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12th July 2012 Archive

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  • Vodafone NZ swoops on TelstraClear

    Goes full service for AUD$660m

    Telstra is shedding its struggling investment in New Zealand, TelstraClear, for $NZ840 million ($AU660 million) to rival Vodafone New Zealand. In one of the worst-kept corporate secrets in the Kiwi market, the transaction will see Vodafone acquire a robust voice and data network and evolve into a full service carrier to meet …

    Business 12 Jul 01:57

  • Foxconn trumps Apple to sit pretty on Fortune 500

    But Apple's profits will take some beating

    Contract manufacturer Foxconn managed to steal a march on its illustrious partner Apple this week after it was ranked several places higher than the fruity toy maker in the latest Fortune Global 500 rankings, with a whopping $117.5bn (£75.7bn) in revenues. The Taiwanese giant’s parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry was …

    Business 12 Jul 03:34

  • Pure Contour 200i Air wireless music system

    Review There's more to this than just AirPlay

    Sometimes, the only way to appreciate what a new technology or product can do for you is to actually try it. So when Pure dropped by the office and left a Contour 200i Air – its latest AirPlay savvy wireless music system – I felt dutybound to use it. Pure Contour 200i Air AirPlay wireless music system Now, I’m no stranger …

    reghardware 12 Jul 07:00

  • UK.gov's cost-cutting 'shared services' went £500m OVER BUDGET

    Five centres cost MORE than the expected savings

    The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found that five government shared services centres cost a total of £1.4bn to set up, £500m more than expected, and in some cases cost more than the expected saving. In its report on efficiency and reform through shared services, the PAC says that the five centres were expected to have …

    Channel Register 12 Jul 07:28

  • Huawei US bags defence biz strategist as new CSO

    Donald Purdy takes on tough role

    Huawei has appointed a former strategist for a US defence contractor as its new chief security officer, in what could be seen as an attempt to allay Congress concerns that the firm poses a national security risk. Donald Purdy, who held the role of chief cyber security strategist at CSC, started his job as the new CSO on …

    Business 12 Jul 07:54

  • Web snooping bill an 'odious shopping list of new gov powers'

    Spooks 'looking for a pin, creating field of haystacks' says David Davis

    Tory backbencher David Davis has described the government's draft communications surveillance law as an "odious shopping list" of new powers demanded by the Home Office. He told MPs and peers at a joint select committee hearing on Wednesday afternoon that UK spooks were "looking for a pin" but instead "creating a field of …

    Security 12 Jul 08:06

  • WD sees red, flogs NAS niche drives to SOHO punters

    Updated Colour-coded branding

    WD has spotted a NAS niche in the SOHO (small office/home office) market and introduced its Red drive specifically for such customers, simultaneously bringing colour-code branding to the fore, ahead of its Caviar and Scorpio brands. The Red hard drives are 1, 2 and 3TB 3.5-inch drives with a 6Gbit/s SATA interface and they are …

    Storage 12 Jul 08:22

  • Expert: BA doesn't need permission to google your face

    It's all legit, so don't forget to smile for the camera

    British Airways (BA) may not need passengers' consent in order to identify them using images available on the internet, an expert has said. Data protection law specialist Danielle van der Merwe of Pinsent Masons (the law firm behind Out-Law.com), said that the company could argue that it is in its legitimate interests to …

    Security 12 Jul 08:41

  • Tosh spins up faster, longer-lasting head-turner for big biz

    Double-jointed petite holds 900GB

    On the day WD saw red, Toshiba went faster with a 10,500rpm model of its enterprise-grade small-form factor disk drive and bumped capacity to 900GB. The AL13SE updates the earlier AL12 (MBF2) drive that spins at 10,025rpm and stores up to 600GB of data. There is also a 15,000rpm MKxxxGRRB in the AL12 family using technology …

    Storage 12 Jul 09:02

  • Japanese IT glitch leaves foreigners' ID cards incomplete

    Issued without signature

    A computer error has been blamed after countless foreign residents in Japan received new ID cards this week without the key addition of an electronic signature designed to prevent counterfeiting. The Immigration Bureau began issuing the new zairyu cards for the first time on Monday but soon realised that a technical …

    Security 12 Jul 09:17

  • O2's titsup network struggles to find its feet

    Have you tried switching it off and on again?

