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2nd August 2012 Archive

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  • Twitter launches vox populi index for US presidential race

    Measuring the twittering classes

    Twitter has launched a new website that will announce daily measurements of how Twitter users feel about US presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, calling it "a new barometer for the election." The Twitter Political Index, which kicked off on Wednesday, scours the micro-blogging firm's databases for any posts …

    Government 2 Aug 00:39

  • Apple demands Samsung flogged for 'unethical' court doc leak

    You'll pay for this, oh you'll pay...

    Apple has said it will file an emergency motion of censure against Samsung after its South Korean rival released information to the press that had been barred in court. "This deliberate attempt to influence the trial with inadmissible evidence is both improper and unethical," said William Lee, Apple's legal counsel. " …

    Law 2 Aug 00:41

  • PwC: 27 percent of Aussies will buy IPTV by 2016

    IPTV ≠ freetarding, may = Foxtel delivered in new ways

    Showing the kind of optimism that only large analyst firms can muster, PriceWaterhouseCoopers has boldly predicted that 27 percent of Australians will have an IPTV service by 2016. Right now, IPTV is very much in its infancy in Australia, with a number of ISPs and carriers offering services but, in terms of the country’s eight …

    Networks 2 Aug 01:10

  • EMC says virtual arrays a sales tool, not a threat

    Pretend arrays an on-ramp to tin purchases, not a revenue drain

    Virtual storage arrays may become more attractive to customers, but EMC believes the pace of data growth will mean many users still need physical appliances. That’s the opinion of Chuck Hollis, EMC's Vice President and Global Marketing CTO, who told El Reg that users like virtual arrays, but aren’t using them for anything …

    Storage 2 Aug 03:22

  • Fusion-io flies into flash SAN space

    It's flash SAN war

    It's flash SAN marketing war: Fusion-io has expanded upwards from its PCIe server flash card base into networked flash SAN storage, taking on Violin Memory, Pure Storage and all the other all-flash array players via OEMs and system builders who combine Fusion's flash hardware and SAN software with server systems. Fusion's ION …

    Storage 2 Aug 03:31

  • Fraternising through flash to fight EMC

    An anti-EMC flash force

    Blocks and Files Fusion-io's flash SAN software is helping Cisco, HP and NetApp fight EMC and its Thunder/Xtremio flash SAN technology. They need Fusion-io for two reasons. Firstly, with the networked flash SAN VMware is developing with the Thunder and Xtremio technology, EMC is becoming a serious force undermining the server …

    Storage 2 Aug 03:31

  • Booth babes banned by Chinese gaming expo

    Even cosplay deemed too racy for impressionable teens

    Chinese gaming fans got a little less than they bargained for last week when one of the country’s biggest digital entertainment expos, ChinaJoy 2012, kicked off without the obligatory bikini-clad “booth babes” that have become virtually ubiquitous at consumer tech shows. Organisers of the Shanghai-based conference said they …

    Media 2 Aug 04:36

  • Huawei looking into critical router flaw claims

    Telecoms kit maker defends its incident response system

    Chinese telecoms kit maker Huawei has said it is investigating claims by researchers that two of its router products contain serious vulnerabilities which could allow hackers to remotely take control of the devices. Felix Lindner and Gregor Kopf of Berlin-based Recurity Labs announced their findings at the Defcon hacking show …

    Data Networking 2 Aug 04:41

  • Analyst says Surface could hurt Ultrabook, Windows 8 tablets

    MSFT subsidies could mean US$499 Surface price and death for Android tablets

    Taiwanese analyst outfit Trendforce thinks Microsoft’s forthcoming Surface devices will cannibalise the market for ultrabooks, put price pressure on Android tablets and confuse consumers. The analysts’ WitsView service recently published a note in which research director Eric Chiou says that Surface devices’ 32GB of storage is …

    Windows 8 2 Aug 05:55

  • Humax YouView DTR-T1000 IPTV Freeview PVR review

    In time for the Olympics, but is it a champ?

