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13th July 2012 Archive

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  • Digg, deep in the hole, sells self for $500K

    All that's left is to shovel in the dirt and plant the daisy

    Social news- and link-sharing site Digg has sold itself to New York technology incubator Betaworks for the paltry sum of $500,000. The Wall Street Journal reports that Betaworks does not plan to retain any of Digg's current employees. "Over the last few months, we've considered many options of where Digg could go," writes …

    Business 13 Jul 00:19

  • Christians get God-optimized 'Edifi' Android fondleslab

    Holiest tablet since Moses was gifted by a burning bush

    The tablet market is getting increasingly competitive these days, but an American company believes its offering may have a unique selling point: it's a fondleslab for the faithful. Dubbed the Edifi, the seven-inch device is billed as the first tablet computer designed specifically for Christians, and comes with streaming …

    Hardware 13 Jul 00:20

  • 'Extreme' solar storm speeding straight towards Earth

    Things could get interesting on Saturday

    On Thursday at 5:53pm in London – 12:53pm in New York – the sun let loose with a hefty solar flare, resulting in a coronal mass ejection (CME) headed straight towards Earth that will likely arrive on Saturday at 10:20 UT, give or take about seven hours. The flare was big, though not ginormous. As reported by SpaceWeather.com, …

    Science 13 Jul 00:25

  • WikiWin: Icelandic court orders Visa to process WikiLeaks $$$

    Financial ban lifted in Assange victory

    WikiLeaks could be seeing an influx of funds after an Icelandic court ruled that Valitor, the local agent for Visa, broke the law when it stopped taking donations for the website. The court found that Valitor had broken contract laws when it stopped accepting payments sent to WikiLeaks by Visa customers in July 2011. WikiLeaks …

    Law 13 Jul 00:45

  • FBI investigates ZTE cover-up allegations

    Report claims ZTE sold illegal tech to Iran

    The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Chinese telecoms kit maker ZTE flouted United States laws by selling technology from US firms to Iran and then deliberately covering its tracks once the media caught wind. The Smoking Gun claims to have obtained a top secret FBI affidavit which reveals that …

    Security 13 Jul 04:15

  • Apple pulls China Japan war game amid diplomatic tensions

    Chinese censors let Apple do the hard work

    Apple has done its bit to defuse rapidly escalating tensions between China and Japan, by pulling an inflammatory iOS game in which the player is tasked with defending a disputed set of islands in the East China Sea from the invading Japanese. Defend the Diaoyu Islands was taken down “recently” from the Chinese App Store, its …

    Business 13 Jul 04:45

  • Sigma SD1 Merill 46Mp DSLR

    Review Cut-price, hi-res hot shot

    The Sigma SD1 might not be a household name but some of you will certainly be familiar with it. Launched at Photokina in 2010, the SD1 was the first and only DSLR to show off a sensor based on an entirely new technology. Albeit akin to an APS-C format, the SD1’s Foveon sensor was capable of capturing three times as much colour …

    Hardware 13 Jul 07:00

  • Gambling site's 'no strings attached' offer had strings attached

    888.com's 'free bet' ad was misleading – ASA

    The UK's advertising watchdog has banned an online betting advert for free bets because the company behind it did not make clear that users needed to accumulate certain winnings before the money could be withdrawn. The advert for online casino 888.com contained information that was not properly qualified and omitted details …

    Media 13 Jul 07:03

  • Apple, Google and Amazon sneakier than BANKERS and OIL FIRMS

    Transparency survey fail for web stars

    Internet superstars score far lower than banks or oil companies on a measure of corporate governance released this week by an NGO funded by the UK. The report from Transparency International ranks the cream of Silicon Valley - Google and Apple, along with Amazon.com - at the bottom of a survey of 106 global companies. Amazon …

    Media 13 Jul 07:28

  • RIM boss accuses China of IP theft risk

    We're steering clear of PRC, says Heins

    RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has reignited the debate over whether China is a safe place to do business, after claiming this week that the BlackBerry-maker does not have any manufacturing bases in the country due to security concerns. Heins made the comments in a response to a question at the embattled smartphone firm’s annual …

    Business 13 Jul 07:31

  • London's Lambeth council vows: We'll share ALL the data we have

    Not yours of course...

