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25th July 2012 Archive

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  • Black Hat draws world hacking gang – and Apple – to Sin City

    Black Hat 2012 New faces, and a few old ones

    The 2012 Black Hat conference is kicking off in Las Vegas, and this year's session will see Apple presenting for the first time, as well as a reunion of some of the team behind the first briefings 15 years ago. Black Hat, and the associated DefCon sessions which follows it, is probably the largest collection of hardcore …

    Security 25 Jul 00:20

  • Google launches partner program for Cloud Platform

    Tools, training, and support for building cloudy apps

    It's official: Google's collection of cloud services is now known as the Google Cloud Platform, and to get everyone used to the idea, the search giant has kicked off a partner program for companies that can help customers use the cloudy offerings. Google began rolling out the new branding in June, but the Google Cloud Platform …

    Cloud 25 Jul 00:23

  • Japanese govt sucked dry for TWO YEARS by Trojan

    Nastie may have nicked meeting documents

    The Japanese government has uncovered an advanced Trojan attack which may have lain undiscovered on its networks leaking confidential data for over two years. The Finance Ministry told the local Kyodo news service that the first infection came in January 2010, with the most recent taking place in November 2011, after which the …

    Security 25 Jul 04:26

  • WTO to probe China rare earth stranglehold claims

    Better late than never

    The World Trade Organisation has finally agreed to investigate claims by the US, EU and Japan that China is unfairly strangling rare earth exports in order to favour its domestic manufacturing industry. The three complained back in March that China was pushing up prices and restricting exports of the minerals – which are …

    Business 25 Jul 05:42

  • Anonymous to expose 40GB of ISP data

    More than 600,000 Oz punters at risk

    Anonymous is preparing to reveal 40GB of data its members say came from an Australian internet service provider (ISP) and contains “600k+” of customer data. The Reg understands a “sample leak” will be released later today and that the organisation will take care to protect individuals' personal details. The activist …

    Security 25 Jul 05:51

  • Huawei profits tumble as global economy falters

    Crouching tiger tamed by fierce competition

    China’s largest telecoms kit maker Huawei has seen its profits for the first half of 2012 slump by nearly a quarter, thanks to the sluggish global economy. Huawei said that although sales revenue for the period increased 5.1 per cent from the same time last year to 102.7 billion yuan (£10.4bn), operating profits tumbled 22 per …

    Business 25 Jul 06:20

  • CO2 warms Earth FASTER than previously thought

    Atmospheric feedback loops can be rather swift, geologically speaking

    The time lag between increased quantities of CO2 reaching or leaving the atmosphere and global temperature change may be far shorter than previously thought, according to a new paper, Tightened constraints on the time-lag between Antarctic temperature and CO2 during the last deglaciation published this week by Climate of the …

    Science 25 Jul 06:48

  • Dell channels Dr Who, shoves Big Data into Small Data Tardis

    RainStor to play the time lord's photogenic assistant

    Dell reckons it can turn Big Data into, er, Small Data. Hoarded information could be squeezed down to size - potentially reducing disk occupancy by 97 per cent - if the tech titan's numbers add up. The company will bundle RainStor's deduping structured data software with one of its object storage system to provide a …

    Storage 25 Jul 07:02

  • What happens when Facebook follows MySpace?

    Open ... and Shut The web is no place for happy memories

    While it may be true that the web has an infinitely long memory, I'm struggling to figure out where to store pictures and anecdotes from the lives of my children. Given how quickly fashions change on the web - from MySpace to Facebook to Instagram to Twitter - it's hard to believe that anything, no matter how dominant it is …

    CIO 25 Jul 07:28

  • Droid X360 hybridises PS Vita and Android

    Nice knockoff

    The market is awash with knockoff consoles shipped from China, but some certainly look more appealing than others. Check out this Droid X360, a PlayStation Vita lookalike that runs Android 4.0. The Droid X360 from Shenzhen Xunlong packs a 1.5GHz processor, 512MB of Ram and a 5in display at 800 x 480 pixels. There's also a 2Mp …

    reghardware 25 Jul 07:45

  • India crowned global spam-spewing zombie king AGAIN

    Ha ha, do keep up, China

    India has cemented its position as the world's biggest fire hose of spam email, according to new figures. Hacked computers in the republic working on behalf of crooks spewed more than one in ten of the globe's spam mails in the last quarter, reported web security firm Sophos. India is home to 5.3 per cent of the world’s …