    YouView is the ambitious but agonisingly delayed joint venture from the UK's main broadcasters involved in Freeview along with telcos BT and TalkTalk. As expected from that bunch, it combines a digital terrestrial recorder with internet-TV extras such as catch-up programme players and (soon) on-demand video, including optional …

    reghardware 2 Aug 07:00

  • Fujitsu, NEC, Docomo team up on mobile chip dev

    No room for Samsung and Panasonic this time

    Japanese tech giants Fujitsu and NEC have decided to team up with the country’s largest mobile operator Docomo on a joint venture to develop smartphone chips, in a bid to become more self-sufficient in semiconductors. Access Network Technology Limited was established by Fujitsu and the firm will retain the lion’s share of …

    Business 2 Aug 07:27

  • 6 London boroughs haul all their kit to 1 Oracle biz product

    HR, finance and procurements finally joined up

    Six London boroughs intend to generate £6m savings from a plan to implement the same version of Oracle's E-Business Suite. The boroughs - Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Lambeth, Lewisham, Havering and Croydon - will implement Oracle EBS Release 12 as part of a plan to support the introduction of HR, finance, payroll, pensions …

    Applications 2 Aug 07:33

  • British Gas parent to grab £500m North Sea gas tax break

    New allowance for investors in UK Continental Shelf production

    The government has announced a new tax relief for operators of shallow-water gas fields in the UK Continental Shelf, ahead of its planned long-term gas strategy to be published this autumn. Its new £500m field allowance would, the government said, secure future investment in North Sea gas and create jobs. Centrica, the parent …

    Science 2 Aug 08:03

  • DDoS crooks: Do you want us to blitz those phone lines too?

    Miscreants offer to down mobe and fixed line services for $20 a day

    Cybercrooks are now offering to launch cyberattacks against telecom services, with prices starting at just $20 a day. Distributed denial of attacks against websites or web services have been going on for many years. Attacks that swamped telecoms services are a much more recent innovation, first starting around 2010. While DDoS …

    Security 2 Aug 08:18

  • Russian tech baron shocks physicists with £3m cash wad

    Social network kingpin starts new theoretical physics prize fund worth $27m

    A Russian social-network billionaire has set up a foundation to hand out the biggest prizes in physics history to nine lucky theoretical physicists every year. Yuri Milner, who's made his billions by founding Mail.ru and going on to invest in web firms like Twitter, Spotify and Facebook, started up the foundation and handed …

    Science 2 Aug 08:42

  • Thanks for all this data, UK.gov, but what on Earth does it mean?

    MPs want more than just large dumps of numbers

    The coalition government needs to work harder if it's to convince the public that shovelling out spades of raw data will make it an open and transparent administration, MPs have said. The Commons Public Accounts Committee has drawn up a report called Implementing the Transparency Agenda, which welcomed Number 10's Open Data …

    Government 2 Aug 09:02

  • Samsung outs mobile Flash that cuts a dash

    Ultra-fast storage for phones, fondleslabs

    Samsung is now mass-producing "ultra-fast" Flash memory - the fastest of its kind, the Korean company claims - for phones and tablets. According to Samsung, the memory shifts bits at four times the speed of the firm's previous Embedded Multimedia Card (eMMC) parts, delivering sequential read and write speeds of less than 140MB …

    reghardware 2 Aug 09:15

  • Race to super-slim Ultrabooks: More ultra-thin hybrid drives on way

    Chunky hybrid HDDs are so yesterday – WD and Seagate

    WD is developing thin and ultra-thin hybrid hard disk drives for the Ultrabooks market with a likely transition to energy-assisted recording in 2015 – enabling 1TB 2.5-inch disk drive platters. This was revealed through analyst briefings by WD CEO John Coyne and CFO Wolfgang Nickl, and we have Stifel Nicolaus' Aaron Rakers to …

