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19th June 2012 Archive

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  • Microsoft takes on tablets with keyboard-equipped Surface

    10.6 inch tablet with kickstand and keyboard

    In one of its most-hyped-up announcements of recent years, Microsoft has entered the tablet market with the Surface, a 10.6 inch table running Windows 8 on Intel and ARM platforms. At the launch event in Los Angeles, CEO Steve Ballmer said that Microsoft could offer something "unique" in that it can do both the hardware and …

    Mobile 19 Jun 00:29

  • IBM storage kit keeping admins awake at night

    Default software settings see DS series' arrays performance dip in wee hours

    Management software for IBM's DS3000, DS4000 and DS5000 series storage arrays is waking sysadmins at 2:00 AM, thanks to an obscure software setting. As detailed in the Aussie Storage Blog, some versions of the Profile Collector feature in Big Blue's DS Storage Manager package schedules data collections at 2:00AM. The blog's …

    Storage 19 Jun 01:24

  • Google in dock again over defamatory auto-complete

    Cruel algorithm cost man his job

    A Japanese man is suing Google again after claiming that when his name is typed into the web giant’s search box, the auto-complete function brings up words and phrases related to criminal acts, which link through to articles defaming him. The man, who unfortunately can’t be named for obvious reasons, filed with the Tokyo …

    Business 19 Jun 03:29

  • Fujitsu cracks 278-digit crypto

    Breaking the code will help to fix others

    Japanese computing giant Fujitsu is claiming a world record after successfully breaking a 278-digit (978-bit) pairing-based cryptography system, providing useful data on how far this next-generation encryption system can be trusted. The company’s R&D arm, Fujitsu Laboratories, worked with Japan’s National Institute of …

    Security 19 Jun 04:24

  • Mozilla teaches coding with new Thimble 'Webmaker'

    HTML and CSS for novices could re-ignite kiddie coding cogitation

    Mozilla has released a web page creation editing tool that steps novice users through HTML and CSS. Dubbed “Thimble”, Mozilla bills the new tool a “webmaker”. While that term is cringeworthy, the two-paned web app is anything but. One pane offers raw HTML, with just a few basic tags. The other offers a WYSIWYG view of the HTML …

    Software 19 Jun 05:42

  • Ten... dual-band wireless routers

    Product round-up His and hers Wi-Fi

    A wireless routers is one of the most important items in any gadget lover’s home. Performance, range and reliability are essential criteria to consider when deciding when buying a router. Also, bear in mind the configuration software, as routers can do quite a few tricks these days and accessing features from the on-board …

    Hardware 19 Jun 06:00

  • Budget smartphones all the rage as punters look sub-£100

    Mobile reality a world away from the iPhone

    Nearly half of the world’s largest smartphone market will consist of handsets under $200 (£127) by 2015 as local device makers and web firms compete to drag the great unwashed into the 21st century, according to analyst Canalys. On the eve of Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai this week, the stats once again confirm that the bread …

    Mobile 19 Jun 06:08

  • R18+ games still not over the line in Oz

    Feds sign off but States could set bar low, forcing more games into adults-only territory

    Australia's national Parliament has passed laws creating a new R18+ rating for computer games, but just what will earn that rating is now up to the nation's nine States and Territories, all of which must pass their own legislation before gamers can enjoy currently-banned fare. There's not much on the banned list, with just …

    Bootnotes 19 Jun 06:44

  • Gov mulls ban on wallet-draining charges for card payments

    Nobody gets to grab a big slice off payments but us

    The government is to consult on plans to ban companies levying surcharges on consumers when they use payment cards later this summer, the Consumer Affairs minister has said. Some companies currently charge consumers a fee for buying goods or services using credit or debit cards or via other payment methods. Under government …

    Small Biz 19 Jun 07:01

  • UV 2: RETURN of the 'Big Brain'. This time, it's affordable

    Hefty loads bursting out of your box? Try this

    Silicon Graphics is betting big on Intel's latest Xeon E5-4600 processor and its own revved up NUMAlink 6 shared memory interconnect, creating a "big brain computer" that can gang up to 4,096 cores into a single system image to run massive Linux workloads and fairly large Windows jobs, too. The new UV 2 is exactly the kind of …

