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26th June 2012 Archive

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  • Enterprises clueless about network usage: IBM

    Social media, apps create security time-bombs

    The average Australian business is in the dark when it comes to what is happening on its networks due to the rise of hand held devices, social media and apps crowding the enterprise environment, according to IBM security experts. “Most organisations have no idea what is going on across their networks. No idea,” IBM Security …

    Security 26 Jun 03:52

  • NEC escapes after 10 BILLION YEN tax conundrum

    Tokyo taxman accuses firm of hiding income

    Ailing Japanese computing giant NEC has been accused by domestic tax authorities of avoiding tax to the tune of over 10 billion yen (£80.2m), although it managed to escape punishment due to its poor financial health. The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau argued that NEC had orchestrated the cover-up over a three year period …

    Financial News 26 Jun 03:53

  • Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo

    Review A Mac's best friend?

    It's over a year since Apple began shipping Macs fitted with next-generation high bandwidth Thunderbolt ports, and they're now in the hands of millions of punters. But with Thunderbolt peripherals still few on the ground, they're all dressed up with nowhere to go. Mac aware: Western Digital's My Book Thunderbolt Duo The …

    reghardware 26 Jun 06:00

  • Low-cost Aakash tablet scheme is back on track

    Smarter, better, faster, stronger

    A new version of the ultra low-cost Aakash tablet built by British firm DataWind has been announced by the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), with deliveries to over 100,000 students and teachers nationwide expected from July. The institute took over the project – designed to empower students and teachers in the …

    Hardware 26 Jun 06:12

  • Report: EMC walks away with dedupe appliance market

    Pathetic rivals handed it the world on a, erm, platter

    When it comes to the disk-based backup appliance market, there is EMC and IBM and then there is everyone else. Market analyst IDC has just released a report, "Worldwide Purpose-Built Backup Appliance 2012–2016 Forecast and 2011 Vendor Shares", that shows EMC utterly dominating the disk-based backup appliance market with its …

    Storage 26 Jun 06:29

  • NetApp: Steenkin' benchmarks – we're quicker than 3PAR

    Unless it is your goal just to run benchmarks of course

    Playing the latency card, NetApp says it has a faster array than 3PAR – despite having a lower SPC-1 benchmark score. A 6-node FAS6240 cluster SPC-1 benchmark (PDF) result has been posted. SPC-1 is a storage array benchmark measuring the number of IOs per second (IOPS) to data accessed over Fibre Channel as blocks rather than …

    Storage 26 Jun 07:00

  • Group launches to promote iOS for business

    All aboard the Apple love train

    Corporate fanbois rejoice – a new consortium has been launched in Japan designed to spur the adoption of iOS in enterprise environments. The new group has 15 initial members from industries as far removed as software development and nappy-manufacturing, each of whom will be charged $3,000 a year for the privilege, according to …

    Business 26 Jun 07:15

  • Net publishing happens in the server AND the eyeball, says EU Bot

    Ambiguity rips up the very fabric of time and space

    Online publishing of information takes place both in the location from where the information is served and the location where it is read, an advisor to Europe's highest court has said. Advocate General Yves Bot said the internet was a complex communications network and that the High Court in the UK had been wrong to determine …

    Cloud Business 26 Jun 07:19

  • Lithe British youngsters prioritise fun over privacy and security

    Merrily allow themselves to be slurped and probed

    Silver surfers are more switched on about security than youngsters, even though the 18-25 age group are generally considered a more tech-savvy generation. Young adults who have been around computers all their lives tend to prioritise entertainment and community over security and privacy, according to a new survey. The survey …

    Security 26 Jun 07:39

  • Cabinet Office pilots sales website for small IT suppliers

    Pops open tiny bunghole for SME access to porkbarrel

    The Cabinet Office is piloting a website intended to be an "interactive forum" to help small businesses communicate with government and find out about ways to sell to the public sector. Known as Solutions Exchange, the website has been divided into two sections. The first, 'challenges', focuses on emerging opportunities to …

    Small Biz 26 Jun 07:58

  • Bonking for money to be built into the next iPhone

    Just rub it against the sweet spot to get what you want

    Dismantling code allegedly from the next iPhone 9-to-5 Mac has discovered Near Field Communications embedded in the hardware, paving the way for Apple Commerce come 2013. The code comes from two prototype handsets 9-to-5 Mac reckons are knocking around Cuppertino in the hands of trusted developers and engineers. The rumour …

