13th August 2012 Archive

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Moderate comments or face penalties: ACCC

'You have 24 hours'

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has weighed into the row over corporate Facebook pages, telling the The Age it would expect large businesses to be able to act on comments within 24 hours. Depending on your point of view, Australia either brought its advertising regulations into the Internet age last …

Networks 13 Aug 00:12
Curiosity's new OS upgrade ready to go live

Curiosity Mars Mission Weekend pics reveal watery rocks

Martian robot tourist Curiosity's new operating system will go into production on 13 August after it was successfully uploaded and installed by mission scientists. The boffins had said the remote upgrade represented a major milestone for the craft. NASA tested the upgrade on August 11th in an exercise during which it “executed …

Science 13 Aug 00:49
AGIMO picks two data centre providers

Government agencies herded into approved bit barns

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) has announced two providers for its Whole-of-Government Data Centre Facilities Panel. The two happy companies are Canberra Data Centres and TransACT Capital Communications, both of which are now in the box seat to scoop hosting gigs from government agencies that …

Policy 13 Aug 01:16
Pixar open sources production animation code, patents

Vid That's not stealing, it's downloading with style

Disney-owned Jobs-derived animation outfit Pixar has open-sourced some of its production software. Pixar started life as a software company and still operates a division selling its RenderMan wares, which have been pressed into service making innumerable films beyond the walls of Pixar itself. The code released as open source …

Software 13 Aug 01:59
Kidney-for-iPad fanboi sues after illness strikes

At least he's still got his fondleslab

An 18-year-old Chinese lad who used money from selling one of his kidneys to buy an iPhone and iPad 2 is now suing for compensation of 2.27 million yuan (£227,785). The misguided fanboi from Anhui province, surnamed Wang, was 17 when he agreed to the illegal transplant procedure in April 2011. In total, he received just 22,000 …

Bootnotes 13 Aug 03:48
Intel, Sina and others launch OpenStack-friendly alliance

China Open Source Cloud League has lift off

Burgeoning Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) initiative OpenStack received a welcome endorsement last week when Intel teamed up with some local Chinese players to launch the China Open Source Cloud League (COSCL) – a new alliance which will accelerate development of the project in the huge domestic cloud market. Chipzilla’s …

Cloud 13 Aug 05:59
Hong Kong has fastest broadband on the planet

Slaps South Korea into second as UK finishes out of the medals in 21st

Asian countries topped the global broadband charts again in the previous quarter, with plucky Hong Kong knocking long-time champ South Korea from its lofty perch to register the fastest services in the world for both mobile and fixed connectivity. The latest quarterly State of the Internet report from content delivery provider …

Networks 13 Aug 06:56
New Intel Ultrabooks to spray HOT JUICE into mobes

Svelte laptops to sling charge - fresh rumour

Intel will build wireless charging into its svelte laptops, aka Ultrabooks, and smartphones by the middle of 2013, according to whisperings on Chinese rumour mill Digitimes Using the chip giant's own in-house technology, the mobes' batteries are topped up over the air by the Ultrabooks. Apparently the phones can be held …

Hardware 13 Aug 07:01
Don't get sued or cuffed on Twitter: Read these top 10 pitfalls

See just how easy it is to end up looking like a twit

Debates in Parliament, home visits from the police and distressed celebrities have all left tweeters a little unsure as to what is and what is not acceptable by law on Twitter. The list of those offending and those offended keeps growing with recent high profile reports referring to Louise Mensch, Tom Daley, Guy Adams, Steve …

Law 13 Aug 07:26
BMW slams ad machine into reverse, screeches out of pirate den

Flash motors parked alongside dodgy MP3 downloads

Musicians are claiming a small victory in pressuring BMW to rethink its internet advertising policies. The car maker, which posted revenues of €68bn in 2011 - making it more than twice the size of Google - has promised to review how it promotes itself on the internet after the Trichordist blog noticed the German giant was …

Media 13 Aug 08:02
Cars, lorries stalked via GPS to create live traffic super-map

Highways Agency trial bungs real-time tracking on web

The Highways Agency is trialling combining GPS tracking with data from its existing sources to provide real-time information to drivers on a 'beta' version of its traffic information map for drivers in England. A spokesman for the agency told Government Computing that by adding GPS data to that from its existing sources - …

Government 13 Aug 08:19
NetApp StorageGRID now on cloud nine: Would you put 100PBs in it?