    Lambeth council has announced plans to publish all the information it holds online for residents to use. The local authority said it intends to go one step further than simply publishing spending above £500, as all councils in England and Wales have been asked to do by central government, and will release information such as …

    Government 13 Jul 08:02

  • Phishers use less strident subject lines to deliver new cunning attacks

    'SECURITY ALERT' wasn't: 'Statement available' is

    The use of exploit kits is allowing phishing fraudsters to develop scams that only rely on tricking prospective marks into clicking a link, rather than submitting all their details to a bogus website. Many recent phishing runs spotted by Trend Micro have made use of the notorious Blackhole Exploit kit. The hacker favourite is …

    Security 13 Jul 08:22

  • Hams: We're good in a disaster – UK Radio Society boss

    Bearded radio fans also NASA's go-to guys for controlling Mars rovers

    They look unassuming, but these quiet types murmuring strings of numbers and letters into their transceivers are manning back-up comms for the world, the communication system most likely to survive an apocalyptic event. These are the people who maintain the kit we fall back on when masts jam, cables break and global comms fail …

    Broadband 13 Jul 08:37

  • UK's web super-snoop powers could be extended to councils

    'We don't know what we don't know yet'

    The UK Border Agency (UKBA), local councils and other bodies have until the end of next week to justify their right to access citizens' communications records. Home Secretary Theresa May appeared to offer a minor concession to civil liberties campaigners by considering excluding various public organisations from her proposed …

    Government 13 Jul 09:03

  • Another Microsoft Windows Phone exec legs it to Amazon

    Is a Kindle-like phone in the works?

    Another Microsoft Windows Phone executive has jumped ship for Amazon. Robert Williams, a WinPho business development boss, has left Redmond and tweeted he’s now “at work” at the online shopping centre. Williams had been with Microsoft at least until May. The move comes as reports suggest the retailer-turned-e-book-maker is …

    Operating Systems 13 Jul 09:21

  • 'O2 customers could try switching their phones off and on again'

    Quotw Plus: MacBook Pros leak hazardous goo all over the place

    This was the week when O2's network went titsup, leaving thousands of its users and GiffGaff mobile customers without the ability to make calls, write emoticon-laden texts or use 3G. Yes, that's right, they were CUT OFF FROM THE INTERNET. So, they were understandably peeved. As is traditional in these situations, O2 said it …

    Bootnotes 13 Jul 09:42

  • Nvidia admits forums hacked, user data swiped

    Updated GPU = Great Personal Upset?

    Nvidia has admitted that it suspended its user forums last week because they were hacked and posters' personal data lifted. The graphics chip maker said last night that its investigation following the discovery that "unauthorised third-parties gained access to some user information", specifically user login names, email …

    Hardware 13 Jul 09:52

  • How to fix the broken internet economy: START HERE

    Special report Tech and copyright – it's time to work together

    How can we begin to unpick the tangled mess that the technology and creative industries have created? There's certainly no shortage of blame to go around. In the past every new wave of technology has delivered healthy creative markets - but today this is no longer happening. Just 20 years since the birth of the internet …

    Media 13 Jul 10:06

  • Seize your moment, Microsoft: iPad is RUBBISH for enterprise

    Open ... and Shut Redmond's shortcomings could become assets in the post-PC era

    Apple has given us much with its pleasing-on-the-eye iPad. But what it hasn't given us is a serious replacement for the lowly laptop or desktop. As much as magazines like MacWorld may hype it as "The New Business Machine", the reality is that the iPad is only enterprise-ready in iFantasyLand. Across the board, Apple's iPad …

    Management 13 Jul 10:22

  • Google makes money on Nexus 7... just

    Cash for Flash

    Google will not, it seems, be selling its low-cost Nexus 7 Android tablet at a loss, but it's making less money out of the hardware than Amazon is with the Kindle Fire. The cost of the two seven-inch tablets' components and how much the two firms pay to have them assembled sees Google cough up $159.25 (£103.08) for the 8GB …

    Tablets 13 Jul 10:34

  • Google boss Larry Page debugged, voice still not fixed

    Softly spoken super-nerd now EVEN QUIETER

    Google's CEO Larry Page is back at work after being laid low for a few weeks by an undisclosed illness or bug that caused him to lose his voice. The search giant's chairman Eric Schmidt told reporters on Thursday that Page had returned to Google at the start of this week. "He's still recovering. Larry is doing much better," …

