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12th June 2012 Archive

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  • The changing skills sets for the private cloud

    Cloud challenge forces IT to learn new tricks

    According to Lucas Searle, head of private cloud at Microsoft UK, as the cloud brings increased automation and more efficient delivery, it also shifts the IT focus away from just keeping the infrastructure going. Traditionally, comments Searle, IT departments are silo-based, and as a result their focus is on technology, …

    Cloud 12 Jun 00:01

  • Fusion-io gives Cisco blade servers some flash

    Anything HP, IBM, and Dell have...

    Upstart server maker Cisco Systems has tapped server flash-drive maker Fusion-io to be its OEM supplier for flash storage in its "California" Unified Computing System blade severs. With this deal, Fusion-io has wrapped up OEM deals with HP, Dell, and IBM, the top server makers in terms of shipments, as well as with Super Micro …

    Storage 12 Jun 00:03

  • Apple juggernaut cranks out big, big numbers

    Trillions, billions, millions, and so on

    In addition to updating its laptop line; providing more details about its July release of the next OS X, Mountain Lion ($19.99); and unveiling the Google-goading iOS 6, set for a fall debut, Apple also tossed around some interesting – and some very, very big – numbers on Monday morning during the keynote to its Worldwide …

    Business 12 Jun 00:33

  • Dell blades up EqualLogic storage arrays

    Part of the Converged Blade Data Center

    Dell is previewing a new blade server implantation of its EqualLogic storage arrays that will slide into its M1000e blade enclosures and offer customers and all-blade server, storage, and switch option, while at the same time not many compromises on performance or density. The EqualLogic PS-M4110 blade array takes up two half- …

    Servers 12 Jun 00:44

  • Western consumption helping to kill off species

    Sydney Uni maps global extinction link to trade

    Grab a coffee, add two sugars, and check the news on your tablet: you’ve just helped kill off a species in a country you might never have heard of. A school of physics may not be where you expect someone to analyze endangered species, but that’s the source of research from Sydney University, showing the link between the gadget …

    Biology 12 Jun 00:53

  • Mobile chip firms ditch feature phone biz for smartphones

    R&D efforts focused on web-enabled devices

    One of the world’s largest mobile chip companies, MediaTek, is focusing its R&D efforts on smartphones at the expense of its feature phone business in another clear sign that the market for budget 3G handsets in countries like China and India is about to explode. Industry sources told Digitimes that MediaTek and its MStar …

    reghardware 12 Jun 00:59

  • Two new Jovian moons confirmed

    'S/2010 J 2' is smallest moon ever spotted from Earth

    Jupiter's tally of moons has gone up by two, after researchers published their observations of two previously unknown Jovian satellites. The romantically-named S/2010 J 1 and S/2010 J 2 are both tiny. The former is just three kilometres across. The latter is even smaller, boasting a diameter of just two kilometres. That small …

    Science 12 Jun 02:59

  • ZTE and Huawei execs get ten years for bribery

    Sentenced in their absence by Algerian court

    Huawei and ZTE suffered a PR blow this week after it emerged that executives from the company had been convicted of bribery offences in Algeria and sentenced in their absence to ten years each in jail. Local French language news site Presse-DZ reported that international arrest warrants had been issued for ZTE's Dong Tao and …

    Public Sector 12 Jun 04:26

  • China makes human rights play ... but forgets the internet

    Increasing broadband speeds but content still censored

    China has issued its latest action plan on human rights, glossing over minor issues such as online censorship and press freedom but re-affirming commitments to increase broadband penetration in the country. The National Human Rights Action Plan of China, which covers the next three years, claims to set out out “comprehensive …

    Public Sector 12 Jun 06:52

  • Hardy handymen handed handy hardened handheld hardware

    Job sheets beamed directly into Scottish sparky palms

    Fife council has pushed ahead with its mobile working plans by issuing building services staff with Motorola-built handheld devices to receive job instructions. A number of frontline staff have been using mobile phones to receive information for carrying out scheduled repairs and maintenance in council homes and non-domestic …