    O2's mobile network is struggling to its feet after a 19-hour outage left thousands of customers unable to make or receive calls. This morning 2G should be working again but 3G remains patchy. That's according to the sluggish status page, which, between apologies, claims the 3G service is slowly being revived. The telco …

    Mobile 12 Jul 09:28

  • Religious wars brewing in ICANN gTLD expansion

    Plus: Christian group vents rage over 'brain-rewiring' smut

    Religious convictions are emerging as the key battle line in the massive domain name expansion currently in progress at internet addressing overlord ICANN. Morality in Media, a largely Christian, US-based anti-pornography group, has become the first religious organisation to kick off a formal campaign against what it seems a “ …

    Hosting 12 Jul 09:47

  • BBC mulls seizing the wheel of Local TV

    Auntie in line to get £25m from... the BBC

    The BBC is considering a bid for control of the Local TV multiplex, putting the national broadcaster in line for £25m from the pockets of the, er, national broadcaster. Local TV is the UK coalition government's attempt to squeeze 20 small-area telly stations into the White Space gaps of unused radio spectrum in an effort to …

    Broadband 12 Jul 10:04

  • LOHAN to brew thermite for hot ignition action

    Come on baby light my fire...

    The first rocket motor tests in our magnificent Rocketry Experimental High Altitude Barosimulator (REHAB) rig went with a whimper rather than a bang earlier this week, as both solid propellants failed to ignite. Despite the best efforts of the SPB's elite team, who occupied the Plaza de Toros in the Spanish town of Béjar for …

    SPB 12 Jul 10:18

  • Instagram bug 'exposed' hipsters' private photos to strangers

    Privacy flap at Facebook-acquired firm shocker

    A just-patched vulnerability in Instagram potentially exposed hipsters' private photos and more to strangers. A bug in the popular photo touch-up utility, acquired by Facebook in April for $1bn, allowed malicious users to add themselves as "friends" to individual accounts without permission and view snaps marked as private. …

    Security 12 Jul 10:33

  • Yahoo! hack! leaks! 453,000! unencrypted passwords!

    UNION ALL SELECT here, we, go, again FROM passwords

    A Yahoo! service has apparently succumbed to a simple database attack that leaked 453,000 unencrypted account passwords online. A huge document containing the lifted SQL structures, software variables, usernames and cleartext passwords was linked to from a web forum. In the file, the hackers described the break-in as "a wake- …

    Security 12 Jul 10:48

  • Apple MacBook Pro 13in

    Review Simply the best? Um…

    Shock horror – Apple laptop in so-so review scandal. The latest MacBook Pro with Retina Display may be setting a new standard at the top of the range, however, this modest update for the standard 13in MacBook Pro looks rather like it’s resting on its laurels. Apple's MacBook Pro 13in: available with Intel Core i5 or Core i7 …

    reghardware 12 Jul 11:00

  • Indian software pirating suspect faces US extradition

    FBI indicted Mumbai man in 2010

    An alleged software counterfeiter from India faces possible US extradition. Nikhil Kablekar, 29, a resident in the Mumbai suburb of Andheri, was arrested by Indian police Wednesday afternoon over alleged hacking and copyright violation offences. Computers, CDs, USB sticks and other evidence was seized from his home by Mumbai …

    Security 12 Jul 11:17

  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM for iPad and Android hits 6-month delay

    Mobe support moves from Q2 to Q4

    Mobile support for Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM suite has been delayed until the end of 2012. Concern over poor design and finish of the application port seem to be behind the delay. Back in April, Microsoft promised that Dynamics CRM for iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 would be available between April and …

    Applications 12 Jul 11:41

  • Avnet TS swallows bite-sized Mattelli

    IT tracking firm falls into bulging belly of services

    Avnet Technology Solutions has devoured IT estate management small fry Mattelli as it builds out a services portfolio. This comes just a week after Avnet TS acquired enterprise distie Magirus and some months after it took over IBM reseller and consultancy Ascendant Technologies. Cheshire-based Mattelli developed the UNITY …

    Channel Register 12 Jul 11:57

  • Asteroid miners to strap 'scopes to new Virgin Galactic rocket

    Rock diggers want to cash in on SPAAAACE

    Washington-based Planetary Resources is pursuing the dream of mining near-Earth asteroids, signing a deal with the UK's Virgin Galactic for payload services. Planetary Resoures wants to use Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne booster to blast a series of robot craft into space to pave the way for asteroid mining. The firm's Arkyd- …

    Space 12 Jul 12:02

  • NASA launches iPhone spaceship app in 3D SPAAAAACE!