    Business 13 Jul 10:43

  • O2 outage outrage blamed on new Ericsson database

    Single point of access became single point of failure

    O2 has fixed its poorly mobile network, so now everyone can start asking what went wrong and what the company is going to do about it. O2's press office isn't responding to queries. However, our understanding from various sources is that the day-long outage was caused by the transition of subscribers' details to Ericsson's …

    Mobile 13 Jul 11:04

  • Exit the Dragon: Barracuda Network CEO stands down

    Security solutions firm might become bigger fish – Dean Drako

    Barracuda Networks co-founder and CEO Dean Drako is to quit, the content security appliance vendor has confirmed. During the past nine years Drako was a constant, also serving as president and chairman but from the middle of next week he will hand control to three fellow board members on an interim basis. Fellow founder and …

    The Channel 13 Jul 11:10

  • Tablets, copycats and Weird Al Yankovic

    Something for the weekend, Sir? Samsung does a Ratner by proxy

    "They are not as cool." With these five words, Judge Colin Birss became Samsung's friend and tormentor in one. He had just found in the company's favour in its defence against Apple but ruined the moment for Samsung by hinting that the Galaxy Tab was, well, a bit crap compared to an iPad. Cool tablet Birss effectively …

    Tablets 13 Jul 11:10

  • Native Americans arrived to find natives already there, fossil poo shows

    Ancient darts also found in possible prehistoric pub

    The ancient people who have long been thought to be the first humans to colonise North America were actually johnny-come-latelies, according to scientists who have comprehesively analysed the ancient fossilised poo of their predecessor Americans. The new revelations come to us courtesy of Copenhagen university, where some of …

    Science 13 Jul 11:23

  • Oiling the big wheels that keep the Paralympics moving

    Bladerunner techs and wheelchair wizards gear up

    The Olympic Games: just saying it conjures up images of top athletes straining for the finishing line, the crowd roaring during the 100 metres final, the heartbreak of a relay team dropping their baton, the sudden spurt in public expertise on sports such as shooting or three-day eventing as the medal tally highlights their …

    Science 13 Jul 11:42

  • Ex-EMC admin bod 'embezzled $220k on limos, hols, surgery'

    HQ worker charged over expenses claims

    An EMC Hopkinton HQ admin assistant has been charged with stealing $220,000 from the storage and virtualisation vendor, the District Attorney for the Middlesex District of Massachusetts has confirmed. She denies any wrongdoing. Madeline Vinton, 35, of Webster, Massachusetts, had been an admin assistant at EMC from April 2006 …

    Security 13 Jul 12:11

  • Oracle UK boss ousted to channel after 'sales slump'

    Callaghan job swap amid claims of missed targets

    Oracle UK and Ireland boss Dave Callaghan has been switched out of his role amid claims that the Blighty wing missed its sales target by about ten per cent. In a straight job swap, Callaghan has been handed control of EMEA channels and Dermot O'Kelly has moved in the opposite direction to take the hot seat. The exchange …

    The Channel 13 Jul 12:23

  • Fake sandwich shop's big fake Likes leave Facebook looking flaky

    Lies, damn Likes and statistics

    A fake business set up on Facebook by the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones received thousands of fake endorsements – and Facebook doesn't seem to care. Rory concludes, not unreasonably, that firms may be "wasting large sums of money on adverts to gain 'Likes' from Facebook members who have no real interest in their products". He also …

    Business 13 Jul 12:44

  • Small ISPs to Steelie Neelie: 'You've turned your back on us'

    Euro commish changes tune over telco copper price spanking

    Brussels' vice-president Neelie 'Steelie' Kroes has confirmed that telco incumbents in Europe will not be reprimanded for using copper pricing as a barrier to rolling out fibre networks. It's a change of tune from Kroes, who had proposed in October last year when public consultation on the pricing of access to broadband …

    Broadband 13 Jul 13:03

  • The drive to zero: How to retain margin the race to the bottom

    Resellers need to think on their feet

    Margins are important to the channel. Many resellers live or die by them – but there is of course much more to running a successful channel business than this simple metric alone. Unfortunately, many in the information security space have been sucked into a downwards spiral which threatens to ruin those channel partners who try …

    The Channel 13 Jul 13:09

  • Metro, that ribbon, shared mailboxes: Has Microsoft lost the plot?

