University of Defense Technology were survivors of a rigorous Hunger Games-style play-in competition; they had to beat out four other teams for the coveted Hamburg spots. Chinese server/services …

    HPC Blog 31 May 08:02

  • Australia bets on licences for offshore gambling websites

    Review of gaming laws suggests licensing, blacklisting, for poker sites and bookies

    Australian policymakers may have gotten themselves in another technological tangle, this time over which mediums are fit for the purpose of gambling. The source of the brawl is a review of Australia’s Interactive Gambling Act commissioned by the sprawling Ministry of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. The …

    Public Sector 31 May 08:08

  • Online bookie can't scoop £50k losses made by 5-year-old

    High Court rules the website contract terms were unfair

    A man who blamed his girlfriend's five-year-old son for making loss-making trades in expensive natural resources through his online betting account is not bound by a term he agreed to on the bookmaker's website, the High Court has ruled. The term stated that an accountholder is deemed to have authorised all trading made under …

    Law 31 May 08:27

  • CGI Group beds Logica in £1.7bn cash deal

    Shares leap 64% at news of outsourcing nuptials

    Anglo-Dutch tech group Logica is being scooped up by Canada's CGI Group in a £1.7bn cash deal. The acquisition, expected to complete in September this year, was agreed by the European wing of IT outsourcing company CGI. Shares in Reading-headquartered Logica rocketed more than 60 per cent following the news, with an opening …

    Channel Register 31 May 09:03

  • Sony PlayStation 4 will not be download only

    Disc not slipped

    Sony's next PlayStation will feature an optical drive - Blu-ray, presumably - after all. Plans to drop disc and go download only have been seemingly shelved. The change of mind was signalled by the inevitably anonymous moles claimed to be familiar with what the Japanese giant is up to. They also told the Wall Street Journal …

    reghardware 31 May 09:05

  • I need to multitask, but Windows 8's Metro won't let me

    Sysadmin blog Er, Microsoft? Multi = more than 2

    What is multitasking? Different people seem to mean different things when they use the word multitasking. The definition chosen has implications for accepting or rejecting the prevailing design choices of modern user interfaces. I have been a vocal critic of Windows 8's Metro interface. My chief complaint is that it does not …

    Sysadmin blog 31 May 09:23

  • Amazon's Lovefilm HD shuns Sony fanboys

    PS3, Bravia support coming. More than a trickle of content too

    Amazon's Lovefilm video-on-demand service will begin offering HD streams today, but what resolution viewers get will depend on what gadget they're in front of. Mac and PC viewers, tuning in through Lovefilm's website will be treated to 1080p streams, the IPTV firm said. Watch on an iPad and Xbox 360 and you'll get 720p footage …

    reghardware 31 May 09:29

  • ISP Zen's slower customers choke over breakfast

    Reboot your router to clear soggy cereal ports

    Customers on Zen Internet's slowest package lost connectivity this morning, for an hour or two, but a rebooted router should now bring things back to normal. Anyone on Zen's "up to 8Mb" tariff will have struggled to surf the web between 7.45AM and 9AM BST, at which point Zen got a temporary fix in place bringing connectivity …

    Networks 31 May 09:44

  • Orange unveils Intel Atom smartphone

    Keeps mum on San Diego's battery life, natch

    Intel's first real threat to ARM will arrive in the UK next week in the form of the Orange San Diego smartphone. It's not the first Intel smartphone on the market - Lenovo has literally just shipped that handset, the LePhone K800, in China this week. Exactly like the K800, the 4in Orange handset sports a 1.6GHz 'Medfield ' …

    reghardware 31 May 09:50

  • BSkyB blocks The Pirate Bay for millions of Brits

    BT will also obey court's banning order within weeks

    BSkyB's broadband biz has cut off conventional access to The Pirate Bay website following a High Court order at the end of last month. Virgin Media was the first to block www.thepiratebay.se, just days after Justice Arnold told VM, BSkyB and three other ISPs – TalkTalk, Telefonica and Everything Everywhere – to comply with the …