    Data Warehousing 19 Jun 07:21

  • Estonia pitches itself as the new Silicon place

    The Valley may be cool, but we're Baltic. Sorry, Nordic

    Estonia is seeking to reinvent itself from a cheap place to source top-notch programming expertise into the Nordic* Silicon Valley and bio-tech centre. Around 25 start-ups rubbed shoulders with entrepreneurs from the US and the Nordic countries as well as investors at the recent Latitude59 conference in Estonia. On show were …

    Cloud 19 Jun 07:38

  • Ofcom: High-speed hookups still a UK monopoly - except in London

    Well, two UK monopolies when you include Hull

    In a cascade of acronyms Ofcom has proposed price caps on high-speed leased-line connections: but only outside London where competition is having a hard time getting a foothold. Ofcom's consultation argues that within the capital BT's dominance in leased connectivity is being successfully challenged, and by "the capital" Ofcom …

    Broadband 19 Jun 07:58

  • Brussels could 'clash' with London over UK snooper's charter

    Exclusive 'Maybe not everyone understands the Treaty of Lisbon'

    A fine "balancing act" is needed to prevent a "clash" between British Home Secretary Theresa May's controversial plans to bring in a data communications-snooping law and the "rights" of the UK citizen, European Commission vice-president Viviane Reding warned when questioned by The Register. The justice commissioner laid out …

    Government 19 Jun 08:15

  • New Samsung chief: I want SOFTWARE

    Making actual stuff is bloody hard work

    Samsung is going to have to do better in software if it wants to stay up near the top of the tech industry, its new CEO said today. "Samsung needs to improve its competitiveness in software, and is now at a crossroads. To become the top global technology company, we need to challenge and innovate continuously. I will give more …

    Software 19 Jun 08:28

  • Cabinet Office: Lid comes off UK.gov £4bn IT pork barrel 'at month end'

    Just contain yourselves

    The Cabinet Office has confirmed it expects the delayed £4bn IT Hardware & Services framework to finally go live at month end. The three-year gig was due to start from 1 June but bidding companies were only informed by Government Procurement Services (GPS) if they had made the provisional supplier list on that day. The final …

    The Channel 19 Jun 08:44

  • Samsung S3 finally catches up with the Palm Pre - if modified

    Hackthusiast brings plugless juicing to the pottery 'bone

    Wireless charging was a key feature of Samsung's flagship Android blower when it was announced, but the replacement back plate it needs isn't on the shelves yet, so one brave soul has hacked a Palm Touchstone charger into the S3 case. Not that the hack uses the Samsung/Qualcomm-backed "Alliance for Wireless Power" standard, …

    Phones 19 Jun 08:56

  • This Old Box. And that Old Box. And that one. All of them, in fact

    eBook Collected strip-down reading that won't embarrass

    While your other half might be perusing the latest bonk buster on the beach this summer, you might want something that's not going to leave you wriggling with embarrassment and wishing you’d packed a bigger towel. Well, you'll be pleased to hear that El Reg has collected our entire output of our This Old Box strand and …

    Vintage 19 Jun 09:15

  • Whitehall goes to White House for advice on 'ID assurance' plans

    'A big step forward on the identity assurance mission'

    The Cabinet Office is to join the Open Identity Exchange (OIX), a US-based non-profit providing "certification trust frameworks for open identity technologies", to help with the development of its identity assurance programme. The Cabinet Office's identity assurance team recently visited the White House, where it met up with …

    Government 19 Jun 09:28

  • Carphone Warehouse fires starting gun for Acer Olympics tablet

    Athletic support

    It's all a bit Alan Partridge, but Acer has an Olympic-themed tablet out, and Carphone Warehouse has the sales gig. The £349 Iconia Tab A510 runs Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich on a 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 chip. The UI is rendered on a 10.1in, 1280 x 800 touchscreen. There's 32GB of Flash storage on board, along with a 5Mp …

    Tablets 19 Jun 09:30

  • China aims to redraw the petaflop graph with 100 Pflops in 2015

    HPC blog Crouching Tiger, floppy Dragon

    China shocked the supercomputing world in late 2010 with a chart-topping 2.56 Petaflop/sec Tianhe-1A. It was a surprising system on several levels: 1) it topped the incumbent number one box (Oak Ridge’s Jaguar) by almost 50%; 2) it was the first (and, so far, only) hybrid commodity combo of Intel Xeon and NVIDIA Tesla processors …

    HPC 19 Jun 09:44

  • Sharp outs 90in monster LED TV

    Big screen experience

    If that 65in HD TV you just bought is starting to look at little… small, Sharp has the answer: what it claims is the world's largest LED-backlit LCD TV the 90in Aquos LC-90LE745U. Launched last night in the US - there's no word yet on a UK release; over here we're limited to 80in for now - the 3D-capable set has built-in Wi- …