    Storage 2 Aug 09:19

  • Raspberry Pi served with Ice Cream Sandwich

    Android update

    The Raspberry Pi Foundation has ported Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to its inexpensive ARM-based motherboard, allowing owners to install apps from Google Play and make use of touchscreen tech. The organisation revealed this week that it was adding the finishing touches to its Android 4.0 port, offering those with the fag …

    reghardware 2 Aug 09:27

  • MYSTERY as six people SURVIVE deadly VAMPIRE BAT BITES

    I think we all know what's happening here

    Red-hot news on the science wires from Peru today, as it emerges that US federal boffins have identified six people who have apparently suffered no ill effects from being bitten by infected, blood-drinking VAMPIRE BATS: such attacks are typically fatal. "Our results open the door to the idea that there may be some type of …

    Science 2 Aug 09:45

  • Apple extends tablet market lead

    But rivals show greater growth

    Don't write off Apple's competitors in the tablet market just yet. While the iPad may have regained much of the strong lead it lost to Android slabs during 2011, its rivals were showing the strongest growth in Q2 2012. According to new numbers from market watcher IDC, Apple remains the number one tablet supplier, having …

    reghardware 2 Aug 10:11

  • India: We DO have the BlackBerry encryption keys

    RIM: Er, I think you'll find you don't

    Indian government officials have apparently claimed that Research in Motion has handed over the skeleton keys used to encrypt BlackBerry communications – once again ignoring the fact that such keys don't exist. The Times of India has reported that RIM "agreed to hand over its encryption keys" to the Asian nation, and allowed …

    Mobile 2 Aug 10:23

  • Shock ZOMBIE attack could kill off Nokia's 3G phones

    US court brings InterDigital patent spat back from the dead

    A US appeals court has brought an InterDigital patent gripe against Nokia back to life today, three years after the International Trade Commission kicked it to the kerb. InterDigital lodged its appeal after the ITC decided that Nokia wasn't infringing on four of its patents back in 2009. InterDigital claims some of its …

    Mobile 2 Aug 10:41

  • O2 joins pocket hotspot party

    Wi-Fi hub, or just happy to see me?

    O2 launched the Pay & Go Pocket Hotspot today, a portable Wi-Fi hub for those on the move. The O2 Pocket Hotspot boasts 3G HSPA connectivity - 21.6Mb/s download, 5.76Mb/s upload - and supports up to five devices simultaneously. While the firm turns up rather late to the shindig - Three and Vodafone have been raving it up for …

    reghardware 2 Aug 10:46

  • Will Samsung's patent court doc leak backfire spectacularly?

    Analysis Running off to reporters could hand Apple an easy win

    Samsung's decision to leak evidence banned from court could hand Apple an automatic win in the warring tech titans' patent trial. The South Korean giant had prepared slides to potentially prove its rival was wrong to claim Samsung had copied the iPhone design - but after the judge barred the evidence from being put before the …

    Mobile 2 Aug 11:04

  • Sharp: we'll be shipping new iPhone screens this month

    IGZO inbound?

    No word from Apple on the existence - or otherwise - of a new iPhone in the near future, but Sharp has effectively said the next-gen handset is coming. At least, it has said that it will begin shipping screens for the new device this month, according to company president Takashi Okuda, speaking after posting the firm's latest …

    reghardware 2 Aug 11:22

  • Google opens up pay-by-bonk Wallet to all credit cards

    Vid If you're happy to pop your details into the ad giant's cloud

    Google has extended its phone-based wallet into its cloud, allowing it to claim that any credit card can now be used to pay with a bonk of the handset. The arrangement, announced yesterday in a blog posting with suitable video accompaniment, means a Google-Wallet-enabled phone can make payments using wireless Near Field …

    Mobile 2 Aug 11:31

  • Hundreds of websites go titsup in Prime Hosting disk meltdown

    UK biz brought up servers using months-old backups

    Hundreds of UK-hosted websites and email accounts fell offline when a disk array failed at web biz Prime Hosting. As many as 860 customers are still waiting for a fix more than 48 hours after the storage unit went titsup. The downtime at the Manchester-based hosting reseller began at 5am on 31 July, and two days later some …