    Telecoms 31 May 10:02

  • SpaceX Dragon freed to push off home

    Cargoship detaches from ISS and tootles towards Earth

    The Dragon is free of the International Space Station as it prepares for splashdown this afternoon around 17.40 BST (9.40 PDT, 12.40 EDT). The Dragon leaves the ISS. Pic credit: NASA SpaceX'S history-making cargoship has successfully detached from the Canadarm, the mechanical arm which pushed it out from the station, and …

    Space 31 May 10:17

  • Number 10 shuts wallet on closed-source IT projects

    Come back when you've read Eric Raymond's The Cathedral and the Bazaar

    Government IT projects that don’t explore alternatives to closed and proprietary software are getting kicked back and denied funding. The civil servant running open source, open standards and information management under No 10’s digital change agenda called such spending controls a “key gateway” in complying with new IT …

    Cloud Business 31 May 10:42

  • Vyclone

    iOS App of the Week Multi-angle mega movie mash-up mixer

    Everyone’s looking for the new Instagram – an app with zero revenue that was bought by Facebook for $1 billion – and there’s a lot of buzz on the web right now about video-sharing app Vyclone. Of course, there’s no shortage of apps and web sites that let you upload and share videos. However, Vyclone does more than just upload …

    reghardware 31 May 11:01

  • Richard Branson gets nod to strap rocket on SpaceShipTwo

    Supersonic Virgin Galactic test flights this year

    Virgin Galactic has finally got the green light to attempt supersonic rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo flights at the end of the year. The SpaceShipTwo craft takes to the air carried by its WhiteKnightTwo mothership The millionaire transporter has got an experimental launch permit from the US Federal Aviation Administration for …

    Space 31 May 11:13

  • Google's 7in Jelly Bean Android tablet spied in benchmark

    Asus made, Nvidia inside

    Google's Asus-made 7in tablet has turned up in web-posted benchmark results. It's running Android 4.1. Rightware's Powerboard benchmark ties into an online database Android fans can use to compare kit performance. Fansite Android Police spotted a listing for the "Google Asus Nexus 7", an Nvidia Tegra 3-based tablet running at …

    reghardware 31 May 11:21

  • Wealthy Kensington & Chelsea residents reject BT fibre cabinets

    Quite ghastly, insist NIM-historic-streetscapers

    BT has been forced to withdraw its plans to plonk 108 fibre optic cabling cabinets on the streets of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The council rejected 96 of the proposals put forward by BT, City AM reports. The national telco had planned to install fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology so it could offer about …

    Telecoms 31 May 11:29

  • Digital music sales beat discs for first time in UK

    But wait 'til Xmas: How do you wrap up an MP3 licence?

    Digital music revenue has overtaken revenue hauled in from sales of plastic discs for the first time in the UK. British music industry trade group the BPI released figures showing that digital revenue – from downloads, subscriptions and advertising – had made up 55.5 per cent of income in the first three months of this year. …

    Music and Media 31 May 11:43

  • PayPal whips out barcode app for high-street glad rags

    Vid No bonking please, we're British

    PayPal's barcode-driven payment app has crossed the pond and now works in all manner of UK high-street stores … as long as they're selling women's frocks. Oasis, Coast, Warehouse and Karen Millen are chains that have taken the PayPal shilling - so (deep breath) wander into any of those, pick a new outfit, open PayPal's iOS or …

    Financial News 31 May 12:03

  • Jeremy Hunt 'sympathetic' to Murdoch's BSkyB bid

    He dismisses 'cheerleader' claims in Leveson probing

    Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt fought for his political career this morning during questioning at the Leveson Inquiry over his handling of News Corp's failed BSkyB takeover. The beleaguered minister told the inquiry's Robert Jay QC that, while he was not a "cheerleader" for Rupert Murdoch's multinational media empire, he was " …