    Government 12 Jun 07:03

  • Google Apps cloud fine print may not protect EU biz

    Storing private data outside the Eurozone? Welcome to a world of pain

    EU businesses that provide applications to consumers through the Google Apps platform may require additional mechanisms to the new contract terms offered by Google - in order to legitimately transfer personal data collected from app users overseas, an expert has said. Google has announced that it will offer "model contract …

    CIO 12 Jun 07:32

  • ICO could smack Google Street View with fine after all

    How a Swiss court’s conclusions could translate into UK law

    In one of my blogs on Google Street View, I wrote that the Information Commissioner (ICO) could not serve a Monetary Penalty Notice (MPN) on Google when its software captured some personal data from household Wi-Fi systems. This assessment was based on the fact that Google published statements to the effect that only an …

    Law 12 Jun 08:01

  • The incredible shrinking NAND: I'm MEELLLLTING

    Blocks and Files Flash array bubbles burst

    NAND is heading to the graveyard, getting closer and closer with every geometry shrink and every added cell bit. Any replacement NV-RAM technology will require controller software rip-and-replace, which could kill one trick pony flash array startups. NAND flash is non-volatile but expensive to make and both ways of making it …

    Storage 12 Jun 08:31

  • UEFA Euro 2012

    Android App of the Week Three Lions?

    Assuming you haven’t been on another planet for the last few months you'll be aware that soccer's 2012 European Championships kicked off in Warsaw on Friday. Sixteen teams, 31 matches and, I predict, the usual post-mortem in regards to England’s woeful performance. Not that I can gloat if England does crash out at the first …

    reghardware 12 Jun 09:00

  • Buy Smarter: what you need to know about... Memory Cards

    Buyer's Guide File stores for the disconnected

    Until the day when broadband is much faster, all devices have wireless internet access and sync'n'store services such as Dropbox or Google Drive are ubiquitous, memory cards will remain the most convenient general-purpose, pocketable storage. They help everyone to move documents, photos, music and videos around safely and …

    reghardware 12 Jun 09:14

  • For FORK'S sake: GitHub checks out Windows client

    Open ... and Shut The rise and rise of Torvalds' tool

    Just two years ago, Git barely eked out a mention in Forrester's analysis of the software configuration management (or source code management) market, despite a clear trend toward open-source SCM tools. Now Git owns 27.6 per cent of the SCM market, according to a recent Eclipse Foundation survey, with Subversion apparently in …

    Developer 12 Jun 09:19

  • Fate of dot-word bids decided by ICANN archery shoot-out

    That $185,000 gTLD application rests on MILLISECOND timing

    Who should own .web? Will the internet get a .porn address? What does Google plan to do with 50 new top-level domains? Why is ICANN putting companies through an online "archery game" that requires millisecond timing? These questions and more will be asked and answered tomorrow as domain name policy overlord ICANN reveals the …

    Hosting 12 Jun 09:41

  • Supercomputers need standard shot glass to measure out juice

    Webcast Can’t fix it unless you can quantify it

    The biggest challenge in getting to the next level of supercomputer performance – Exascale – is the massive amounts of electricity these systems will consume. On a smaller scale, energy consumption also inhibits HPC installations. The problem isn’t just getting enough plugs from your walls to the grid; it’s also the cost of …

    HPC Blog 12 Jun 10:03

  • Adobe rips up rebate rules after resellers riot

    Creative Suite biz goes back to the drawing board

    Adobe has tweaked its rebate programme in response to complaints from partners that it was too complex to manage and the sales targets were unachievable in the current biz climate. The software maker introduced out a new structure last autumn and rolled out a tiered deal registration programme, a process that some partners …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 10:05

  • Ssssh. Apple quietly mashes monster MacBook Pro

    17-incher excised

    So farewell, then, the 17in MacBook Pro. Your demise was forecast back in April by market watcher Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI, a stockbroker, and sure enough you're no longer listed among Apple's selection of laptops. The pricey - two grand plus - bulky machine was popular with content creators looking for a large-screen - it had a …

    reghardware 12 Jun 10:10

  • Apple pulls in TomTom, kicks Google off iPhones

    iOS 6 Maps app uses TomTom's cartographical database

    Buried among the data in Apple's new iOS is a win for TomTom, which will be providing the maps for iPhone-navigators. Apple is ditching Google Maps, as expected, and providing its own mapping service on its iWare, which will come from TomTom's TeleAtlas database. Eagle-eyed fanbois spotted the C of TomTom in screen grabs from …