    Hosting 2 Aug 11:48

  • Facebook: 83 million IMPOSTERS stalk our network

    Three 'key' staffers slip out as shares continue to tumble

    Facebook is still racking up false accounts even as it continues to try and flush out imposters on the dominant social network, which is seeing its value close to being halved on Wall Street. The Mark Zuckerberg-run company disclosed during its first public quarterly earnings report last week that it now has 955 million …

    Networks 2 Aug 12:04

  • RIM, Samsung thrash Apple in UK fondleslab sales growth

    iPad maker falls behind UK average

    Some things in life are certain: death, taxes, Boris Johnson's blond mop top, and the Apple iPad's continued dominance in the tablet sector. But wait, something's changed: not only has BoJo had a neat trim for the Olympics, sales of Cupertino's fondleslab grew less than the UK market average during Q2. Fanbois can rest easy: …

    Channel Register 2 Aug 12:36

  • Using Facebook causes less eco damage than farting, figures show

    Data Journalism Hippies delighted, naturally

    Free-content advertising giant Facebook has released comprehensive data on its carbon emissions, revealing that a person who uses the giant website causes rather less damage to the planetary ecosystem by doing so than he or she can expect to cause by simply farting. According to the new Facebook data, each user who is active …

    Science 2 Aug 12:46

  • Insight's EMEA biz grips controls, keeps reseller on the tracks

    Currency headwind fails to ruin Q2 performance

    Insight Enterprise's EMEA operation was the company's sales growth engine in Q2 despite some strong currency headwinds. The global reseller giant turned in a decent set of group financials, particularly in light of the economic meltdown, with sales up four per cent to $1.53bn (£983m) for the period ended 30 June. Operating …

    Channel Register 2 Aug 12:53

  • Licensed to kill: Amazon revamps Cloud Player to take on iTunes

    The world is not enough for web bazaar and Big-4 labels

    One year after it introduced online music locker Cloud Drive, Amazon has revamped its built-in streaming service Cloud Player with a raft of features to take on Apple's incredibly successful iTunes. This includes iTunes Match-like "Scan and Match" storage, cross-device support and an upgrade to the audio quality, but – perhaps …

    Media 2 Aug 13:02

  • Blame crap mobe apps for swap-by-bonk hacks, say NFC bods

    Radio tech defended after hacker's revelations

    The Near Field Communications (NFC) Forum has defended its short-range radio standard, and blamed flaws in apps that use the tech for the security vulnerabilities revealed at the Black Hat conference last week. Charlie Miller, best known for his work in exposing security weaknesses on Apple smartphones and desktops, …

    Security 2 Aug 13:31

  • Oi, missile boffins! Stop ogling web filth at work - Pentagon

    Top brass puts a rocket up defence agency's smut addicts

    Pentagon top brass have ordered missile defence boffins to stop using government computers to surf for porn. An official memo, dispatched by Executive Director John James Jr, reprimanded employees and contractors over "inappropriate use of the MDA [Missile Defense Agency] network" over recent months. "Specifically, there have …

    Security 2 Aug 14:02

  • Russia slashes space station ship trip to just six hours

    Faster route for 2,600kg craft beats usual two-day jaunt

    Russia's space agency Roscosmos has successfully tested a new route that gets its spaceships to the International Space Station in an eighth of the time it usually takes. The Progress M-16M zipped up to the ISS in just six hours – four orbits – instead of the two days – 34 orbits – it normally takes cargo-craft to reach the …

    Science 2 Aug 14:28

  • Nokia stuffs Groupon deals into Maps app

    US Lumia users no longer in dark on where to get fish pedicures

    Nokia's desperate search for something to plug the hole in its sinking ship has hit upon the idea of stuffing Groupon voucher deals into its Maps application. The ailing phone firm has been jamming Groupon Now! deals into maps on its Lumia phones in the US as it struggles to compete with Google's feature-filled Android apps …

    Business 2 Aug 14:57

  • Amount of CO2 being sucked away by Earth 'has doubled in 50 years'

    'Surprising study' means models need changing. Again

    US federal government boffins have announced a "surprising new study" which reveals that the amount of carbon dioxide being drawn out of the air and absorbed by the world's landmasses and oceans doubled from 1960 to 2010. The new information is deemed sufficiently applecart-busting in climatology terms that it has been …

    Science 2 Aug 15:28

  • RIM doses PlayBook with 4G super serum

    Stimulant for sales success?