    Hardware 19 Jun 09:50

  • Cable & Wireless Worldwide shareholders OK Vodafone takeover

    Second biggest telco in Blighty grabs 20,000km of fibre

    More than 99 per cent of voting shareholders have approved the takeover of Cable & Wireless Worldwide by Vodafone, despite suggestions that one of the largest was holding out for more money. Vodafone put £1,044m on the table at the end of April, but Orbis Investment Management threatened to vote its 19 per cent holding against …

    Financial News 19 Jun 10:01

  • Mobile device enslavement a plague on British workers' health

    After-hours fondling threatens office bods

    British workers are ruining their health by fondling slabs and touching screens after the work day is done, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy said. UK office monkeys are slaving away well into the night on their tablets and smartphones to try to take the pressure off during their actual working hours, doing an average of …

    Management 19 Jun 10:24

  • Oracle pumps out Q4 financials in premature release: See? We're OK

    Brouhaha over sales chief exit simply not a problem

    Oracle rushed through the public filing of decent Q4 financials last night some three days earlier than planned to head off any industry talk that the pending exit of a sales bigwig was due to tumbling turnover. The word on the street, well at least on Murdoch's Wall St rag Barron's, is that 26-year Oracle veteran, exec veep …

    Financial News 19 Jun 10:33

  • ARM unleashes 8-core Mali 450 GPU, heads down both forks in road

    There's no route less travelled by us

    ARM is doubling the punch of its Mali 400 graphics processors with extra cores for tablet, phone and TV makers that are not ready for combined graphics and compute chips. The microprocessor architect has announced the Mali 450 GPU, featuring eight cores instead of four. ARM said the 450 showed it remains committed to the 400 …

    Phones 19 Jun 10:44

  • Songkick Concerts

    Android App of the Week Hello, Cleveland...

    I’ve been waiting for Songkick to land on the deck of the USS Android ever since it was released for iOS a year ago. Now it has and it’s every bit as good as I was hoping for. Simplicity itself to use, once installed Songkick scans your music library as well as your Last.fm, Pandora and Spotify feeds and then creates a …

    Phones 19 Jun 11:00

  • So you wanna be a Wall Street techie? Or anyway, get paid a lot

    Interviews considered as gang sadism

    For at least a couple of decades now, if you’ve been a technologist and wanted to get paid as highly as possible for your work, there’s been pretty much only one place to go: the financial industry. Have a seat, chum... we'll be in shortly to pick up the questionnaire on the syntax of complicated and rarely used Java …

    Jobs 19 Jun 11:13

  • Apple extends Liquidmetal sole rights until 2014

    Hinge benefits

    Apple has secured exclusive rights to Liquidmetal Technologies' IP, extending sole access to the company's unique metal until February 2014. The original $20m agreement expired in February 2012. However, a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows the date has been extended by two more years. …

    Phones 19 Jun 11:39

  • Trust fined £225k for leaving patient files in abandoned hospital

    Is there a secret NHS sweep on who can blow most data?

    Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has been fined £225,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office for leaving patient and staff files in an abandoned hospital. The Belfast Trust became the latest NHS body to feel the wrath of the ICO after it left 100,000 patient records and 15,000 staff records in boxes, cabinets, on the …

    Security 19 Jun 11:56

  • Ingram Micro in talks to acquire SDG, say sources

    Yanks are in town looking to buy an umbrella

    Ingram Micro is locked in talks with Sir Peter Rigby over the acquisition of his Midlands-based outfit Specialist Distribution Group (SDG), sources have told The Channel. People familiar with the negotiations say a deal is edging closer which would bulk out Ingram's mid-market infrastructure operation. SDG is an EMEA-wide …

    The Channel 19 Jun 12:13

  • Microsoft details latest Windows Phone update

    Will you be Tangoed?