    Applications 12 Jun 10:19

  • Chapco Group goes titsup

    But IT Services arm rises from ashes in pre-pack

    Directors at Chapco IT Services concluded a pre-pack administration on the same day the Leicestershire-based minnow was placed in the hands of receivers Mazars LLP, The Channel can reveal. The Microsoft Gold and Citrix Silver reseller is part of the Chapco Group, which also included a facilities management, telecommunications …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 10:33

  • Buffalo drops 802.11ac '5G Wi-Fi' router into Blighty

    1.3Gb/s wireless, anyone?

    Buffalo's next-gen Wi-Fi router is now available to buy in the UK, though only from two retailers. The AirStation 1750 - aka the WZR-D1800H-EU - supports the 802.11ac standard, which operates in the 5GHz band to provide speeds of up to 1.3Gb/s. It also supports 450Mb/s - if your client device has a 3x3 antenna array; not …

    reghardware 12 Jun 10:40

  • Sainsbury's pays £1 entrance, heads into ebook club

    Slurps HMV's 64% stake in Anobii for peanuts

    British grocery chain Sainsbury's has entered the ebook market by snapping up HMV's stake in Anobii for a nominal £1. The retailing group said that slurping HMV Group's share and investing in the business would mean it ends up with a 64 per cent stake in Anobii, which is styled as a social network for book readers as well as …

    Financial News 12 Jun 10:43

  • NASA's Curiosity rover will try risky landing near Mount Sharp

    Space agency confident it can dodge mountainous Mars obstacle

    NASA has decided to up the ante for the Mars rover Curiosity's arrival next month by pushing the landing site nearer to the foot of an inconvenient mountain. The old and new landing targets for Curiosity. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS Obviously an obstacle like a mountain makes setting down a bit dicier, …

    Space 12 Jun 10:48

  • Gamers, test your 1990s knowledge

    Chiptune challenge

    Are you a fan of 90s-era gaming, and are you already bored of the 9-5 churn and in need of desperate distraction? Well here's something to keep you busy in your tea break. The Nineties Game Quiz - from Kongregate user Saybox - asks participants to name 93 pieces of music, each from a classic 90s videogame. If stuck, there are …

    reghardware 12 Jun 10:54

  • Volkswagen Up!

    Review Honey, I shrunk the Golf

    They say good things come in small packages, and at only 3.5m long Volkswagen’s new city car is certainly small. To put that into context it is 28.5cm shorter than the unloved Fox it replaces and only 53.5cm longer than the original Mini. VW's done a good job with the styling There’s no denying VW has done a good job with …

    reghardware 12 Jun 11:00

  • New UK curriculum ramps up lessons in SPAAAACE

    More facts crammed into brains in draft schools shakeup

    British children will be taught more about the solar system and evolution in an overhaul of the primary school curriculum proposed yesterday by Education Secretary Michael Gove. Gove reckons his new draft lesson plan will "restore rigour" to classrooms by bumping up the amount of stuff kids have to learn: in science that will …

    Space 12 Jun 11:13

  • HTC handsets hit by grip of death

    Antenna-gate re-opened

    Reports of problems with HTC handsets continue to flood the web, with its flagship One X dogged by various Wi-Fi woes and the One S becoming disorientated when struggling for a data connection. HTC's quad-core powerhouse, the One X, is said to have been struck with its own grip-of-death problem. Users report experiencing …

    reghardware 12 Jun 11:17

  • Sole British 'naut Major Tim embarks on NASA deep space mission

    'Splashdown' for Tim Peake, as team heads beyond point of no return

    Blighty's one and only astronaut, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, has just embarked on a bold mission into an environment where few human beings have ever ventured: that of the saturation diver, semi-permanently adapted to life under high pressure and able to survive only deep underwater or inside pressurised containers …

    Space 12 Jun 11:25

  • Source code smoking gun links Stuxnet AND Flame

    Kaspersky: Devious cyber-weapons share software DNA

    A direct link exists between the infamous uranium enrichment sabotage worm Stuxnet and the newly uncovered Flame mega-malware, researchers have claimed. Russian virus protection outfit Kaspersky Lab said in a blog post yesterday that although two separate teams worked on Stuxnet and Flame, the viruses' programmers "cooperated …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 11:43