    Government 31 May 12:19

  • UK.gov beats down Microsoft software price hike to 1pc

    Redmond and Cabinet Office ink 3-year deal

    Government bodies and agencies will pay 1 per cent more for Microsoft volume licences from 1 July under the newly penned Public Sector Agreement (PSA) 12, The Register can reveal. This compares to the massive 29 per cent average upswing in prices that is expected to hit commercial organisations in the UK when Microsoft aligns …

    Channel Register 31 May 12:48

  • SkyDrive slips snapshots into cloudy wallet

    The Redmond cloud bulks up

    Microsoft is updating SkyDrive, its cloud storage file gobbler, to add SkyDrive-accessed picture viewing in the Windows 8 Photo application. Any photo you have stored in any of your SkyDrive-connected PCs can be viewed in the Photo app. They are available from within the application, with SkyDrive being used to access the …

    Platform 31 May 13:03

  • Steve Jobs speaks from beyond grave: 'iPads are toys'

    Tablet computers? Like THAT'S going to do well

    Videos starring the late Steve Jobs are now available on iTunes for anyone interested in retracing Apple's super-soaraway decade-long journey from niche player to fondleslab fever. The six hour-long interviews feature the co-founder of the world's biggest recycler of Bill Gates' best ideas, speaking in full-on hard-man-of-tech …

    Music and Media 31 May 13:29

  • Third-gen Ultrabooks must offer USB 3.0, anti-theft tech

    Intel getting tough on bloatware too?

    "Ultrabook", you'll recall, is an Intel trademark. If you want to use the name in association with your laptop, you need to follow the chip giant's rules. Those edicts have been extended for third-generation machines, which, Intel hopes, will spearhead the platform's entry into the mainstream. There are three new requirements …

    reghardware 31 May 13:45

  • Oracle will roll out cloudy services next week – Ellison

    Larry says he likes the cloud now

    Oracle is planning to launch a new suite of cloud software products and services in the first week of June, billionaire chief exec Larry Ellison said. "We’re announcing the general availability of the Oracle Cloud: Platform as a Service, Database Service, Java Service and a bunch of applications," Ellison said during an …

    Platform 31 May 14:01

  • Hands on with the Intel-powered Orange San Diego

    First look Assault on battery?

    Orange joined forces with Intel today to launch its first Atom-powered smartphone, the San Diego, which I had the opportunity to play with ahead of release. I was immediately taken aback by the San Diego's 4in capacitive display, which wows with a resolution of 600 x 1084 pixels and 16m-strong colour palette. Text and icons …

    reghardware 31 May 14:05

  • Open API lessons for LinkedIn and Facebook

    Open... and Shut Code to play, not pay to play

    One of the cardinal rules of open source is reciprocity: you can use my open-source code under the same terms that it was given to me. But as open source shifts to open APIs, "open" is increasingly a one-way street. As one major case in point, LinkedIn likes to tout its open API to developers, but apparently only developers of …

    Developer 31 May 14:30

  • EMC: Atmos CAN mix an excellent cloudy cocktail

    You don't node, Nirvanix ...

    It seems EMC thinks Nirvanix's marketing veep Steve Zivanic has got it wrong on Atmos. He put forward some opinions about EMC's Atmos which Hopkinton rebuts vigorously. Zivanic said: "Atmos nodes all have to be at the same exact code level in order to replicate data. If attempting to federate an Atmos private cloud with an …

    Infrastructure 31 May 15:02

  • HDS: 'We're out of the traps to become a grown-up channel biz'

    Staff are set partner sales targets

    Hitachi Data Systems has for the first time handed its sales team in the UK and Ireland a channel component within their overall revenue target. This is one of a number of changes made by the new guard at the storage vendor in the wake of a shakeup of local management last year, including the additions of new regional veep …

    Channel Register 31 May 15:08

  • 'Super-powerful' Flame worm actually boring BLOATWARE

    Analysis More Jabba the Hutt than lean Windows killing machine

    Flame may be big in size but it's nothing like the supposedly devastating cyberwarfare mega-weapon early reports of the malware suggested. This new nasty is quite complex by design, yet researchers are still hunting for any truly evil and innovative attack techniques, or similar threats, within the code. The cyber-espionage …