    Hardware 26 Jun 08:14

  • Apple, Penguin, Macmillan to face feds in court - next year

    G-men want more time to probe Fruitbook affair

    Apple and book publishers are facing a trial next year over the allegations they colluded on ebook prices to squeeze Amazon out of the market. Judge Denise Cote told the fruity firm and the two bookhouses that haven't settled, Penguin and Macmillan, that the case will start in June next year, Bloomberg reported. Three other …

    Cloud Business 26 Jun 08:31

  • Google orders spontaneous support for Parliamentary motion

    Exclusive We need other people's stuff to run ads by

    Google's influence on the UK copyright agenda is a little clearer today, thanks to an email seen by The Register. The email is a rallying cry to 'independent' copyright activists. In the email, Google's head of UK policy, Theo Bertram, urges the recipients to rally supporters behind a Parliamentary Early Day Motion in favour …

    Cloud Business 26 Jun 08:44

  • Tape so does not suck, insists EMC

    Blocks and Files It totally rocks, like Engelbert Humperdinck

    Does EMC still think tape sucks? Nah, that is so last year – at least, if the storage giant's tech conference at the beginning of this month is anything to go by. A funny thing happened at EMC World in Las Vegas this year: tape library vendor SpectraLogic exhibited there. Weird. Still, on the face of it, it's no weirder than …

    Storage 26 Jun 09:00

  • Even Apples sometimes have worms in them, admits Cupertino

    Sinful humans can drag down even angelic Macs

    Mac computers can be buggy, Apple has finally admitted. Two days ago the firm quietly pulled the claim that the iOS PCs are immune to viruses from its website. The purveyor of shinier-more-expensive desktops has replaced its former claim with the more cautious statement that Macs are "built to be safe". The change was made to …

    Security 26 Jun 09:22

  • TechRadar shuts down forums after user database hacked

    Emails, DoBs and passwords stolen from UK tech site

    Registered users of TechRadar have had personal details including their email addresses and dates of birth stolen in a breach of the UK consumer tech website's database. The online publication sent out emails to all users and posted an announcement on its site warning that its user registration database had been hacked, adding …

    Security 26 Jun 09:43

  • Sheryl Sandberg finally adds woman's touch to Facebook board

    She makes us get bigger ... bitch

    Mark Zuckerberg's right-hand woman, Sheryl Sandberg, has joined Facebook's no-longer-male-only board of directors. The Google alumnus, who was brought in by Zuck in 2008 to beef up the social network's advertising prowess, has been the company's chief operating officer for four years. The company's number two was finally …

    Cloud Business 26 Jun 09:51

  • DDR 4 sets the pace for fast memory

    Extreme Hardware Ramping up the Ram

    Reducing the size of chips has benefits beyond those seen in CPUs and GPUs. One other key component to gain an advantage is memory. The specification of the next generation of memory module, DDR 4 (DDR stands for 'double data rate'), is currently being finalised ahead of its anticipated launch later this year. It will use less …

    reghardware 26 Jun 10:00

  • Ofcom: Here come the UK online copyright rules ... in 2015. Maybe

    Bloke who nicked your stuff might be unmasked then

    Ofcom has finally published a draft obligations code that specifies how the UK's largest ISPs should respond to copyright infringement notifications for a one-year monitoring period. The Code is part of proposals passed in 2010 as the Digital Economy Act. The DEA, however, has run into several difficulties since its passing, …

    Media 26 Jun 10:40

  • Ford touts tech to bottle up traffic jams

    Caveat: requires perfectly marked, cyclist-free roads

    Ford today promised to help motorists keep moving through heavy traffic, but the caveats it's applying to its prototype mean we won't be jam free for quite some time. Appropriately dubbed "Traffic Jam Assist", the technology Ford was keen to tout today uses radar and cameras to track other vehicles and road markings while …

    reghardware 26 Jun 10:44

  • Microsoft's Surface plan means the world belongs to Android now

    Open ... and Shut Not everybody's a fanboi or a Microtard

    Microsoft roared onto the mobile scene last week with the unveiling of its Surface tablet, but Acer is probably right to question why Microsoft would fight premium iPads with a premium Surface. After all, the next 10 million apps, and the next billion users, are not going to come from the developed, saturated markets of North …

