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31st July 2012 Archive

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  • The asymmetry implicit in Internet data retention

    By the way: Anonymous go home

    As we speak, apathetic Australians are failing to lodge submissions objecting to the government’s ill-defined data retention proposals. But Anonymous thinks it represents us, and until it actually started showing the data, @Op_Australia on Twitter descended into the kind of “RSN” you can only deliver if you’re an archetypal …

    Security 31 Jul 00:30

  • Marlinspike demos MS-CHAPv2 crack

    ‘The strength of a single DES encryption’ not enough

    Security researcher Moxie Marlinspike has turned his attention to VPNs based on Microsoft’s MS-CHAPv2 protocol, demonstrating software at Defcon that can capture and crack passwords. Chapcrack parses the credential information out of MS-CHAPv2 handshakes, which are then sent to Cloudcracker. Cloudcracker will then return a …

    Security 31 Jul 00:57

  • Siri sued again as Taiwan uni cries foul over patents

    'Is our patent portfolio going to get us into trouble, Siri?'

    Apple’s know-it-all voice-operated assistant Siri is in more legal trouble after a Taiwanese university launched a patent infringement lawsuit against it in a Texas court. Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University is alleging that the iPhone service infringes two voice-to-text patents granted to it in the US in 2007 and 2010. …

    Business 31 Jul 04:12

  • Chinese student's smut obsession lands 2,000 in JAIL

    Living in China is such a drag ... a mum took away your best porno site

    Chinese police have smashed a major internet porn site and arrested more than 2,000 suspected users after being alerted to its existence by a mother who spied on her son after she noticed his school grades were slipping. Pornography is banned in China and local Public Security Bureau initiatives are often launched to “clean up …

    Policy 31 Jul 04:59

  • HTC leaves South Korea to Samsung, LG et al

    Exits quietly, but not very brilliantly ...

    Mobile device biz HTC has abandoned its operations from Samsung’s home market of South Korea, in yet another blow to the beleaguered Taiwanese handset giant. The firm announced in a widely reported statement that the move was being made to “streamline operations”. "This is a hard decision that has direct impact on people who …

    Business 31 Jul 06:12

  • Nintendo 3DS XL review

    Review Thumbs down?

    Nintendo has supersized its 3DS with a 4.9in screen that's almost twice the size area of its predecessor. The handheld goes on sale this week, but if you're unsure whether its worth the upgrade, here's what we thought after a weekend of gaming on it. With the enlarged display more or less the only improvement, it was obvious …

    reghardware 31 Jul 07:00

  • Solar, wind, landfill to make cheapest power by 2030

    Australian study says coal’s crown is slipping, thanks in part to carbon pricing

    Solar and wind technologies will be the cheapest way to make electricity by 2030, according to a new Australian Energy Technology Assessment from the Australia’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics. The report, penned with help from consultancy WorleyParsons and the CSIRO, considered 40 different generation technologies …

    Science 31 Jul 07:16

  • Sellers flogging vid games to underage kids face jail, unlimited fine

    New age-rating rules come into force

    Traders which supply video games without displaying the age rating could face two years in jail and an unlimited fine. Under the new regime, effective from yesterday and introduced by the Video Recordings (Labelling) Regulations 2012, the Video Standards Council (VSC) will take over responsibility for regulation of most video …

    Law 31 Jul 07:31

  • IBM crashes, Cisco soars, at Brisbane airport

    VCE deemed too expensive en route to destination VDI

    IBM has been deported from Brisbane Airport’s data centre, with its X-series servers shoved on a flight to oblivion as the red carpet was rolled out for the triumvirate of VMware, EMC and Cisco. Five of the latter’s UCS servers now nestle in racks at the airport’s data centre, where they run vSphere 5, play nicely with an EMC …

    Cloud 31 Jul 07:49

  • Lords blast UK.gov's fixation on broadband speed over reach

    Hook up every community, light the dark fibres

    The British government's broadband policy is failing to create a built-to-last national network because it is too fixated on speed, a House of Lords committee has concluded. An 80-page report entitled Broadband For All - An Alternative Vision released this morning by peers sitting on the communications panel - having heard …

    Cloud Business 31 Jul 07:56

  • London CGI firm scores DON'T-HIT-the-PEDESTRIAN test contract

    DSA inks deal with animators for hazard-perception exams

    The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has awarded animation firm Jelly a contract for CGI technology. DSA said it met with the SME last October to identify new technologies that could be used to refresh its hazard perception test. The agency started a formal procurement process in January and two early examples of CGI clips were …

    Small Biz 31 Jul 08:23

  • Go Daddy big daddy gone

    Adelman legs it, new owners grab the wheel

    Warren Adelman has quit as chief executive of market-leading domain names and hosting company Go Daddy after less than eight months on the job. He's been replaced on an interim basis by Scott Wagner of KKR, one of the venture capital companies that led a buyout of the company, worth a reported $2.2bn, which closed last …

    Business 31 Jul 08:42

  • Samsung's projector phone lights up UK

    Sweet beams

    Samsung illuminated British shelves this week with the Galaxy Beam, the company's new Android handset with a built-in projector. The Samsung Galaxy Beam - reincarnated at Mobile World Congress earlier this year - touches down with a 1GHz dual-core processor running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. There's a 4in, 480 x 800 display for …

    reghardware 31 Jul 08:43

  • Ever considered putting a rocket up someone's backside?

