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15th August 2012 Archive

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  • Office 2013 to eat own file-format dog food

    Microsoft decides to support its own spec at last

    With the upcoming release of Office 2013, Microsoft is finally offering full support for the Open XML document standard, a format that Redmond itself created and has been promoting for nearly seven years. "Microsoft continues to lead in giving customers choice and flexibility in file format standards and interoperability," …

    Applications 15 Aug 00:31

  • Cloud support brings WikiLeaks back online

    We're working on it says AntiLeaks

    After being taken out for ten days by a DDoS attack the WikiLeaks site is back online, thanks to some cloudy support from CloudFlare. The organization said that it had approached CloudFlare about hosting its site, since it has massive capacity and good systems for spotting an blocking DDoS attacks. WikiLeaks said it was …

    Cloud 15 Aug 00:32

  • Mining boom sparks IT jobs rush

    Jobs fire up for wireless mines on land, massive LANs on offshore rigs

    Australia’s mining and resources boom is driving demand for IT workers, as new, lucrative tenders see vendors and miners alike start work on new projects. Kordia Solutions Australia snared a flagship coal seam gas tender this week with the AUD$90 million communications services contract from Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG), …

    Jobs 15 Aug 03:23

  • Malaysian websites go dark to protest Evidence Act

    Retweet at your own risk

    Many Malaysian websites took on a sombre hue yesterday, as operators blacked them out to protest proposed amendments to the nation’s Evidence Act that would remove the presumption of innocence for some online activities. The controversial part of the legislation is a new Section 114a (PDF) which aims to “provide for the …

    Policy 15 Aug 03:47

  • Korean boffins discover secret to quick-charge batteries

    Electric car-makers get a boost

    South Korean boffins say they have found a way to cut battery charging times for electric cars from hours down to just minutes. The discovery changes the way materials used in regular batteries are treated, according to a Yonhap report. The report says researchers placed battery ingredients in a solution containing graphite …

    Science 15 Aug 04:13

  • Ten apps to install on your Nexus 7 first

    Product Round-up Take your media tablet beyond Google

    Once you’ve prised your Nexus 7 out of the box, watched your free copy of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (surely "binned it immediately" - Ed) and spent a few hours playing Dead Trigger the time is ripe to start thinking about the first third-party apps that will help you really get the most from your shiny new piece of Google …

    Phones 15 Aug 07:00

  • Fraudsters nick BILLIONS from China's e-commerce Wild West

    Almost one third of punters hit in 2011

    China’s burgeoning e-commerce industry has been remorselessly exploited by internet fraudsters to the tune of 30 billion yuan (£3bn) over the past 12 months despite police efforts to clamp down on dodgy sites. Industry group the China Electronic Commerce Association (CECA) was behind the concerning stats. CECA claimed that …

    Security 15 Aug 07:27

  • 'Kill switch' flaw found in top web weapon, victims sigh with relief

    Turn the tables on DDoSers

    Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in a top DDoS attack tool that provides a handy means to neutralise onslaughts. The Dirt Jumper Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Toolkit is one of the most popular attack tools available. It was deployed in a digital siege against security news website KrebsonSecurity. …

    Security 15 Aug 08:02

  • Apple fans fondle more slabs

    iPad market share, shipments on the up

    Apple's iPad grabbed almost 70 per cent of the tablet market during Q2, up from just under 60 per cent in Q1. Cupertino's unit shipments jumped massively between the two quarters, market watcher IHS iSuppli said yesterday, but rival vendors sold more tablets quarter-on-quarter too. Well, Samsung and Asus did, but both Amazon …

    Tablets 15 Aug 08:15

  • Bank-raid Trojan jury-rigged to pwn 'major airport's network'

    Intruder alert

    A Trojan has targeted airport workers logging into their employer's private network, security researchers have claimed. Crooks are believed to have modified the bank account-raiding Citadel Trojan, which is also used in ransomeware scams, and deployed it at a "major international airport hub" to access internal applications …

    Security 15 Aug 08:19

  • Councils wave £34m cheque for phones, broadband, IT stuff

    Ladies and gentlemen, start your bidding

    The Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation has issued tenders worth a total of up to £34m on behalf of Warwickshire county and Cambridge city councils. A notice in the Official Journal of the European Union says that Warwickshire county council wants to set up a two-year framework for a "competitive telephone call charging …

    The Channel 15 Aug 08:42

  • Hong Kong plods turn RoboCop with strap-on vid cams

    Dead or alive, you're filming with me

    Hong Kong police have angered human rights groups and taken one small step to full automation by revealing their intent to trial new portable video camera technology attached to their uniforms to film the public. A police spokeswoman in the Special Administrative Region of China told AFP the body camera scheme would be in use …