Analysis Show us ~~the money~~ an actual installation

NetApp continues its slow development of its object storage capability by adding a cloud interface to it. Version 9.0 of StorageGRID, the storage software gained by NetApp when it bought Bycast in mid-2010, sounds like a major release but the only feature NetApp emphasises is the new Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI). …

Storage 13 Aug 08:48
Intel: Xeon breaks Calxeda's ARM in Apache benchmark

Power lines, damn power lines and statistics

Intel has hit back at upstart server rival Calxeda, which claimed its ARM-powered servers could out do Chipzilla's machines. Calxeda pitted its ECX-1000 processors against Intel's Xeons on the Apache Bench benchmark test and boasted that its ARM chips had a sizeable advantage. Not so, says Intel, and it has the benchmark tests …

Servers 13 Aug 09:12
Alleged 'Xbox 720' dev box eBay'd for $20,100

Intel-based tower could have been yours

Would you buy an Xbox 720 development kit for 20 grand? Someone just has - paying in dollars rather than sterling, of course - after the "Microsoft Xbox Durango Development Kit" appeared on eBay last night. After 43 bids, the non-descript black tower system, said by the seller to contain an Intel processor and "dedicated …

Hardware 13 Aug 09:16
Google to axe 4,000 Motorola Mobility staff

A new kind of design team aka a much smaller one

Under Google's leadership a fifth of Motorola staff will be cut, and a third of the offices closed, shifting the focus onto a handful of devices dialling up the innovation. Google acquired Motorola Mobility, as opposed to the now-independent Motorola Solutions, in May, but the unit has lost $233m since then, so some …

Data Center 13 Aug 09:24
HP test pilots fly secret four-socket Xeon E5 blade in public

Top of the SPECs – for now

Hewlett-Packard has yet to announce a blade server based on Intel's latest Xeon E5-4600 processors for four-socket servers - but that hasn't stopped it bragging about their performance. In an article on its website, HP let the cat out of the bag that it was working on the ProLiant BL660c Gen8 blade server, which is a full- …

Servers 13 Aug 09:47
Watch the cloud get bigger and change its shape

Gazing into the future

What are the key trends we can discern in cloud networking? For a start it will take place at scale, with networks that are much bigger than we are used to and growing bigger by the day. Traffic in cloud networks will be very heavy and will display some unique characteristics due to the on-demand nature of cloud computing and …

Cloud 13 Aug 10:00
CSC UK waves ta-ta to axed staff, sharpens axe for next round

Two thirds of techies opt to walk with bigger payout

CSC UK has concluded the 90-day consultation period for workers at risk of redundancy with roughly two thirds of staffers heading for the door voluntarily, insiders claim. Sources reckon that of 640 peeps CSC included in the cost-cutting programme back in February, 330 are leaving the firm and about 220 of those are willingly …

The Channel 13 Aug 10:33
Upstart DEY touts Facebook-style storage for all and sundry

Step 1: Buy hard disks. Step 2: ??? Step 3: Become Google

Data juggling upstart DEY Storage claims it can bring Amazon, Facebook and Google-style storage to businesses with a silky software coating. Why bother paying any attention to it? Well, DEY has just raised $3m in seed funding from the great and the good including Seagate boss Steve Luczo and Virtual Instruments CEO and ex- …

Storage 13 Aug 10:54
Acer Aspire Timeline M3 Ultra review

The affordable Ultrabook

It seems safe to say that Ultrabooks haven’t given the PC market the shot in the arm that Intel was hoping for. The high prices haven’t helped, of course, and there also seems to be some evidence that many people are turned off by the relatively small 13in screens that dominate the Ultrabook category. Big deal: Acer's Aspire …

Laptops 13 Aug 11:15
Apple 'offered Samsung $30-per-mobe' patent licence truce

Sammy turned down offer it could definitely refuse

Apple offered Samsung a patent licensing deal at $30 per smartphone after warning the South Koreans they were infringing its fruity designs, a court heard. One of the iToy maker's witnesses revealed the snubbed settlement in public on Friday when he mentioned it during the companies' patent trial. Samsung stands accused of …

Phones 13 Aug 11:30
Lone config file in Mac OS X SIGNALS DEATH OF THE DVD

Apple may or may not ditch optical drives from expensive gear

An avid Mac OS X 10.8 rummager reckons Apple may give the boot to optical drives - a suggestion based merely on the contents of a configuration file. The fanboi found the .plist file in the latest version of OS X, Mountain Lion. The document refers to future iMac and Mac Pro machines and includes options for booting, say, …

Storage 13 Aug 12:07
Blinkbox to sell Game of Thrones series 2 by stream

House Tesco triumphant?

If you can't face waiting any longer for the DVD or Blu-ray release of Game of Thrones' second series, you'll be able to watch it today courtesy of Tesco IPTV service Blinkbox. A breathless PR just called to say the Netflix and Lovefilm rival has just gained HBO's permission to sell you the series for £1.89 an episode or £17. …

Hardware 13 Aug 12:14
YouTube escapes Google's piracy site smackdown

Analysis One law for us, and one for you

Google has admitted its own YouTube operation will not be affected by algorithm changes designed to demote pirate sites. Google announced the proposed changes on Friday in the hope of fending off new legislation designed to make it act more responsibly. From this week Google will modify its search results so that websites are …

Media 13 Aug 12:44
Google may face grilling by MPs over 'immoral' tax avoidance

Politicos rattle sabre

Google could be hauled in front of MPs after the 2011 results for its UK subsidiary showed it paid £6m in corporation tax. John Mann, an MP and member of the Treasury Select Committee, suggested the advertising giant should explain itself for its "entirely improper and immoral" behaviour. "This is a company avoiding its …