    Microsoft has shed light on its next Windows Phone 'Tango' update, which will see the smartphone OS gain the ability to import and export contacts to and from the Sim card, and attach multiple files to a single message. The new version of Windows Phone, which is already shipping on the European version of Nokia Lumia 900, is 7 …

    Phones 19 Jun 12:31

  • Sony slams Nintendo Wii U functionality

    Vita will beat ya

    Sony has stuck the knife into the Nintendo Wii U, claiming that a PlayStation Vita combined with a PS3 is a superior setup able to do "special things" that the Nintendo kit will struggle to match. Sony Worldwide Studios VP Scott Rhode highlighted the fact that Nintendo's tablet controller is without its own games processor, so …

    Hardware 19 Jun 12:39

  • Introduction to Virtualisation, Microsoft-style

    Review Checking out latest MVA course

    Microsoft has introduced a new series of tracks into the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA). These are introductions to various topics targeted at Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs being the bulk of my professional experience, I am curious, and have taken the opportunity to give one of these tracks a go. The pick of the …

    Jobs 19 Jun 12:50

  • ICANN may have to operate without a chief during gTLD rollout

    New CEO may not take helm for months after Beckstrom leaves

    Domain name policy manager ICANN is set to be left with a vacant CEO's office for two or three months, according to sources close to the organisation. ICANN, which is currently overseeing the largest expansion of internet addressing in history, said yesterday that it plans to name its new president and CEO at a press …

    Hosting 19 Jun 12:58

  • FATTIES are DESTROYING THE WORLD, scream mad professors

    Comment Reiterate call for everyone to become Hobbits

    A famous mad professor who has previously called for Britons to starve their children into dwarfism so as to ease strains on the planetary ecosystem has reiterated his arguments, this time insisting that the amount of surplus flab carried by the human race will soon be equivalent to having another half-a-billion people on Earth …

    Science 19 Jun 13:33

  • British Waterways charity mapping data handed to Google for free

    We're just so lucky they want it

    Google has gotten its hands on the GIS data for all of the UK's waterway paths for its Maps without handing over a penny. The Chocolate Factory will download British Waterways' GIS (geographic information system) info into its cartographical app to tell Brits where picturesque paths for walking and cycling are. GIS data …

    Cloud 19 Jun 13:40

  • Internet Explorer bug patched only a week ago now being exploited

    Patch Tuesday - Malware Wednesday

    Hackers have latched onto a vulnerability in Internet Explorer patched by Microsoft last week as a useful way to spread malware. The vulnerability is CVE-2012-1875 – which was patched in MS12-037 as part of the June edition of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday – and it is being exploited in the wild. Attacks are typically delivered by …

    Security 19 Jun 14:01

  • Surface: Because Microsoft does so well making hardware?

    Analysis Perhaps they'll really imitate Apple and go to Foxconn

    If you want a job done right, do it yourself: that’s the consensus on the Windows 8 Surface tablets. Or, put another way: “OEMs, please pay attention. This is how you build a PC.” It’s easy to draw this conclusion given the world’s largest maker of software has bothered spending money – something it has been cutting back on in …

    Hardware 19 Jun 14:15

  • Google to ICO: We had no idea Street View data slurp was happening

    We organise other people's information, not our own

    Google has denied that it tried to cover up certain aspects of its Street View data slurp as the UK Information Commissioner's Office reopens its investigation into the incident. The ICO recently cracked open its cold case files on the Street View cars' sniffing of data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks. This was a result of the …

    Cloud 19 Jun 14:58

  • Departing Cisco overlord moulded partners from Channel clay

    Can public-sector Klein fill his boots?

    Industry veteran and Cisco channel chief Keith Goodwin is hanging up his boots, the networking kingpin confirmed in a blog post. After 38 years in IT – with the last 13 at Cisco – the senior veep of the worldwide partner organisation is set to retire, with one Bruce Klein waiting in the wings as a replacement from 1 August. …

    The Channel 19 Jun 15:23

  • Mad Apple patent: Cloneware to convince trackers you don't like porn

    Does Cupertino want this to use, or to suppress?

    Apple have patented the idea of using data clones to hide from surveillance: data clones that will browse the internet under your name but will look at basket-weaving sites instead of porn. In one of the stranger Apple patents that we've seen in recent months, author Stephen R Carter details a way of stopping eavesdroppers …

    Security 19 Jun 15:47

  • Achtung Penguin! SUSE tunes up Linux for SAP

    Vorsprung durch freiestoffgesellschaft

    It seems natural enough that SUSE Linux and SAP would be technical allies; both hail from Germany and both try to peddle business-grade software to enterprises. SAP, which has a huge installed base of Windows customers and a considerable number of Unix customers, cannot be seen to be playing favorites with its OS suppliers just …