    Law 15 Aug 09:01

  • Microsoft halts new apps on Windows Phone Marketplace

    Security certificate cock-up knackers downloads

    Microsoft has temporarily halted the publication of new apps for Windows Phones following a problem with its digital security certificates. The company said a number of titles available from Marketplace - Redmond's software bazaar for its mobile phone operating system - will not install on handsets upgraded to Windows Phone 7. …

    Applications 15 Aug 09:44

  • Microsoft, Adobe throw fire blanket over blaze of security flaws

    Patch Tuesday - just in time for Exploit Friday

    Microsoft has fixed 26 security flaws, at least five of which are critical, in its software. At least one of the holes is being actively exploited by hackers to compromise Windows computers. The latest Patch Tuesday update from the company addresses these vulnerabilities, which are present in workstations and servers running …

    Security 15 Aug 10:32

  • Toshiba pulls out of Windows RT tablet push

    Can't get the parts, apparently

    Toshiba today backtracked on its decision to produce Windows RT tablets. It blamed the move on a delay in receiving key components. The manufacturer had previously announced its intent to make Surface-style slates with ARM-derived processors from Texas Instruments. However, after struggling to obtain certain parts, which it …

    Tablets 15 Aug 10:55

  • Goldeneye

    Antique Code Show You only live twice?

    Playing Goldeneye always felt more like an event rather than a gaming session. Four controllers and a 20in telly – it seemed huge at the time, believe me – headshotting friends had never been such fun. I have always had a soft spot for commies but playing Pierce Brosnan – wreaking havoc on Eastern Europe in Goldeneye – made me …

    Games 15 Aug 11:00

  • Few 'Likes' for Facebook from hedge-fund moneybags

    Don't short our stock... bitch

    Major US hedge funds are steering clear of Facebook stock, according to their second quarter filings yesterday. Famous investor George Soros has a bunch of shares, along with Steve Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors, John Thaler's JAT Capital Management and Chase Coleman's Tiger Global Management, which invested in Mark Zuckerberg's …

    Financial News 15 Aug 11:11

  • UK tiny-phone-mast biz Ubiquisys wolfs down $19m pie

    The future is small but cash to get there is big

    Ubiquisys, the Swindon-based company responsible for the tiniest of mobile base stations, has raised another $19m in VC cash, bringing the total to almost $86m. That money hasn't arrived all in one go - Ubiquisys started spending other peoples' money with a cash injection of $12m back in 2006, followed by $25m a year later and …

    Broadband 15 Aug 11:21

  • Samsung's Wang was up 22 hours a day, had no time to copy Apple

    Sleep-deprived designer denies ripping off iPhone icons

    Samsung fired its opening salvo against Apple's allegation that the South Korean giant ripped off the iPhone design, and claimed it worked its arse off to develop its own gadgets. At the two tech titans' ongoing patent trial in the US yesterday, Sammy also argued that Apple's iProducts are not unique. The South Korean firm …

    Operating Systems 15 Aug 11:29

  • Oracle slaps surprise patch over database server hole

    Went to Black Hat and all we got was this lousy security flaw

    Oracle has broken its regular quarterly patch update cycle with a fix for a security flaw publicised at last month's Black Hat conference. The vulnerability in Oracle's database server was demonstrated by David Litchfield, the celebrated white-hat hacker Brit. Oracle released a security update for server versions 11.2.x soon …

    Security 15 Aug 11:49

  • $1bn for Instagram? Knock yourself out, Facebook - UK watchdog

    Funnily enough, no one here will mind

    The UK's merger and acquisitions regulator has cleared Facebook to snaffle up photo filter Instagram. Imagine the sighs of relief at the social network when the watchdog ruled that the $1bn acquisition won't affect competition. The Office of Fair Trading said there was no need to refer the proposed deal to the Competition …

    Small Biz 15 Aug 12:15

  • SanDisk goes hard for soft VMware server caches

    Forget cameras, the real action is speeding up virty machines

    SanDisk is touting a VMware server cache that could accelerate applications three to five times and increase the number of virtual machines a host can support by 100 to 200 per cent. SanDisk has a long history of shipping consumer flash memory for gadgets including cameras and digital video recorders. It's lately moved into …

    Virtualization 15 Aug 12:42

  • Shops 'mislead punters' over phone contract prices

    Survey shows sellers think costs can't change

    Many phone shop staff deceive customers over the potential for price rises during the length of contracts, it has been alleged. A whopping 82 per cent of sales staff in mobile outlets gave incorrect information about potential price rises when attempting to close a phone-contract sale, consumer information company Which? …