Business 13 Aug 13:18
El Reg probes pregnant Playmobil lass

Playmonaut denies dalliance with Lindsay Lohan lookalike

Plastic figurine giant Playmobil has released its first ever pregnant woman: an oven-bunned redhead with more than a passing resemblance to Lindsay Lohan. The mum-to-be is part of the latest mystery in the Fi?ures series, which offers kids the excitement of not knowing until they parted with their pocket money whether they've …

SPB 13 Aug 14:06
Colt Technology Services gobbles ThinkGrid

Lured by base of 300 resellers and entry into SME

Colt Technology Services has swallowed cloud minnow ThinkGrid for an undisclosed sum to tap up its network of 300 resellers and software developers and the small biz firms it counts as customers. Incorporated in 2008, London-based ThinkGrid provides a cloud platform for channel firms to resell infrastructure-as-a-service kit …

The Channel 13 Aug 14:11
IBM tells electrons to strictly come dancing in spintronics first

Waltzing in lock step into fast binary storage

A persistent spin helix sounds like a possessed washing machine rather than a doorway to a massive overhaul in the speed of computer electronics. Yet that's the science behind a breakthrough by IBM boffins, who have used spintronics to store persistent binary data. Computers rely on electrical charge to hold binary information …

Storage 13 Aug 15:01
HP gears down NonStops for midrange, emerging markets

Cheaper than a Linux cluster – and less hassle

Hewlett-Packard's NonStop servers tolerate faults even though new CEO Meg Whitman and Wall Street, which is breathing down her neck, can't. And now, in a hope to offset declines on its HP-UX Itanium server business and get its NonStop Integrity machines into emerging markets, HP has trimmed down the configurations and prices on …

Servers 13 Aug 16:01
OpenStack dons a Red Hat

Shadowman previews cloud control freak distro

Red Hat just about owns the commercial Linux distribution business and it has a pretty hefty slice of the commercial Java application server racket, too. Now it is taking those products up into the clouds by rolling up a commercial distribution of the OpenStack cloud controller that was created by NASA and Rackspace Hosting two …

Cloud 13 Aug 16:27
Climate change blamed for rise of LIFE-DRAINING HORRORS*

* Probably, anyway

Climate change could help parasites get nastier and nastier preceding a terrifying global epidemic, possibly. A study on frogs - yes, frogs - showed that they were more vulnerable to deadly fungus if the temperature changed unpredictably, which the researchers said could have a big impact on biodiversity and humans. "Given …

Science 13 Aug 17:53
AntiLeaks boss: We'll keep pummeling WikiLeaks and Assange

Group claims Trapwire timing was just a coincidence

As the nine-day DDoS hammering of WikiLeaks continues, hacking group AntiLeaks, has said that attacks will continue and widen, but have nothing to do with the Trapwire monitoring system the whistle-blowing site has been documenting. In an email conversation with The Register, someone claiming to be the head of the AntiLeaks …

Security 13 Aug 20:39
Kim Dotcom pressing on with Megabox music service plans

Vows new ventures to launch this year

Embattled file storage mogul Kim Dotcom says his ongoing court battle with US authorities won't stop him from launching new online businesses "this year," including his planned Megabox music service and possibly even a new, Megaupload-style file sharing site. In a pair of Twitter posts on Monday, Dotcom suggested that both …

Media 13 Aug 20:41
ARM tags GlobalFoundries for future chip tech

Doing the 20 nanometer two-step

ARM Holdings, the development company behind the ARM RISC collective that is expected to give x86 a run for its processor money, can't depend on one wafer baker partner, because with the exception of Intel, no one can. And so it is teaming up with GlobalFoundries on future chip tech, mirroring an existing deal with Taiwan …

Hardware 13 Aug 21:10
TransACT beefs up data centre for Dept of Finance

AGIMO panel brings in the dollars

The Australian Department of Finance and Deregulation has amplified its data centre requirements signing a AUD$8.6 million deal with iiNet owned TransACT for the provision of data centre services. TransACT secured the ten year agreement after being selected by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) to …

Policy 13 Aug 22:49
Designer punked fanbois with asymmetric screw

Hoax screwed up the news, not the iPhone 5

For a little while, the Apple press fell over itself to analyze the import of a screw that was reportedly going to lock customers and repairers out of the next iPhone forever. The source of the story has now ‘fessed up that to the hoax that set the wires a-buzz. Swedish design house Day4 has posted its account of events here. …

Mobile 13 Aug 22:54
Network sniffing algorithm could have fingered 9/11 suspects

Can spot who's talking about you on Facebook, too

A group of researchers has come up with a new algorithm that they say can be used to snoop information networks to trace rumor leaks, locate the source of disease epidemics, and even potentially stop terror attacks. According to Pedro Pinto and colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), the new …

Science 13 Aug 23:06
Boffins create 100,000 DPI image

Playboy centerfold at 50 microns

Perhaps the world’s most famous repurposed centerfold, the Lena test image, is now the world’s smallest test image courtesy of researchers in Singapore. A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) boffins have rendered the image of Lena Söderberg (familiar to computer science students the world over) at just 50 x 50 …

Science 13 Aug 23:36