    Aussie's experiment in management jargon, er, backfires

    Many of us - most, perhaps - have carelessly spoken of putting a rocket up someone's backside. But now, a pioneering Australian researcher has shown that in fact this would be a highly unwise act: not only would the recipient of the combustibles be unlikely to be galvanised into helpful activity, he or she might also wind up in …

    Bootnotes 31 Jul 09:01

  • Ex! interim! CEO! leaves! Yahoo! after! second! snub!

    Levinsohn departs jingling with cash

    Ex-interim Yahoo! chief Ross Levinsohn is leaving the ailing web firm behind after losing out on the top spot to fragrant Googler Marissa Mayer. The company said in a corporate filing yesterday that Levinsohn would be eating his going-away cake today and getting a tidy sum for his time at the tiller. Levinsohn bagged 67,000 …

    Business 31 Jul 09:17

  • Ingram Micro and Westcoast ink Microsoft SPLA deal

    Software giant shakes-up hosting and ISV licensing

    Microsoft has handed the Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) contract to Westcoast and Ingram Micro, The Channel can reveal. Ten disties responded to last month's Request for Proposal from Microsoft as Redmond overhauls the go-to-market model that saw five large account resellers holding exclusive distribution rights …

    Channel Register 31 Jul 09:19

  • Toshiba: Strong yen CHEWED our tripled profit, spat out loss

    And no one wants our LCD tellies

    Despite a massive hike in operating profit, Toshiba's overall results for the quarter are at a loss as restructuring costs and the high rate of Japanese yen ate into the cash. Toshiba's cost-cutting and rejigging helped operating profits to jump by 178 per cent to ¥11.47bn (£93.32m) from ¥4.1bn (£33.36m) in the same quarter …

    Financial News 31 Jul 09:44

  • Freeview EPG revamp set for September

    Channel funnel

    You'll need to retune your Freeview set-top boxes and TVs yet again this coming September. DMOL, the organistion that provides the Freeview EPG, is rejigging the terrestrial broadcasting servicer's channel listing. DMOL (DTT Multiplex Operators Ltd) said yesterday that the newly organised EPG will debut on 19 September. Kit …

    reghardware 31 Jul 09:46

  • Tesco in unencrypted password email reminder rumble

    Price check on salt

    Tesco's admission that it still merrily emails passwords to punters in plain text has alarmed anyone with a grasp of computer security. The UK's supermarket behemoth reassured the world on Sunday that it stores passwords for online shopping accounts in an encrypted format, and only decrypts them when users forget their login …

    Business 31 Jul 10:02

  • 'Ex climate sceptic' Muller's latest BEST stuff is the worst so far

    Analysis 'Non-partisan' group abandons pretence of neutrality

    Richard Muller's Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) project, which began with goodwill from all corners of the climate debate, has made a series of bold announcements (without benefit of peer review) to the effect that global warming is definitely serious and definitely caused by humans. This has aroused derision among …

    Energy 31 Jul 10:14

  • Virgin Media nukes downloads after SuperHub 'upgrade'

    But it's OK, only a few punters are spitting blood

    Virgin Media has dismissed claims that a software update for its SuperHub kit is at fault after punters complained their downloads are being damaged. A spokeswoman at the telco told The Register that it was too early to tell if the SuperHub's firmware upgrade from version R30 to R36 was the culprit for the reported data …

    Business 31 Jul 10:27

  • OFT probes Expedia and pals over hotel room price-fixing

    May have broken EU competition law

    Expedia, Booking.com and InterContinential Hotels Group may have broken EU competition law by restricting the ability of travel agents to discount the prices of room-only hotel accommodation, thereby squeezing out their competition. That’s according to an Office of Fair Trading statement of objections issued Tuesday that …