    Operating Systems 26 Jun 10:50

  • FolderSync

    Android App of the Week Combining clouds

    When Microsoft recently offered users 25GB of free SkyDrive storage it highlighted the lack of a good Android app to take advantage of it. Enter FolderSync, which lets you synchronise your Android folders with SkyDrive and just about every other cloud storage supplier. FolderSync supports most of the popular commercial cloud …

    reghardware 26 Jun 11:00

  • Facebook replaces non-Facebook mail addresses on Timeline

    We're big in mail the way Google+ is big in social! Bitch

    Over the weekend Mark Zuckerberg's recently floated company began quietly displaying @Facebook email addresses on all of its users' Timelines. The move immediately sparked anger from Facebookers, who complained that their third party email account names – such as Gmail or Hotmail – had been unceremoniously replaced without …

    Cloud Business 26 Jun 11:10

  • Apple will only reinstate mute kids' app if makers win patent case

    Cupertino: 'We ALWAYS pull apps from Store during legal battles'

    Apple will not choke off sales of an iPad application that helps disabled children talk from its App Store if the speech therapists behind the app win the patents case that has been brought against them, The Register understands. Parents of speech-impaired kids using the iPad app 'Speak For Yourself' were distressed when Apple …

    Applications 26 Jun 11:33

  • 'Inexperienced' RBS tech operative's blunder led to banking meltdown

    Exclusive Hyderabad job ad shows outsourcing in CA-7 team

    A serious error committed by an "inexperienced operative" caused the IT meltdown which crippled the RBS banks last week, a source familiar with the matter has told The Register. Job adverts show that at least some of the team responsible for the blunder were recruited earlier this year in India following IT job cuts at RBS in …

    Financial News 26 Jun 11:56

  • US trade body to 'revisit' Motorola's sole patent win over Apple

    Commission must eye initial ruling, decide whether to BAN iPHONE in USA

    The US International Trade Commission has said that it will be revisiting an initial ruling made in April that Apple had infringed on one of Motorola Mobility's patents. Moto, now owned by Google, tried to pin four patent infringements on the fruity firm, but the ITC's administrative law judge only agreed on one in his initial …

    Mobile 26 Jun 12:06

  • MI5 boss: Cyber spies, web-enabled crooks threaten UK economy

    Security Service head warns of organised hacker peril

    The Director General of MI5 said that both business and government was on the front line of cyber attacks – and that assaults by both criminal hackers and foreign governments had reached an industrial scale. Delivering Lord Mayor’s Annual Defence and Security Lecture in London last night, Jonathan Evans revealed that MI5 is …

    Security 26 Jun 12:19

  • Wheezing Guardian flogs radio biz for quick cash

    Rumoured spelling errors on paperwork could delay deal

    The Guardian newspaper may not actually be published on paper for very much longer – but the sale of the parent group's radio stations to Global Radio may buy it a little more time. The UK's largest commercial radio company, Global Radio, yesterday acquired GMG Radio – which runs the Smooth Radio and Real Radio stations – for …

    Media 26 Jun 12:58

  • Chess algorithm written by Alan Turing goes up against Kasparov

    Performs exactly the way a real human would

    Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has played one of the first computer chess programs ever created, written over 60 years ago by Alan Turing. Credit: VideoLectures.net As part of the University of Manchester's Alan Turing Centenary Conference, Kasparov took on Turochamp, an algorithm that Turing wrote by hand, but never had …

    Rise of the Machines 26 Jun 13:24

  • Anxiety grips HP as new EMEA chief comes aboard from Nokia

    Atmos was much worse at my old job

    HP could not find an internal candidate to lead the Technology Consulting business across EMEA, so it has raided Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and made off with Eric Pradier. Pradier joins the tech titan as veep and MD for the unit, reporting to Johan Deschuyffeleer, the regional boss of HP's Technology Services. Sources have …

    Channel Register 26 Jun 13:52

  • Microsoft: no plans to make own phones

    Happy with Nokia and co.