    Security 25 Jul 08:04

  • Commission to Euro biz: Show us your breaches

    Draft EU cyber-laws will ask firms to 'fess up about violations

    EU businesses could be required to flag up any breaches of their "network and information systems" under a new "strategic" action plan to combat cyber security problems across the trading bloc. The European Commission is planning to draft new laws on cyber security that could introduce a requirement for businesses to report …

    Cloud 25 Jul 08:19

  • Transport Dept dishes out £1.9m rail database deal to Capita

    DB admin checks passenger numbers, interior carriage volume ... faints

    The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded Capita Symonds a contract for a rail passenger counts database system, worth £1.9m. The database will allow all train operating companies (TOCs) to upload data about the number of passengers on train services into a single, standardised, database. "The data will then be used by …

    The Channel 25 Jul 08:46

  • EU edges toward dropping Google 'abuse of dominance' charges

    Fat concessions package pleases antitrust commish

    Europe's antitrust watchdog has said Google's revised proposed changes to its business practises, which came in the wake of "abuse of dominance" allegations, may be enough for the web giant to avoid formal penalties. European Commissioner for Competition Joaquin Almunia has "considered that the outline of proposals that Google …

    Government 25 Jul 09:08

  • Ingram Micro gets 'negative' mark for risky Brightpoint slurp

    Fitch Ratings: See me after class

    Fitch Ratings has downgraded its outlook for Ingram Micro from stable to negative due to the "risks" the distie might face once the acquisition of Brightpoint gets the all-clear. The ratings agency revised the scoring to triple-B-minus – just a hair's breadth away from the junk bond rating of BB+ – late last week. The reason …

    The Channel 25 Jul 09:16

  • Indian outsourcers Infosys outsource to WISCONSIN

    Apple partner also builds giant software hub in Bangalore

    Indian outsourcing company Infosys has set up a new software centre in Wisconsin, and a much bigger one in Bangalore. The new American office will service a Harley Davidson contract and will house 125 staffers in the MidWest. The new Bangalore office will be the base of 1,400 software engineers and developers purported to be …

    Applications 25 Jul 09:17

  • Devs can't be bothered with Nokia's Windows Phone – report

    12% drop in app-maker love after mobe sales sink

    Interest in building applications for the current generation of Windows phones from Nokia has plummeted among developers. Just a quarter of developers are very interested in developing apps for Windows Phone 7 devices compared to 37 per cent in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest Mobile Developer Report …

    Developer 25 Jul 09:44

  • BT shares droop as sales go limp at hard-up Europe

    Wholesale wing also hit by rules on fleecing 'regulatory price cuts' in Q1

    BT revenues fell some 6 per cent in the national telco's first quarter as the company coughed to "tough conditions" in the financial sector as well as in Europe hampering its global services division. It's wholesale wing also suffered an 8 per cent drop in sales falling below the £1bn mark to £923m, while Openreach revenues …

    Broadband 25 Jul 09:57

  • Spy Hunter

    Antique Code Show Captured by the game

    Take my money! Spy Hunter at the arcade was definitely school of hard knocks, just trying to stay alive meant keeping my foot on the brake as the Peter Gunn soundtrack, with it’s chugging beeps, ricocheted around my head. Arcade moneyspinner turned console favourite Ported to my NES, the whole Spy Hunter experience was more …

    reghardware 25 Jul 10:03

  • Avaya UK boss tears UK channel partners list in HALF

    Culmer bares teeth, warns direct sales force not to bypass resellers

    Anyone in Avaya UK's direct sales force wanting to bypass the channel must justify it to recently landed country chief Simon Culmer. It seems that Culmer, who pitched up at the unified comms vendor in May is staging something of a channel love-in – but not all of the current 800 resellers/integrators will be smothered with …

    The Channel 25 Jul 10:06

  • Speaking in Tech: VMware is building the Death Star

    Podcast The Empire strikes back

    The "Stack Wars" are on and VMware is adding the final touches to its ultimate weapon ... Your hosts Greg Knieriemen, Ed Saipetch and Sarah Vela chat to special guest Dave Graham of Juniper Networks this week and discuss VMware's latest moves, Cisco's reactions, Google's Nexus 7 and more in the latest edition of our enterprise …

    Data Networking 25 Jul 10:19

  • The future of Networks

    Roundup What does it hold?