  • Apple Passbook card-'n'-ticket app paves way for iOS e-wallet

    WWDC The barcode just won't die

    Apple's Passbook, announced at yesterday's developer conference as part of iOS 6, is clearly a step towards NFC payments, but even in its present form it has people pretty excited, so it's a shame that it won't work with the UK's biggest e-ticket deployment. Passbook is like an address book for storing tokens and tickets, with …

    Applications 12 Jun 12:01

  • Assange demands that Supreme Court reopen extradition case

    WikiLeaks supremo wants to avoid Swedish summer heat

    WikiLeaker-in-chief Julian Assange is pushing to have his extradition hearing reopened after his lawyer won a two-week delay to consider the verdict that went against him late last month. The Justice4Assange website confirmed today that, as expected, the 40-year-old Australian has applied to have his case aired in court again …

    Law 12 Jun 13:08

  • Thief open-sources Richard Stallman's laptop, passport, visa

    Free Software firebrand's hardware liberated in Argy-bargy

    Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, was distressed to find his personal belongings had been liberally distributed sans GPL - his prized laptop, wallet and passport were nicked at a conference in Argentina. The snatch happened as fans of the Emacs author shouted over each other in an attempt to talk to …

    Developer 12 Jun 13:29

  • Tide turns for channel: Now vendors are fighting for YOUR loyalty

    How to use channel consolidation to your advantage

    Over a year ago, Forrester predicted that the number of channel companies was set to decline dramatically by up to 15 per cent for various reasons. The prediction, at first belittled by our reader clients who still assume that they are selling into an adoption market which continues to grow, has since been reinforced in many …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 13:50

  • Raspberry Pi IN THE SKY: Wallet-sized PC is disaster drone brain

    ARM-powered flying mercy bot to the rescue!

    A British-led Japan-based group is building a free-software-powered flying robot for use by disaster relief organisations – and at its heart is tech darling the Raspberry Pi. There are lots of uses for the £30 Pi, from an educational device to a media player, if you can get hold of one of the boards. OpenRelief is planning …

    PCs & Chips 12 Jun 14:01

  • Probrand sales collapse as it staggers from low-margin biz

    Spending freezes haven't helped

    Birmingham-based reseller Probrand haemorrhaged revenues in calendar 2011 as it tried to firm up margins by exiting high-volume shipments of cheap computing gear. Sales fell some 29 per cent from £51.3m in 2010 to £36.57m as profit before tax collapsed, down by nearly 58 per cent to £329,000. Bosses put on a brave face on the …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 14:14

  • UK regulator re-opens probe into Google Street View slurp outrage

    ICO hauls Chocolate Factory back onto the data carpet

    The Information Commissioner's Office has reopened its investigation of Google's controversial Street View technology, after its data-collecting cars collected payload data including emails and passwords from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. The regulator's head of enforcement Steve Eckersley has sent an aggressive letter to senior …

    Cloud Business 12 Jun 14:26

  • World smart TV sales surge

    More folk buying - but are they watching?

    Smart TVs - tellies with internet connectivity - accounted for almost 20 per cent of the televisions that manufacturers shipped in Q1. Almost 30 per cent of them went into Western Europe, but the world's biggest IPTV fans are clearly the Japanese: 46 per cent of the TVs that shipped there were smart devices. Yet Japanese …

    reghardware 12 Jun 14:35

  • Ex-disco kid Computacenter boss: 'Cloud? It makes me angry'

    Part 2 Norris on enriching sales, pushing tin and running a public company

    Computacenter was a £463m sales organisation when Mike Norris took the helm in 1994, with an operating profit of £8.5m. In 2011, turnover was £2.85bn and operating profit was £74m. Norris began his ascent through the ranks in 1986, when he was made the firm's top account manager. Two years later he was regional manager for …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 14:58

  • Hitchhiker shot while researching 'Kindness of America'