    Mobile 15 Aug 13:01

  • EMC hands disties licence to assemble VSPEX

    Tells resellers to build it themselves or get someone else to do it

    EMC is opening up integration services to disties of the VSPEX line-up and plans to have training and accreditation sorted by next month. European distie Magirus got a six week head start on other EMC wholesalers in the region, Arrow ECS and Avnet but EMC expects both of them to clamber on board too. VSPEX is a converged …

    The Channel 15 Aug 13:02

  • Nokia CEO: No shift from Windows Phone

    Will not turn back

    Nokia's CEO has insisted the Finnish phone giant's future lies with Windows Phone and no other OS. "In today's war [between] Android, Apple and Windows, we are very clear, we are fighting that with the Windows phone," company chief Stephen Elop told reporters in Oslo. "I don't think about rewinding the clock and thinking …

    Phones 15 Aug 13:22

  • All hard drive arrays will mutate into flashy faster hybrids

    Blocks and Files El Reg storage hacks stare at crystal balls

    All hard drive storage arrays will become flash hybrids, with non-volatile memory fitted internally or bolted on externally. These mutants will fight all-flash arrays with better data management and server flash cache integration. The aim of the game is to get more revs out of the engines: applications should run faster, more …

    Storage 15 Aug 13:45

  • YouTube video has NOT killed radio's star

    Teens value analog-era music tipsters

    Unfashionable and neglected, radio is still vital to how people discover music. A Nielsen survey of da yoof finds that radio is still the most popular route for music discovery - nine times more than the internet. It also confirms that recommendations via real-life social networks - friends and relatives - are far more …

    Media 15 Aug 14:26

  • Apple's lone wolf approach to security will bite it in the rear

    Open... and Shut Everything's fine, can't hear you from the top of my cash mountain

    Apple may have minimal market share in desktop computers, but it has dominated the smartphone and tablet markets for years without any significant hacker exploits. Is Apple impervious to hackers, or is it just a matter of time before its luck runs out? The answer to both questions is a definite maybe. For years Apple has …

    Security 15 Aug 14:52

  • Sony evolves PlayStation Suite, makes Vita a PS3 controller

    Mobile manoeuvres

    Sony has detailed plans for the evolution of PlayStation Suite, as well as announcing a Vita update that'll see the handheld become a PS3 controller. The PlayStation Suite, which has been renamed PlayStation Mobile is heading towards various Sony-certified handsets, among them Acer tablets, the forthcoming WikiPad and, of …

    Games 15 Aug 14:56

  • VMware lets you take vClouds out for a spin

    Try and buy in the sky

    VMware wants to make it easier for cloudy infrastructure builders to see how its vCloud stack of software runs their applications, but it doesn't want to be in the cloud business itself. So, the vendor has teamed up with a hosting firm to tune up a vCloud service evaluation cloud that lets application developers and system …

    Virtualization 15 Aug 15:28

  • Text-and-drive teens ratted on by AT&T mobe tech

    Vid Warning! Your kid is going 60MPH - but not for much longer

    US telco AT&T is urging staff and customers to pledge never to text and drive - and is willing to rat on teenagers that break that promise. Those who vow never to juggle text messages and the control of a moving vehicle won't get a silver ring to wear, but they can share their pledge on Facebook and dedicate it in the memory …

    Mobile 15 Aug 15:50

  • Samsung to fight iPad with stylus, windows

    Galaxy Note 10.1 = personal productivity powerhouse?

    Samsung today pledged to "completely redefine mobile computing" - by bringing back the peripheral we thought was lost, the stylus. In a bid to make writing "personal again", the company, as expected, has taken its Galaxy Note five-incher and stretched it out with a 10.1in display. The irony here is that the stylus was long …

    Tablets 15 Aug 15:55

  • Google shifts more of Postini into Apps platform

    Last stages of assimilation

    The days of there being such a thing as a Postini reseller are numbered, as Google has announced yet more integration of the email and archiving group into the Chocolate Factory's Apps package. In a blog posting, Google said that Postini Google Message Security (GMS) and Google Message Discovery (GMD) customers will "gradually …

    Cloud 15 Aug 15:56

  • Rackspace rolls up OpenStack for private clouds

    Just don't call it a distro

    Amazon doesn't believe in private clouds, only public clouds and when you get down to it, only its own Amazon Web Services. Rackspace Hosting, which has supported other people's apps for a lot longer than AWS, believes in public clouds just as much as Amazon - enough to start the OpenStack cloud controller project and use the …

    Virtualization 15 Aug 16:32

  • First tranche of Windows 8 released via MSDN and TechNet

    Just not the most interesting versions

    The first version of Windows 8 RTM code is now available those who have a MSDN or TechNet subscription. Before you all get excited, remember this is the is x86 code for Intel PCs and tablets, not the preloaded Windows RT operating system that's been stirring up such a kerfuffle of late. This is Redmond's baseline, as it were, …