    The Register’s Network Futures workshop is gone, but it should not be forgotten. We have decided to commemorate this important event with a white paper which has most of the best bits in it, free to download. What did we discover? Your networks are mostly reliable – but under the surface there are many points of stress: …

    Network Futures 25 Jul 10:45

  • TMS puts the boot into flash

    Start your server engines

    TMS has given its server flash cards the ability to boot operating systems – so servers can start up faster. The RamSan-20 and -70 are PCIe products are server flash memory cards with 450GB or 900GB respectively of fast, single-level cell NAND storage, offering up to 330,000 sustained 4K random read IOPS, 400,000 random write …

    Storage 25 Jul 10:45

  • LG, Samsung, Sony: Smutty Smart TV apps turn us off

    Philips, Panasonic: Bring on the filth

    The adult entertainment industry is having a hard time convincing a number of TV manufacturers to cut it some slack. LG, Samsung and Sony, to name a few, have all steered clear of implementing filthy Smart TV apps and wish to keep their respective hands clean for now. It's not all bad news though, the less prudish of the panel …

    reghardware 25 Jul 10:50

  • Network upgrading punches Everything Everywhere in the wallet

    Cellco's losses widen, eagerly awaits 4G dominance

    Mashed-up mobile operator Everything Everywhere is still losing money as it merges its Orange legacy systems with its T-Mobile systems, invests in its network and taps its foot impatiently for Ofcom's 4G nod. The UK mobe-and-broadband business is a joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom, formed through the …

    Mobile 25 Jul 11:01

  • Watch Smarter: video guide to... optical disc drives

    Smarter Storage All the info you need

    Over the years, the capacity of optical drives has steadily increased, with new formats offering cost-effective storage to suit archiving needs, as well as the demands of high-resolution movie playback. If you fancy upgrading your PC from CD to DVD or DVD to Blu-ray or perhaps prefer an external option it’s probably cheaper than …

    reghardware 25 Jul 11:15

  • ARM knees semi groins with 2 billion chip feat

    UK design biz trousers better-than-expected profit in Q2

    Two billion processors designed by ARM shipped in the first quarter of 2012, banking the UK chip biz forecast-busting profits for Q2. While the rest of the semiconductor industry apparently suffered a 4 per cent slump year-on-year in shipments, the Cambridge-based company said it enjoyed a 9 per cent rise - marking the highest …

    Servers 25 Jul 11:22

  • Nearly half of Google's Moto gobble cash was spanked on patents

    A cool $5.5bn to line Googorola's legal war chest

    Google has finally put a price tag of $5.5bn on the patents it snaffled in its $12.4bn purchase of Motorola Mobility. The web behemoth declared the value of Moto's "patents and developed technology" in a filing with US stock market regulator SEC. The Chocolate Factory's surprise Motorola Mobility gobble was attributed mainly …

    Business 25 Jul 11:44

  • Google Nexus 7 blighted by brightness blunder

    'Seriously wrong' claims expert

    Google's Nexus 7 tablet has been warmly welcomed all round, however one display specialist claims the fondleslab's screen has something "seriously wrong" with it. Raymond Soneira at DisplayMate Technologies claims that while the tablet's LCD panel has much to offer, the calibration of display parameters - usually performed …

    reghardware 25 Jul 11:54

  • Siemens squashes Stuxnet-like bugs in SCADA kit

    Loading DLL files willy-nilly? What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

    Siemens has corked vulnerabilities in its industrial control kit similar to those exploited by the infamous Stuxnet worm. Security bugs on the German manufacturer's Simatic Step 7 and Simatic PCS 7 SCADA control software created a means to load malicious dynamic-link library (DLL) files. This is the type of flaw exploited by …

    Security 25 Jul 12:02

  • Virgin Media's 'bye-bye to buffering' beardy Bolt boast BANNED

    False start: Olympic champ ad ruled misleading

    Virgin Media is banned from suggesting that its broadband is fast enough to spare punters from "buffering" delays online after rival BT complained. The national telco successfully cried foul to the UK advertising watchdog over a telly commercial featuring Olympic track champion Usain Bolt pretending to be Virgin Group's beardy …

    Networks 25 Jul 12:16

  • Apple Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion review

    First look Out on sale today, but is it all talk and power naps?