    Business 31 Jul 10:44

  • Samsung docs tease 11.8in, 2560 x 1600 tablet

    My slab is bigger than your slab

    Further products have been unveiled through the Samsung Apple legal spat, this time an upcoming 11.8in Samsung tablet with a 2560 x 1600 display. The South Korean firm is working on the tablet, codenamed P10, according to court documents which timestamp the product with a 2012 release date. The 11.8in fondleslab makes an …

    reghardware 31 Jul 10:48

  • Fusion-io straps on NetApp feedbag for cache feeding frenzy

    Virtual flash storage insanity

    NetApp and Fusion-io are working to link flash-accelerated servers with NetApp arrays and dynamically move data from the arrays to Fusion's ioMemory flash cards in the servers using NetApp's VST technology. Fusion has issued a statement about this, saying its own server caching software will be involved as well. VST is NetApp' …

    Storage 31 Jul 11:01

  • Boy cuffed after Twitter troll's drown threat to Olympic diver Tom Daley

    Arrested on suspicion of malicious communication

    A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after Brit Olympic diver Tom Daley was swamped by abusive tweets. The unnamed 17-year-old suspect was cuffed at a guesthouse in the Weymouth area earlier today, according to the BBC. Dorset police's press office wasn't responding to calls from The Register …

    Networks 31 Jul 11:22

  • Arrow aims at IT, finance bods to shoot down $20m in spending

    When a Q2 profit of $114.4m just isn't enough

    Arrow Electronics hopes to save a further $20m in overheads as it battens down the hatches for a "period of slow growth". The global distie heavyweight saw sales decline seven per cent to $5.15bn (£3.28bn) for Q2 ended 30 June as profits sank by more than 26 per cent to $114.4m (£72.8m). The company's Enterprise Computing …

    Channel Register 31 Jul 11:40

  • Disk demand after Thai floods drains away - unlike Seagate's coffers

    Not buying OCZ despite money mountain

    Seagate may not have done as well as it had hoped to do in its latest quarter, which was down on the previous three months, but its $1bn earnings are still much, much better than a year ago. The disk drive dealer also defied industry speculation by failing to announce an OCZ acquisition. But it did say it could buy an SSD …

    Financial News 31 Jul 11:43

  • Pair collared after 'mobe giant hacked, info on 8.7 million sold'

    Another 7 probed for buying private data in South Korea

    Police have arrested two South Koreans who allegedly leaked the personal information of 8.7 million mobile phone subscribers. The pair have been charged with hacking into the systems of KT Corp, the country's second biggest mobile carrier, and selling on the data. A further seven suspects have been questioned by police over …

    Business 31 Jul 12:04

  • Google+ mission creep continues with Hangouts slotted into Gmail

    You can still use it with pals on Google+! If any

    Google's social networking mission creep continued with Gmail on Monday when the ad giant slotted its Google+ Hangouts function into its web email service. The company confirmed it had ditched its peer-to-peer video chat feature. "Hangouts utilise the power of Google’s network to deliver higher reliability and enhanced …

    Cloud Business 31 Jul 12:23

  • Isaacson fights outing of heart-to-heart chats with Steve Jobs

    Biographer battles subpoena in Apple ebook court showdown

    Biographer Walter Isaacson is fighting a subpoena to unlock his unpublished interviews with Steve Jobs in the Apple ebook price-fixing case. When Apple moved into ebooks, it negotiated an agency model with publishers – not in itself illegal – where the publishers set the price and Apple took a 30 per cent cut. The plaintiffs …

    Business 31 Jul 12:47

  • Cloudy emails up in smoke for FIVE days after fire knackers Giacom

    Data centre offline, MessageStream dried up on Friday

    UK cloudy firm Giacom's data centre has been knocked offline by a fire at a nearby electricity substation. The firm supplies "over 1,000 resellers" with a hosted cloud email service, based on Microsoft's Exchange Server 2010, through its MessageStream network. This system fell down on Friday when the power went out at the data …

    Cloud Business 31 Jul 13:02

  • 'My work here is done, tata!' - Calyx Managed Services chief

    Firm falls into arms of ex-Azzurri ops director

    Calyx Managed Services (MS) is splitting with CEO Martin Mackay after less than two years in the seat. Former Azzurri ops director Steve Clark will replace him. The departure date of Mackay, former European bigwig at Northgate Information Solutions and international veep at VeriSign is confirmed as the end of August. He …

    Channel Register 31 Jul 13:28

  • Olympic athletes compete in RAYGUN SHOOTING for the first time

    Pentathletes swap bullets for laser pistols

    Thus far, we here at the Register have struggled to hang much of a tech angle on the ongoing London Olympics. As there are also few obvious Paris Hilton angles to be found on the 2012 spectacle-fest, and few Vultures have any deep expertise in sports or physical exercise, we have thus far confined ourselves to a few pieces on …

    Science 31 Jul 13:29

  • Hooper's copyright hubs - could be a big British win with BBC backing

    Analysis The report the bureaucrats DON'T want you to read

    A British copyright swap-shop may turn out to be one of the coalition government's unexpected success stories. The notion of an industry-funded and industry-led "Digital Copyright Exchange", now called a "Copyright Hub", was recommended by Prof Ian Hargreaves in Number 10's "Google Review" of intellectual property, and is …

    Business 31 Jul 13:52

  • Sony slides expose saucy Xperia slate

    Tablet S refresh?