    Sticks out thumb, catches lead

    A hitchhiker researching a book on "The Kindness of America" is currently recovering in hospital after a gun-toting truck driver gave him a small donation of some searing hot lead. Ray Dolin, was hitching on Highway 2 in Montana on Saturday as part of a project to produce a memoir on the great things about the open road in the …

    Bootnotes 12 Jun 15:27

  • Bye, bye Apple. Now Facebook's the global app kingmaker

    Analysis Zuck's lot will sift the gold from the mud... bitch

    Facebook is helping Apple to solve the biggest problem facing mobile app stores: sorting through the quagmire of mediocrity endemic in the industry. But more importantly Facebook has found a way to turn mobile punters into profit. The Facebook App Center (launched last week) isn't just about mobile apps, it's also a place …

    Applications 12 Jun 16:01

  • McAfee embraces managed services providers

    Tune in to channel prog in Q3

    McAfee is to unwrap a hosted channel programme in Q3, 2012, the IT security vendor told a press briefing in Marbella today. McAfee's global channel boss Gavin Struthers said the company currently works with Managed Services Providers on a bespoke basis; the new programme is intended to bring all hosted channel initiatives …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 17:09

  • Yahoo! spinout rolls up first Hadoop stack

    Hadoop Summit 2012 Hortonworks hears a $

    Hortonworks, the company created a year ago from the spinout of the Yahoo! engineering team behind the open source MapReduce method of data munching known as Hadoop, is leading its first release to market by the nose. The Hortonworks Data Platform, as the company's distribution is known, is completely open source and is based …

    Cloud 12 Jun 17:12

  • Menaced cartoonist raises $60,000 for copywrong

    Comment Ignorant or cynical?

    A popular internet cartoonist has been served a demand for $20,000 after he failed to use the DMCA to defend his rights. Website FunnyJunk republished several strips from The Oatmeal, a comic drawn by Matthew Inman, in a clear cut case of copyright infringement. But Inman is a creature of nerd web culture, where using the …

    Music and Media 12 Jun 20:57

  • Cisco puts a virty router in the clouds

    Cisco Live 2012 And a virty server in a router, among other unnatural acts

    Nothing is what it appears to be in the data center any more. Servers have integrated storage and switching, routers and switches are getting servers. And virtual switches and now virtual routers are running inside of servers and blade enclosures. Nothing seems to know its proper place any more. Maybe it is convergence. Maybe …

    Cloud 12 Jun 21:30

  • ISPs say AWS listed by Australian peering services

    Source says co-located data centre testing under way

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) is close to turning on an Australian facility, The Register has been told by a provider of IP networking services. A staffer at the company, who asked not to be identified, added that AWS intends to offer cloud computing, as distinct from cloud storage and other AWS services. The computing service …

    Cloud 12 Jun 22:16

  • TSMC joins giant fab race

    450 mm wafers in five years, maybe

    Taiwanese contract fab TSMC has become the latest chip-maker to join the 450mm (18 inch) wafer push, announcing a five-year project to put between $US8 billion and $US10 billion into a new chip plant. The project received government approval on Monday. Larger wafers are seen as key to future chip fabrication processes. As …

    Hardware 12 Jun 22:50

  • McAfee upgrades cloud security and Intel identity kit

    Free to customers and channel

    McAfee has upgraded its enterprise Cloud Security Platform and activated the first in a series of integrations with parent company Intel's identity management systems. The security company has beefed up data loss systems to cover email and web gateways and added in a simplified management control and reporting panel that allow …

    Cloud 12 Jun 22:53

  • New ID leak from Global Payments

    More fallout from hack attack

    Credit and debit card processor Global Payments has warned that additional confidential information on its servers may have been compromised in the hacking attack earlier this year that saw around 1.5 million credit card details snatched. In a press call, company CEO Paul Garcia said that subsequent investigations internally …

    Security 12 Jun 23:25

  • Chambers: Cisco has bounced back

    Cisco Live 2012 Ready to thump challengers – or itself

    Cisco Systems is fired up, and if you are in one of its markets and one of its new adjacencies, the company is coming for your market share and more than its fair share of the profits. The networking giant and server and web services provider is hosting its Cisco Live customer and partner event in San Diego this, week and is …

    Data Networking 12 Jun 23:34