    So, here it is at last, the latest big cat in the Apple game reserve. There are plenty of new features, and numerous improvements but are they enough to tempt Mac users who felt bitten by the radical changes Lion to upgrade? Call of the wild: Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion talks up its dictation functions Well, OS X 10.8 is …

    reghardware 25 Jul 12:31

  • Mac malware Crisis as Apple lets slip its Mountain Lion

    Includes bonus Windows Trojan, stealth ninja style

    Miscreants have developed a sophisticated multi-platform attack dog designed to maul Windows and Mac OS X computers. The malware comes bundled in an Java Archive file which pretends to be Adobe Flash Player, named AdobeFlashPlayer.jar. Inside the malicious archive is a .class file named WebEnhancer, and two files named win and …

    Security 25 Jul 12:43

  • O2 floods London with free Wi-Fi

    Surf the streets

    Undaunted by its recent network outage fall from grace, O2 is now offering Londoners free Wi-Fi access in several of capital's busiest areas including Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street. The network's efforts – as part of a deal with Westminster Council – have resulted in the launch of various free "reliable …

    reghardware 25 Jul 12:50

  • Capita: Is that a bulge in your books or are you pleased to see us?

    Chief exec Pindar 'has clear visibility of growth'

    Either the sun is getting to Capita boss Paul Pindar or excitement caused by the looming Olympic extravaganza has temporarily moved him. The integrator today filed results for the first half of calendar 2011 with sales up 15 per cent to £1.6bn – but these were underpinned by the numerous acquisitions it made. Organic growth …

    The Channel 25 Jul 13:02

  • McAfee tears wrapping off MSP scheme, hands it to resellers

    Dragging some partners into the 21st century

    McAfee is formally hoisting resellers into the hosted services game with a Managed Service Partner programme for its security software and services. The utility style monthly-billed subscription to be sold via distributors includes protection for endpoints, servers/ networks, virtual environment and mobile devices – software …

    The Channel 25 Jul 13:23

  • Microsoft unfurls patent lasso, snares Linux servers

    Cable telly biz is made an offer it couldn't refuse

    Microsoft’s crusade to lock Linux companies into patent protection deals has netted Redmond’s first service provider. Amdocs Software Systems is paying Microsoft to license undisclosed Redmond patents in a deal that "provides mutual access to each company’s patent portfolio". The deal extends to the Linux servers running in …

    Servers 25 Jul 13:33

  • Symantec bundles CEO out the door, parachutes in chairman

    Analysis It's you, not us, Enrique

    Software jack-of-all-trades Symantec has replaced dapper CEO Enrique Salem with board chairman Steve Bennett. Salem, we think, got the bullet for failing to conquer the mobile security market, his handling of the Backup Exec outrage, and his humdrum financial performance. The company's profit dipped this quarter, the first …

    Financial News 25 Jul 14:09

  • Apple CEO: Frothing fanboi iPhone 5 hype screwed our sales

    Cupertino Head Cook lashes out at rumour mill

    Flat demand for iPhones in Europe, and hitches in getting products to the Chinese market, trampled Apple's latest quarterly profits, CEO Tim Cook has admitted. The head honcho was speaking to investors after the company posted its below-expectations results. Cook and chief bean counter Peter Oppenheimer also suggested that …

    Financial News 25 Jul 14:39

  • Old-timer Odyssey to babysit Curiosity's Mars landing

    10-year-old orbiter to keep an eye on rover's hidden descent

    NASA has managed to nudge veteran spacecraft Odyssey, which has been orbiting Mars since October 2001 – into a better position to pick up communications from rover Curiosity as it lands on Mars on 5 August. Mars orbiter Odyssey . Credit: NASA/JPL The space agency had been a tad concerned that it wouldn't be able to talk to …

    Science 25 Jul 15:07

  • Tintri trousers $25m to crank out flash storage grease

    Kerrr-ching: Cashes in on the server virtualisation trend

    Accelerating virtualised servers is proving a profitable game for Tintri. The start-up has been doubling revenues every quarter since its launch last year and has just gained a large slug of cash from venture capitalists who see great prospects of a large payout. Tintri launched in March 2011 with a hybrid flash and disk drive …

    Storage 25 Jul 15:46

  • UK.gov's IT catalogue Cloud Store knackered by login gremlin

    Update Suppliers and tech buyers locked out

    A glitch in the UK's IT shopping catalogue Cloud Store is preventing access for suppliers and public sector buyers. The team running the G-Cloud Twitter feed admitted before midday that there were "still issues" with the online service, and said it was working with Gov E-Marketplace to resolve them. In the latest update about …