    Malware 31 May 15:32

  • SpaceX Dragon SPLASHDOWN in Pacific! Private space triumph

    Commercial cargo ship returns from space station

    The SpaceX cargo capsule Dragon, first privately built ship to visit the International Space Station, has splashed down safely in the Pacific ocean at 10:42 Central Time after nine days in space. The cargo capsule landed as planned 560 miles off the Californian coast, and rescue boats are already on their way to pull the …

    Space 31 May 16:19

  • EU politicos put the boot into sickly ACTA

    International Trade committee urged to kill anti-piracy treaty

    Three European Parliament committees have rejected the barely breathing Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Those opinions have now been sent to the International Trade committee, which is expected to to give its verdict on the 21 June. MEPs on the civil liberties committee urged that ACTA in its current form should …

    Government 31 May 16:38

  • Microsoft hands out tools to sneak Skype onto new PCs

    'Silent installs' for victory, or at least growth

    Microsoft is eliminating the download experience from Skype for consumers by giving OEMs the tools to slip the VoIP client into PCs. The company has released a Skype OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) for Windows 7, which you can find here. The OPK is designed to give PC makers the tools they need to “silently install” Skype for …

    Applications 31 May 17:02

  • HP 'overcharged New York City by $163m' on 911 system

    IT titan fires back: 'Read the contract'

    New York City comptroller John Liu has accused Hewlett-Packard of overbilling the Big Apple to the tune of $163m on a long-delayed upgrade to the 911 emergency call system. HP says Liu is misinterpreting the contract and it is delivering its part of the 911 call center upgrade under budget. According to a statement put out by …

    Public Sector 31 May 18:01

  • Milky Way DOOMED to high-speed smash with Andromeda galaxy

    Faces possible three-way NASA warns

    Observations from the Hubble telescope have shown that the Milky Way is on a high-speed collision course with the nearby Andromeda galaxy and the two will merge into a new elliptical system. Andromeda, also called M31, is about the same mass as the Earth's Milky Way and similar in form. Although it's 2.5 million light years …

    Space 31 May 19:42

  • HP-Oracle Itanium smackdown starts

    Larry versus Leo Meg

    Jury selection is underway in the trial that pitting server maker HP against its formerly strong software partner Oracle as they argue about the future of a technology that neither one of them controls: Intel's Itanium processor. Well, given that HP has been making payments to Intel to continue to develop the Itanium chips, at …

    Servers 31 May 20:03

  • Windows 8 Release Preview open for download

    Sinofsky predicts two months to RTM

    After much speculation, Microsoft has opened its Windows 8 Release Preview for download, the last major update before the client code is released to manufacturers. "If the feedback and telemetry on Windows 8 and Windows RT match our expectations, then we will enter the final phases of the RTM process in about two months," said …

    Windows 8 31 May 20:29

  • US reiterates resistance to ITU-Internet land grab

    Lawmakers post the ‘no trespass’ signs

    American lawmakers and officials are continuing to give the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) the “hands off our Internet” signal ahead of a key meeting of the body late this year. The united voices against the United Nations were heard at a congressional hearing on May 30, with representative Henry Waxman, …

    Hosting 31 May 23:02

  • Oracle case crippled after judge rules APIs can’t be copyrighted

    Champagne corks popping at Google tonight

    Google has won a major victory in its legal fight with Oracle over the use of Java in Android after the presiding judge ruled that the APIs under dispute can't be copyrighted. "So long as the specific code used to implement a method is different, anyone is free under the Copyright Act to write his or her own code to carry out …

    Software 31 May 23:15

  • Universe has more hydrogen than we thought

    ‘Undark’ matter hidden in plain view

    A re-analysis of radio telescope observations from three countries has yielded a surprising result: nearby galaxies harbour one-third more hydrogen than had previously been estimated. While nothing like enough matter to solve physics’ “dark matter” problem, the work by CSIRO astronomer Dr Robert Braun (chief scientist at the …

    Science 31 May 23:59