    Augmented reality puts Curiosity on a sheet of foolscap...

    NASA has released an app that allows would-be rocket scientists get up close and personal with the agency's spacecraft. Spacecraft 3D, made at NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL), uses augmented reality animation to show how the spacecraft moves and to allow users to move its outer components. The app, currently available only …

    Applications 12 Jul 12:22

  • Mountains of unsold tech? Ha ha, we're not falling for THAT again!

    Sales freeze lets Lenovo close in on HP's top spot

    Global PC sales stagnated in Q2 as distributors and retailers - cautious of rising inventory levels - bought conservatively. Bean counters Gartner estimated that 87.4 million boxes were flogged into the channel and IDC settled on 86.7 million units - both sets of preliminary figures represent a market decline of 0.1 per cent …

    Channel Register 12 Jul 13:03

  • Er, you remember you tried to sell me that security package...

    Selling cloud security in the real world

    We all know a real world example can make all the difference when selling technology. Nothing mows down those objections like seeing the company's crowd jewels disappearing as fast as your broadband provider can upload. But at the same time, you can't wait till all your customers have had a major security scare before warning …

    Channel Register 12 Jul 13:17

  • Rovio chucks up Angry Birds successor, hopes it will fly

    Flogging bought-in talent's Amazing Alex for 64p

    Rovio has launched its follow-up to mobile gaming phenomenon Angry Birds, but this time even Android users will have to cough up to play. The game is called Amazing Alex, and it will set you back 64 pence (99 cents) on iOS or Android, but it used to be called Casey's Contraptions when it was sold to Rovio by game devs Mystery …

    Media 12 Jul 13:33

  • VeloBit beats big boys with SSD caching software – indie benchmarker

    But can flashy start-up bag a deal with a server flash supplier?

    Two-year-old SSD software company VeloBit's HyperCache product can make Fusion-io flash run four times faster than SanDisk caching software, at least according to an independent benchmarker. Flash caches run faster the faster you can identify and stuff hot data into them. The Demartek testing organisation compared TPCC …

    Storage 12 Jul 14:02

  • Move over Raspberry Pi, give kids a Radio Ham Pi - minister

    Hobbyists spark an interest in electronics

    Schoolchildren should be given simple radio kits to build so they can learn basic electronics, communications minister Ed Vaizey said yesterday. "It would be great to get amateur radio kits in schools like we have with the Raspberry Pi," he added, referring to the cheap PC that's sneaking into classrooms to promote computer …

    Broadband 12 Jul 15:01

  • SAP trousers €1bn quarter in software sales, fumbles profit

    Prelims are best ever but net income can't keep up

    Business is so good at software industry bellwether SAP that it felt compelled to pre-announce its financial results for its fiscal Q2. In the past three months, SAP broke €1bn in new software licence sales for the first time and posted its best second quarter ever. The preliminary figures show SAP on a roll, with its tenth …

    Financial News 12 Jul 15:28

  • Russia hands out 4G licences in an instant

    See, Ofcom, it can be done

    The Russian regulator has skipped over all that auction nonsense to award 4G licences to the four network operators, denying licences to three others, but then Russia has had 4G for years. The state-owned Rostelecom got one licence, surprising no one, and the other three went to Russia's Big Three mobe operators – MTS, …

    Broadband 12 Jul 16:04

  • Google sued over mobile Chrome by patent firm

    Smart, simplified navigation system fingered

    Google’s mobile Chrome browser is facing its first patent suit in a Texas court. EMG Technology has accused Google of infringing a patent covering simplified navigation on smartphones and tablets. EMG, based in Santa Monica, California, is seeking unspecified damages and the standard injunction preventing the distribution and …