    The Channel 25 Jul 16:04

  • Galaxy S III dumps universal search, tries to dodge Apple's sueballs

    OUCH... Last one hit Samsung in the wallet

    Samsung has rolled out an Galaxy S III update that disables the universal search function on its handset – a result of the ongoing patent dispute with Apple. The 27MB SGS3 update is said to remove the facility that allows users to search the web as well as the device from a single search bar, Android Central reports. While …

    reghardware 25 Jul 16:28

  • Stratus slides Avance virtual clusters onto Xeon E5 servers

    Juggles more and fatter virty machines

    Stratus Technologies has revved up Avance, its high-availability clustering software that hosts virtual servers. The fault-tolerant server maker tweaked the product to run on Intel's new Xeon E5 processors while at the same time boosting the scalability of the system's underlying hypervisor. The initial Avance product was …

    Servers 25 Jul 18:01

  • Foreign intelligence agencies are biggest online threat, ex-Fed warns

    Black Hat 2012 Pot, meet the kettle of color – allegedly

    Former FBI executive assistant director Shawn Henry has warned that the biggest threat online comes not from terrorists or hackers, but from foreign intelligence organizations looking to steal intellectual property. "The threat from computer attack is the most significant threat we face as a society, other than a weapon of …

    Security 25 Jul 19:11

  • Well-funded Meteor poised to impact web development

    The 'web era' of apps was so five minutes ago

    The developers behind the Meteor open source project say they want to revolutionize how applications are built, and they've just been handed a whopping $11.2m in Series A funding to do it. Meteor is an open source platform for building web applications with rich user interfaces that run on the client rather than the server – …

    Developer 25 Jul 20:20

  • Forget widgets, invest in staff say Black Hat alumni

    Black Hat 2012 Planning for the next 15 years of security

    Five of the speakers at the original Black Hat conference in 1997 have been reunited at this year's session to discuss the next 15 years of security, and all agree that people are the key investment area, not gadgets. "The best return is on your employees," said Black Hat founder Jeff Moss. "I rely on people, not on a widget. …

    Security 25 Jul 21:10

  • Oracle cranks Exalogic software stack up to 2

    More oomph without bending new iron

    Oracle could have launched its new Exalogic hardware in conjunction with the new rev of its middleware software stack, as El Reg speculated earlier this week, but the software giant decided it didn't need the latest Xeon E5 processors from Intel to boost the performance of its Exalogic "engineered systems." Instead, it rolled …

    Servers 25 Jul 22:02

  • Apple's new Safari snubs older Macs, drops Windows version

    Only Mountain Lion users get all the features

    Apple has shipped Safari 6 to coincide with the release of Mountain Lion, but to take full advantage of the fruity firm's newest web browser, you'll need to be running its latest OS. Although Lion users can download Safari 6, not all of the browser's features will work on the older OS, and users of earlier versions of Mac OS X …

    Applications 25 Jul 22:28

  • Anonymous hit Melbourne IT to find AAPT documents

    UPDATE: Activist group claims hosting company as the source of its trove

    Anonymous says it will shortly release a sample of material it has obtained from Australian Internet Service Provider (ISP) AAPT. In a chat room this morning, the group linked to AAPT's Wikipedia page, making that ISP the likely target. The group has also insisted, on Twitter, that the leak is not fake and that the ISP …

    Security 25 Jul 23:28

  • Citrix profits pinched by Europe, Uncle Sam

    Virty desktops, optimized networks rake it in

    Stalled sales in Europe and Latin America, coupled with uncertainty around the US Federal budget during this election year and ongoing economic malaise, helped to put the squeeze on profits at virtualizer and optimizer Citrix Systems in the second quarter. But the company is still growing well, despite some very tough …

    Virtualization 25 Jul 23:28

  • CSIRO seas how Oz could wave goodbye to dirty power

    Oceans could provide enough energy to power Melbourne by 2050

    In a month that’s recorded some wins for wave energy in Australia, peak research body CSIRO has now published a study suggesting wave power could yield as much as 11 percent of the country’s electricity by 2050 – if the cost and efficiency claims made for the technology are borne out in the long term. Its report, Ocean …

    Science 25 Jul 23:35