    Operating Systems 19 Jun 15:49

  • LG shelves future tablet efforts

    Will focus on smartphones instead

    LG has ceded the tablet arena to Apple. Effectively chucking in the towel, it has put the development of future tablets "on the back burner". So says a company spokesman, Bloomberg reports after probing the South Korean giant for its response to Microsoft's Surface launch. The LG minion said: "We've decided to put all new …

    Tablets 19 Jun 16:01

  • Top US Senator to Apple, Google: 'Curb your spy planes'

    'Military-grade' surveillance can see through windows

    One week after Apple announced it was booting Google Maps from iOS and photographing the world with its own aerial fleet, a top US Senator has written to both companies expressing concern over their "military-grade spy planes." "Barbequing or sunbathing in your backyard shouldn't be a public event," said Senator Charles …

    Applications 19 Jun 17:21

  • HP taps Intel Atom for next-gen Moonshot hyperscale servers

    Living in a Gemini dream

    When HP unveiled its "Project Moonshot" effort last November to create hyperscale servers based on Calxeda's EnergyCore variant of the ARM RISC processor, cynics said it was no doubt interesting in terms of engineering, but that the "Redstone" servers were nonetheless a publicity stunt. Tuesday's preview of the next-generation " …

    Servers 19 Jun 18:15

  • Google blocks MP3 rippers from YouTube

    YouTube-mp3.com calls for help from pirates supporters

    Websites that allow MP3 files to be recorded from YouTube are feeling the wrath of the Chocolate Factory, and popular ripping site YouTube-mp3 is calling foul. "Google is accusing us to threaten your safety and wanted us to close this service. If we wouldn't comply they threatened to sue us," said no-last-name Philip on …

    Media 19 Jun 19:03

  • Ludicrously lucky teen survives spear through brain

    X-ray reveals reason for 'miraculous recovery' from three-foot intruder

    Sixteen-year-old Yasser Lopez will likely have a "miraculous recovery" despite a three-foot spear having been thrust through his head. "If you had to have a spear go through there [the head], then this spear chose the right path to go with the least damage," neurosurgeon Ross Bullock told ABC News. The Reg admits to some …

    Science 19 Jun 19:42

  • Schneier spanks AV industry over Flame failures

    The problem is in the process

    Security guru Bruce Schneier has questioned some of the excuses coming from the antivirus industry as to why it is taking them so long to pick up advanced malware like Flame and Stuxnet. Schneier's scolding was inspired by a mea culpa published in Wired by F-Secure's top security man, Mikko Hypponen. He admitted that when …

    Security 19 Jun 20:14

  • Assange takes refuge in Ecuadorian embassy

    Seeks asylum over extradition to Sweden

    Julian Assange has sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and is seeking asylum over the decision by the UK courts to extradite him to Sweden. "This afternoon Mr Julian Assange arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy seeking political asylum from the Ecuadorian government,' said the Ecuadorians in a statement. "As a …

    Government 19 Jun 21:12

  • Unisys upgrades Libra mainframes with Xeon E5s

    A ClearPath off of custom silicon – eventually

    Intel has just upgraded its server processors with a slew of Xeon E5s this spring, and that means it is time for mainframe maker Unisys to start gussying up the Xeon-based variants in its ClearPath family. Unisys has two different families of mainframes in the ClearPath line. From its Burroughs heritage comes the Libra family …

    Servers 19 Jun 23:06

  • Consumer Affairs Victoria says App Store contains malware

    Consumer advisory on hacked iTunes accounts may go a little too far

    Consumer Affairs Victoria has claimed Apple's App Store houses "counterfeit or 'cloned' apps" that "look like real apps but don't have the same kind of security as those made by established software programmers" and "can expose personal data to malware or predatory, virus-like software which can be used to steal personal …

    Security 19 Jun 23:17

  • Mellanox to provide InfiniBand for CSIRO super

    From switches down to cables

    Mellanox is to supply the InfiniBand infrastructure for Australia's national science agency CSIRO’s new supercomputer cluster being delivered by XENON Systems. In April, CSIRO, announced the contract for a 134-node, 390-GPU, 268-CPU cluster that the research agency expects will deliver 120 Teraflops performance when installed …

    HPC 19 Jun 23:28

  • Russia looks to microsatellites for science and shipping

    Like Sputnik, only better

    Russia is showing interest in the growing push to design and launch microsatellites, according to Voice of Russia. The news site says Russia’s Space Systems Company hopes that microsats – satellites which, like its original Sputnik, weigh less than 100kg but are much more capable – can gather data to help predict natural …

    Science 19 Jun 23:51