    Sysadmin blog More money for the same functionality

    In a previous piece on Office 365, I discussed how difficult it was to enable public folders. The reality is that Office 365 doesn't support public folders in the traditional sense. Instead, to achieve a similar functionality to the most common use for public folders – a storage point for group emails – Microsoft have offered " …

    Servers 13 Jul 13:28

  • Computer-hack probe cops cuff suspect in Cardiff

    Sixth arrest under Operation Tuleta

    Scotland Yard officers investigating the hacking of computers have arrested a 55-year-old man in Cardiff. The Met said the unnamed suspect is in custody at a police station in the Welsh capital. He was detained this morning over alleged offences of the Computer Misuse Act and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The …

    Law 13 Jul 14:03

  • NVIDIA Developer Zone, user forums plundered in hack attack

    Yarr! These passwords be salty but the rest be plain

    Graphics processor biz NVIDIA has contacted users of its discussion forums and Developer Zone to warn that its servers have been hacked. The message boards hosted at forums.nvidia.com and the programming resource developer.nvidia.com were breached last week. Data lifted from the compromised systems included account passwords …

    Security 13 Jul 14:36

  • Lenovo: Hey just relax, Gartner – we can flog this stuff

    'We won't repeat Acer's 2011 mistakes'

    Lenovo needs to keep a close eye on inventory levels in the channel or risk heading down the same road to ruin that destroyed Acer's 2011, temporarily derailing its plans to become top dog in the PC arena. As revealed yesterday, the high-flying Chinese PC maker is within touching distance of HP, the world's largest shifter of …

    The Channel 13 Jul 15:01

  • Reg hack bumps into Cockfighter

    Surprise encounter in Spanish petrol station

    It's Friday, so we need no excuse to bring you the slightly strange tale of how this hack unexpectedly bumped into Cockfighter in a Spanish petrol station. Years back, I wrote a piece about Monte Hellman's 1974 cockfighting flick, which had to be pulled from the Edinburgh Film Festival because, as the title suggests, it …

    Bootnotes 13 Jul 15:32

  • US county named 'area of outstanding natural stupidity'

    Vulture Central honours trigger-happy Kitsap

    We recently promised to name Washington's Kitsap County 'an area of outstanding natural stupidity' (AOONS) if it could reach a critical mass of firearms-related idiocy. The Vulture Central critical mass required for an AOONS is three jaw-dropping tales of Darwin Award-worthy madness, and we're delighted to report that Kitsap …

    Bootnotes 13 Jul 16:08

  • Nasuni takes aim to kill off your ROBOadmin

    Dead or alive, you're coming into the cloud with me

    Nasuni has fulfilled its promise to add unified storage to its existing NAS cloud storage product. The tech is managed from a central site and branch offices no longer need an admin. Nasuni's cloud storage gateway appliance was originally just for file storage, and comes with local capacity for faster data access by the remote …

    Cloud 13 Jul 17:13

  • Microsoft to announce new Office version on Monday

    Promises 'most transformational' release ever

    Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is widely expected to announce details of the next version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite on Monday USA Today reports, giving the public its first glimpse of a product that has so far remained shrouded in secrecy. Microsoft has been calling the new version "Office 15," but come Monday we …

    Applications 13 Jul 19:18

  • Apple rejoins EPEAT green tech cert program

    Says the standards weren't strict enough for it

    Mere days after the City of San Francisco announced that it would ban departmental purchases of Apple products over environmental concerns, Cupertino has reversed its decision to withdraw from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) green standards program. "We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple …

    Data Center 13 Jul 21:01

  • Security fail for Apple as hacker cracks iOS in-app purchasing

    Developers could be seriously out of pocket

    A Russian hacker claims to have found a way to crack the in-app purchasing mechanism used in iOS so that users can get free content in a variety of applications. The hacker, dubbed ZonD80, posted a video of the crack on YouTube and claims that the technique makes it possible to beat Apple's payment systems by installing a …

    Security 13 Jul 21:07

  • Yahoo! fixes! password! leak! vulnerability!

    Urges users to change their logins

    Yahoo! has fixed the flaw that allowed hackers to scrape the unencrypted passwords of over 450,000 of its customers' accounts. "We have taken swift action and have now fixed this vulnerability, deployed additional security measures for affected Yahoo! users, enhanced our underlying security controls and are in the process of …

    Security 13 Jul 23:01