    Law 12 Jul 16:35

  • Big Blue uncloaks multitalented 40GbE RackSwitch

    Aggregating east-west traffic

    IBM wants to be a player in networking, and that means getting 40 Gigabit Ethernet switches out the door to compete with those from Cisco Systems, Mellanox Technologies, Dell, HP, and others. With the 10GbE ramp well under way at the edge in the data center, thoughts naturally turn toward using faster switches at the …

    Data Networking 12 Jul 17:47

  • Oatmealer rubs Operation Bear Love cash in troll's face

    Overmatched FunnyJunk lawyer yanks legal action

    The strange saga of the Oatmeal creator and the litigious troll has come to an end, with the public display of $211,223.04 arranged in a large FU. Cartoonist Matthew Inman collected the money after receiving a letter from a lawyer representing FunnyJunk over comments Inman made in his blog a year ago about the comics …

    Law 12 Jul 18:34

  • Toshiba, LG pop $571m to end LCD price fixing suit – want some?

    'We did nothing wrong, but take the money anyway'

    Toshiba, LG Display, and AUO Optronics are the latest companies to settle in the ongoing LCD price-fixing drama, and their combined $571m payout will put cash in the pockets of American flat-panel buyers. The total settlement in the class action suit includes $27.5m to be paid in civil penalties to eight states, plus an …

    Law 12 Jul 19:19

  • Viasat lands NBN Co satellite tender

    Hundreds of new jobs and satellite dishes set to follow

    In a move sure to spark another round of Australian supplier angst, US corporate and military satellite provider ViaSat Inc has secured NBN Co’s coveted regional satellite tender, valued at an initial $AU280 million. The Long Term Satellite System is slated to begin commercial service in 2015 and cover around 200,000 premises …

    Business 12 Jul 21:22

  • AMD slips modest speed bump into 'Abu Dhabi' Opterons

    But just what's inside those 'Piledriver' cores?

    Abu Dhabi, the Middle Eastern country that created the investment vehicle that bought the foundry business from AMD, is likely a bigger deal to the future of the chip maker than the forthcoming "Abu Dhabi" Opteron processors, especially if you look at those CPUs' clock speeds. Not that AMD made any promises of big clock-speed …

    Servers 12 Jul 21:36

  • Microsoft hatches Bing Fund incubator for startups

    With luck, entrepreneurs can be as successful as the Bing boyz

    After weeks of dropping hints, Microsoft has finally taken the wraps off the Bing Fund, its new incubator for startup companies – and its website is already accepting applications, should you be in need of cash. "Bing Fund is an angel fund with an incubator program, founded by entrepreneurs, sponsored by Bing, and backed by …

    Developer 12 Jul 21:43

  • Early verdict on Intel Ultrabook™ push: FAIL

    Analyst: MacBook Air handily outpaces svelte competitors

    Intel's much-ballyhooed ultrabook effort is not working out quite as well as Chipzilla had hoped, with global sales of the thin and light laptops falling well behind expectations. "The volume isn't there and it's going to be way below what Intel had hoped for," IDC analyst Jay Chou told CNET on Wednesday. Intel's vision of …

    Hardware 12 Jul 21:50

  • Online retail drives card fraud in Oz

    Reach for the cheque-book

    OK, so nobody uses cheques any more: as a result, fraud based on the venerable paper slip with a signature is now well-and-truly eclipsed by online credit card fraud, according to the Australian Payments Clearing Association. The APCA has released its latest survey of payment fraud, in which it reports that “card not present …

    Security 12 Jul 22:30

  • Kiwi pooches turn into ROACH MUNCHING DOPE FIENDS

    Red-eye, munchies, freezing to death

    New Zealanders are being warned against letting the family dog at leftover whacky-baccy, with vets reporting a rash of hash-whacked pooches copping hypothermia and needing drip-treatment to survive. Outlet Stuff.co.nz is reporting that vets in the Kiwi city of Hamilton are fretting at the number of dogs arriving for treatment …

    Odds and Sods 12 Jul 23:00