    Windows 8 15 Aug 17:18

  • Speaking in Tech: The rock'n'roll lifestyle of VMware vNerds

    Podcast From screaming at the cloud to screaming babies on flights

    The stars of our enterprise tech-cast are back and ready to speak their brains on everything from OpenStack noise to noisy babies on aeroplanes. Hosted by Greg Knieriemen and Ed Saipetch, this week's podcast features special guest Stephen Spellicy, director of enterprise data protection at HP Information Management. Regular …

    Virtualization 15 Aug 17:28

  • HotLink extends SuperVisor virty control freak to EC2, CloudStack

    OpenStack freakage when enough of you ask

    HotLink, the startup server virtualization management tool maker that came out of stealth mode a year ago, is reaching out from private clouds into public clouds with a new product called HotLink Hybrid Express. The idea is to create a new kind of tool, which HotLink calls a SuperVisor, that acts as an uber control freak that …

    Virtualization 15 Aug 19:10

  • RIP Harry Harrison: Stainless Steel Rat scurries no more

    Obituary Hopefully he won't become Soylent Green

    It's been a bad summer for SF. In June, Ray Bradbury slipped the surly bonds of Earth, and now legendary icon Harry Harrison has passed away at age 87. "Rest in peace, my friend. You touched the lives of millions with your exciting adventures, packed with unlikely but always hilarious and thrilling escapades and frequently …

    Science 15 Aug 19:33

  • Buffett no longer Intel Inside

    Still owns $13bn stake in Big Blue

    Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha and one of the world's richest men, has dumped his Intel stock, setting tongues a-wagging around the tech world that he might know something the rest of us don't. According to a 13F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's holding company, you …

    Hardware 15 Aug 20:24

  • High tech toilets receive big prizes from Bill Gates

    Futuristic facilities meet his challenge

    On Tuesday, Bill Gates devoted much of his day to the toilet. The philanthropist and former Microsoft CEO was on hand at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's all-day Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle to announce the winners of a year-long challenge to come up with new alternatives to the classic flush toilet, which Gates …

    Science 15 Aug 21:23

  • Assange's fate to be revealed at high noon

    Updated 1430 GMT Argy bargy outside embassy after UK 'threatened' to haul out Wikileaker

    Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño has reportedly told a press conference that Britain threatened to attack the nation’s London Embassy if it did not hand over WikiLeaker Julian Assange. The threat was apparently made in writing. The document is not present on WikiLeaks at the time of writing. Assange is currently holed …

    Policy 15 Aug 22:15

  • Hypersonic Waverider scramjet in epic wipeout

    London to NYC in 58 minutes pieces

    The US Air Force’s ongoing attempt to develop a hypersonic scramjet has taken another hit, with its X-51A tester breaking up less than a minute into its 15 August test flight. According to the Air Force, the test flight, planned to last five minutes, ended 31 seconds after it started. A rocket booster had been fired to …

    Science 15 Aug 22:27

  • New MPEG format paves the way for UHDTV

    'HEVC' makes H.264 look bloated, no-glasses 3D standard on the way too

    The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) has outlined a new video compression standard that will enable the broadcast and digital distribution of ultra high definition TV (UHDTV). High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is said to offer compression around twice as high as for the current video standard of choice, H.264, and was …

    Software 15 Aug 23:03

  • Cisco turns in solid June quarter

    Jacks up dividend, buybacks despite cautious CEOs

    Networking giant and server upstart Cisco Systems hit the numbers between the eyes in its fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 ended in June, growing profits faster than revenues. The company's financial performance, despite intense competition, soft markets in many places around the globe, and skittish CEOs who are not sure how the …

    Financial News 15 Aug 23:19

  • HP to spin off webOS division as Gram stealth subsidiary

    Mystery software venture to focus on webOS, Enyo, cloud

    The Hewlett Packard global business division formerly known as Palm is in major upheaval yet again, as HP moves to spin off its webOS team into a new subsidiary, to be called Gram. The new venture was announced at an internal meeting late last week, webOS Nation reports, but exactly what Gram is being launched to accomplish …

    Mobile 15 Aug 23:21

  • DVD plus nano-rods equals security, density: researchers

    A little light encryption

    Swinburne and Taiwanese researchers have demonstrated technology that can use a single laser beam to create 3D polarization in nanomaterials. What’s cool about this is that they demonstrate that the polarization can be used to encrypt information – as well as expanding the storage capacity of optical media like DVDs. As is …

    Science 15 Aug 23:45