    In a bid to improve the flavour of its chunky 7in tablet and make it more tasty for punters, RIM has spiced up its PlayBook with a little 4G LTE sauce. Essentially an existing PlayBook but with added faster mobile broadband tech and a clocked-up processor, the "4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook" - to give it its full name - goes on …

    reghardware 2 Aug 15:33

  • New target for 419 fraudsters: Struggling 'weak' banks

    'I'm an American. Fannie Eubanks of Omaha'

    Desperate banks have become the target for so-called 419 advance-fee fraud scams. Increased regulatory scrutiny in the wake of the credit crunch and subsequent banking failures might be expected to deter banks from entertaining investment or deposit offers that come with up-front fees, payable by the bank, attached. But many …

    Business 2 Aug 16:01

  • Martian lakes seen where NASA Curiosity rover WON'T BE GOING

    Ancient wetlands 'were on the shortlist'

    The European Space Agency says its probe craft in orbit above Mars has seen strong evidence of ancient lakes and rivers - but at a location which WON'T be visited by NASA's nuclear-powered Curiosity rover, which will come in to land on the red planet on Monday. Look! Wet as you like! Once, anyway According to a statement …

    Science 2 Aug 19:33

  • Republican filibuster blocks Senate Cybersecurity bill

    Online security includes abortion rights it seems

    The latest attempt by the US government to ensure some kind of security standards for its critical infrastructure has failed, with Senate Republicans having blocked legislation over concerns at over-regulation of business and the weighing-down of the bill with useless ammendments. "Despite the President’s repeated calls for …

    Security 2 Aug 20:03

  • Telstra aces LTE market

    Morgan Stanley predicts Big T has 500k 4G customers already

    Telstra has nailed first mover advantage in the LTE market, with a new report forecasting that the carrier will reveal it has captured in excess of 500,000 subscribers in its full year results next week. Analysts at Morgan Stanley claim that Telstra will report annualized growth of 900% on LTE growth despite only having 200, …

    Networks 2 Aug 22:15

  • Ice Cream Sandwich still a no-show for most Android users

    Platform fragmentation coming along nicely

    Google's unofficial codename for Android 4.0 is "Ice Cream Sandwich" (ICS), but it may as well have called it Godot, as the latest market figures yet again demonstrate. According to the most recent Android Developer Dashboard numbers, which were compiled by polling Android devices during the two weeks leading up to August 1, …

    Mobile 2 Aug 22:19

  • Software bug flattens NYSE trader

    Plunged into $US440 MILLION loss

    An algorithmic trading software bug is being blamed for a day of wild swings at the New York Stock Exchange – and has resulted in the trader placing the dodgy orders reporting a $US440 million pre-tax loss. What’s been called a “mini flash crash” by Forbes saw 150 NYSE-traded stocks, from General Electric down to minnows, …

    Business 2 Aug 22:35

  • Motorola’s next Razr ‘leaks’ online

    New legal strategy: ugly won’t get you sued?

    Yet another round of Motorola Droid Razr HD prototype-leak rumours has been kicked off by a post to the XDA forums, picked up by Android Headlines. With the phone having passed FCC approvals, it might almost seem that the leaks are a pre-launch marketing campaign by Motorola, with the latest pics showing a 4G logo that …

    Networks 2 Aug 22:37

  • Valve: Games run FASTER on Linux than Windows

    It's because Direct3D is slow

    Not only has Valve Software successfully ported the first-person shooter game Left 4 Dead 2 to Linux, but it actually runs faster on the open source OS than on Windows. Using high-end hardware, a version of the game running on Ubuntu 12.04 renders at 315fps, Valve's Linux team reports. That's a 16 per cent improvement over the …

    Software 2 Aug 23:26