    Sony looks set to launch a Tablet S successor after internal slides escaped its HQ and revealed a lighter, thinner, brawnier device, known only as the Xperia Sony Tablet. The forthcoming Sony slate will join the party with an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor; Android 4.0 or later; 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage; and a whopping …

    reghardware 31 Jul 14:24

  • Brit cops manacle another journalist in computer hacking probe

    'Not trying to burn sources, it's about blagged mobes'

    A 37-year-old man has been arrested by Met police officers investigating alleged computer hacking. It's the second such cuffing to have taken place in the last 24 hours and brings the total number of arrests under Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta inquiry to nine suspects. The Met confirmed that the unnamed man was a …

    Law 31 Jul 14:52

  • Giant idol 'STRUCK DOWN by the Wrath of God' unearthed in Turkey

    'His purpose is to destroy, to put an end to nations'

    Top archaeologists are chuffed as ninepence this week to announce that they have unearthed a massive statue - perhaps as tall as 4m when it was erect - which was probably an "idol" tumbled down by a terrible race of warriors referred to in the Bible as "the rod of my [God's] anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath". We …

    Science 31 Jul 15:04

  • Neurotrash creativity 'expert' created Dylan quotes from thin air

    Journo and author resigns, book pulped. Imagine that

    A self-appointed expert who used brain scans to "demystify" human creativity has admitted he was overly creative in his "journalism". Jonah Lehrer confessed that he made-up quotes he had attributed to Bob Dylan, and has quit his job at the New Yorker magazine. Journalist and author Lehrer is a kind of cut-price Malcolm …

    Media 31 Jul 15:56

  • Microsoft: Gmail rival Outlook.com will 'look good on your iPad' 

    Cloudy Hotmail successor features Metro-like UI

    Microsoft has launched a successor to its venerable Hotmail web-based email service, in hopes that a revamped UI, integration with social networks, and tighter ties to the software giant's cloudy online services will woo users away from rivals, in particular Gmail. "We think the time is right to reimagine email," Microsoft's …

    Applications 31 Jul 16:33

  • Anonymous declares war after French firm trademarks its logo

    Really bad business plans 101

    A French company trying to trademark the Anonymous logo and slogan for commercial purposes has inspired an angry response from a team claiming to be affiliated with the hacking group. The company Early Flicker, or E-Flicker, has registered the headless man logo and the slogan 'We are Anonymous, We do not forgive, We do not …

    Business 31 Jul 19:12

  • NASA's nuclear Mars tank prepares for high pucker-factor landing

    Pics Red Planet astro-truck to go down like none before it

    NASA's Mars Science Laboratory team is working on a landing procedure for Red Planet rover Curiosity, due to touchdown on the dust world this weekend. A little to the right... bit more... bit more... bit more... perfect! The US space agency said its flight team had started going through the motions for entry, descent and …

    Space 31 Jul 19:24

  • Romney promises to announce VP choice via mobile app

    'We'll just need a little bit of information first'

    Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has yet to announce his choice for vice president, but when he does, he says smartphone users will be the first to hear about it. On Tuesday, Romney's official campaign website unveiled Mitt's VP, an app that promises to send a push alert to Android and iOS devices as soon as the …

    Applications 31 Jul 21:47

  • Zynga managers fingered in insider trading lawsuit

    Pincus accused of shafting investors

    A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors over alleged insider dealing by the senior management team at Zynga. Last week, lawyers at Newman Ferrara issued a call for investors who felt they'd been stiffed by Zynga. They now appear to have enough aggrieved parties. The case, filed in the US District Court …

    Law 31 Jul 22:02

  • Tracking Android phones is easy, says researcher

    Assisted-GPS a boon for surveillance

    To save time, battery life and processor cycles, smartphones don’t rely on “pure” GPS to fix their locations – they get help from location data in the mobile network. Research presented at Black Hat in Las Vegas last week cautions users that this represents a serious security vulnerability. Under A-GPS (Assisted-GPS) schemes, …

    Security 31 Jul 23:08

  • Qubits turn into time travellers

    Think of it as a quantum Tardis

    A group of scientists from Spain’s Institute of Fundamental Physics has made the world just that little bit more weird, proposing a form of quantum entanglement that spans not just space, but time. Physics followers will already be familiar with entanglement across space: two quanta (a pair of photons is a handy example) that …

    Science 31 Jul 23:30