    Microsoft has categorically denied it plans to enter the smartphone hardware business. It remains satisfied, it insisted, with its current manufacturing partners. Following the announcement of Microsoft Surface, the company's own-brand entry into the tablet market, speculation has been rife that it make the obvious next step …

    reghardware 26 Jun 14:00

  • Russian K-force operatives cuff suspected Carberp trojan bank raider

    Nobody steals from the Rodina, citizen

    Russian police have arrested a 22-year-old man suspected of running a bank fraud network that infected six million machines, raking in an estimated 150 million roubles ($4.5m or £2.9m) in ill-gotten gains in the process. The unnamed suspect, who is alleged to be the hacker known by the online nicknames "Hermes" and "Arashi", …

    Security 26 Jun 15:01

  • Nokia details 808 Pureview release

    41Mp camera-phone Blighty bound

    Nokia has said the 808 Pureview - its Symbian-running smartphone with a stupendous 41Mp snapper - will hit shop shelves in the UK later this week. The Finnish firm confirmed the 808 will roll out on 30 June, with an unlocked, Sim-free launch price just shy of the £500 mark. While the 808 boasts a 1.3GHz processor, a 4in, 360 …

    reghardware 26 Jun 15:15

  • BioWare gives fans new Mass Effect 3 ending

    Extended explanation available now

    Mass Effect 3 owners unhappy with the game's ending will be pleased to know they can now get their mitts on an expanded version, with additional scenes and an extended epilogue to reveal the impact Commander Shepard's choices have on the future of the galaxy. Those with Mass Effect 3 on the Xbox 360 can start downloading the 1 …

    reghardware 26 Jun 15:15

  • Acer bigwig sees gloomy future for Ultrabooks in Europe

    These people just aren't ready to take a 13-incher

    Acer has downgraded sales forecasts for Ultrabooks as the relatively hefty price tag and smaller screen size continues to limit adoption in Europe. The PC maker had expected the super skinny platform to comprise between 25 and 35 per cent of total notebook sales globally by the end of this year. "Overall the Ultrabook segment …

    Channel Register 26 Jun 15:52

  • Red Hat shifts PaaS cloud into production gear

    OpenShift morphs into FreeShift, MegaShift, and PetaShift

    Red Hat is hosting its JBoss World and Red Hat Summit events side-by-side in Boston this week, where it kicked off the festivities by revealing its plans to commercialize its OpenShift platform cloud, which had thus far been in beta and relegated mostly to Java developers looking for a place to let their code roam on Shadowman's …

    Platform 26 Jun 17:02

  • Cliqr control freaks apps across many clouds

    Google I Owe – and Foundation Capital, too

    Moving applications between clouds is arguably not much easier than moving them from physical machines, and there are very good (if disappointed) economic reasons for that. There will be no shortage of companies that are going to try to make a killing thwarting the proprietary nature of all IT vendors, whether they sell …

    Infrastructure 26 Jun 20:58

  • Telstra’s filter supplier also blocks for Qatar, Yemen, UAE

    Updated: Telstra Responds, stops collection The company you keep

    Netsweeper, the Internet filtering supplier linked to Telstra’s voluntary filter trial is also a supplier to the Yemen, the UAE and Qatar. Telstra’s URL data collection for users of its 3G data services was originally noted in Australian broadband community site Whirlpool and followed up by the Australian Network Operators …

    Broadband 26 Jun 21:48

  • Apple users get pricier hotel options from Orbitz

    Booking site offers PC users cheaper choices

    Online booking site Orbitz has run into PR problems with an experiment in differentiated selling between Apple and PC users. Analysis by the Wall Street Journal showed that on Orbitz's basic search Apple accounts were shown hotels at the pricier end of the market, costing an average of 30 per cent more than those offered to PC …

    Business 26 Jun 22:25

  • Hotelier faces FTC data breach lawsuit

    Agency claims Wyndam’s security inadequate, credit card info sent to Russia

    “Repeated failures” to protect customer data have led the FTC to file a data breach lawsuit against hotel operator Wyndham Worldwide, whose brands include Ramada Days Inn, Travelodge, Super 8 and Howard Johnson. According to Reuters, the US regulator alleges that Wyndham’s slack security “led to hundreds of thousands of …

    Security 26 Jun 22:35

  • Super Micro fattens up Xeon E5 nodes with FatTwins

    Crammed with fat memory or fat disk – you pick

    The chassis is the new rack, at least for customers who want cheap server nodes and none of that fancy schmancy management software that comes in blade servers, but who do want the density and shared power. So Super Micro, an early maker of half-width motherboards that allowed servers to be double- and quadruple-stuffed with …

    Servers 26 Jun 22:42