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28th September 2012 Archive

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  • RIM reports more losses, lower sales, lots of cash

    CEO Heins waves off the buzzards

    Research in Motion saw its shares continue the climb that began earlier this week after it posted a Q2 earnings report that beat analyst expectations, but the struggling BlackBerry maker's revenue disappointed once again and its losses continue. On Wednesday, RIM's stock price was buoyed by optimism about its upcoming …

    Financial News 28 Sep 00:10

  • Event Horizon Telescope spots source of black hole jets

    If relativity is right, M87 is spinning

    A set of linked radio-telescopes across Hawaii, Arizona and California has given scientists a close-up of the accretion disk of a distant supermassive black hole The linked dishes, dubbed the Event Horizon Telescope, grabbed the fine details of a supermassive black hole in the M87 galaxy, some 50 million light-years distant, …

    Science 28 Sep 00:30

  • WTF is... NFC

    Feature Not For Consumers?

    Near Field Communications (NFC) has been around for almost a decade, but only recently become a smartphone feature because, simply, no one knows what it's for. Not that NFC is short of applications, but its broad utility makes it hard to pin its ideal usage model down. When Nokia, Philips and Sony first proposed the short- …

    Mobile 28 Sep 07:00

  • Last of the indie dedupe firms: We CAN fight off backup giants

    Interview Chris Mellor chats with Exagrid CEO Bill Andrews

    Bill Andrews, Exagrid's CEO, is a driven man, even though he's been at Exagrid for seven years. But Andrews still has a job of work ahead of him bringing Exagrid out from under Data Domain's massive market shadow. In these days of every mainstream storage vendor having deduping backup-to-disk arrays – with the notable …

    Storage 28 Sep 07:29

  • Salt marshes will suck CO2 from air faster and faster as seas rise

    Runaway global warming gets more negative feedback

    Salt marshes and similar types of coastal terrain could act naturally to fight global warming by absorbing increasing amounts of carbon in a warming world, scientists have found. Even better, salt marshes' carbon-sequestering effects would actually be increased sea-level rise. Salt marshes, mainly made up of specialised …

    Science 28 Sep 07:58

  • ICO: Data blunders by your cloud provider still YOUR fault

    Not always though, read on to cover your arse

    The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has warned businesses that they are still responsible for the safety of the data they own - even when that data is in the cloud. The regulator put out guidelines today for businesses on keeping data safe in the cloud. Dr Simon Rice, ICO technology policy advisor, hammered home the …

    Government 28 Sep 08:19

  • Draft UK libel law forces websites to axe mudslinging comments

    Can't always be sued for defamatory posts, but can't keep them online either

    Courts would have the power to order website operators to remove comments that have already been ruled to be defamatory even if those website operators did not post the comments themselves, according to the latest revisions to the Defamation Bill. Under the Bill people who have been allegedly defamed would be able to bring an …

    Law 28 Sep 08:37

  • 'What was Google going to do, force Apple to change its mind?'

    QuotW Plus: 'It was extremely tight. The sleeve started to slide off, but I was able to get it out'

    This was the week when complaints about Apple's latest Jesus-mobe continued - but that didn't stop upwards of five million people forking out for it or queues forming in Blighty and elsewhere on launch day. The 'maps app is crap' saga rumbled on as folks appealed to Google to save them from the random inaccuracy of Apple's …

    Bootnotes 28 Sep 09:01

  • Mozilla's Persona single sign-on service enters beta

    Login-by-email to take on OpenID, Facebook

    The Mozilla Foundation has announced a public beta of Persona, its browser-based website login system aimed at doing away with traditional usernames and passwords. El Reg first reported on Persona in 2011, when Mozilla launched the technology as an experimental prototype. Back then, the system was known as BrowserID, but …

    Applications 28 Sep 09:22

  • Google's disco-dancing uncle Schmidt trashes Apple's patent war

    Video From billion-dollar lawsuits to busting Gangnam Style moves

    Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt launched a thinly veiled attack on Apple on Thursday but declared the iPhone maker a “very good partner” - and then proceeded to dance like an uncle at a particularly awful wedding. The search giant's big cheese, who was in Seoul for the launch of the Nexus 7 tablet in South Korea, made …

    Law 28 Sep 09:37

  • Vote now for the ULTIMATE BACON SARNIE

    Poll The moment of porcine truth has arrived...

    Right, you lovely people, the moment has arrived to settle once and for all that matter of most monumentous moment: just what constitutes the ultimate bacon sarnie. As you'll recall, the porcine polemic kicked off when we pitched German delicacy Bauernfrühstück against the sacred pork-based assemblage in one of our post-pub …

    SPB 28 Sep 10:02

  • Intel outs initial Windows 8 Atom tablet line-up

    Acer, Asus, Dell, HP in the spotlight

    Hot on the heels of yesterday's Atom Z2760 launch - the designed-for-Windows 8 system-on-a-chip formerly known as Clover Trail - Intel has named the first tablets and convertibles that will ship with the new chip when the new Microsoft OS launches next month. Step forward, then, Acer and its Iconia W510, Asus with the Vivo Tab …

    reghardware 28 Sep 10:15

  • Dissolving silk electronics melt in your body, not in the hand

    Where's yours? Oh, it biodegraded

    When it comes to electronics, boffins are usually going one way - how to make them smaller, faster and longer lasting, but a few researchers are going against the tide - looking for electronics that can last just a moment and then disappear. At the University of Illinois, with help from Tufts and Northwestern Universities, …

    Science 28 Sep 10:16

  • Purpose of RFID finally discovered: It's for pairing up socks!

    Well, maybe

    The dream of 21st-century man, socks that pair themselves, is almost upon us with special hosiery which can find its mate using only an iPhone, an embedded tag and an RFID reader. The socks come from Blacksocks, and feature a heat-tolerant RFID tag identifying the pair to which the garment belongs. Sadly the iPhone has no RFID …

    Hardware 28 Sep 10:28

  • HMRC becomes first gov tentacle to buy cloud through G-Cloud

    Your taxes at work, collecting your taxes

    HMRC has become the first government department to sign a cloud contract through the G-Cloud, the government's online IT services catalogue. Yesterday HMRC signed the contract with Skyscape Cloud to migrate all the tax collectors' data to the cloud over the next six months. It's one of the biggest contracts to be awarded …

    Government 28 Sep 10:46

  • iPhone 5: the fab slab to grab

    Something for the Weekend, Sir? Nurse, the (taller) screens

    I have decided that the iPhone 5 is fantastic. Not that I own one, mind you. It’s just that the commentators slagging it off probably don’t own one either, so my ignorant opinion is just as valid as theirs. It is, of course, the tallest iPhone ever: OK, a bit of realism first: you can take hyperbole er… too far. A couple of …

    reghardware 28 Sep 11:01

  • Facebook's latest brain wave: Flogging REAL fluffy tat

    Thanks for telling us where you live... bitch

    Facebook has finally realised it needs to start touting actual stuff if it is to ever please Wall Street's moneymen. The dominant social network is moving into the online retail market, arguably not a moment too soon: its shares have taken a hammering since debuting on the Nasdaq stock exchange in May. While CEO Mark …

    Financial News 28 Sep 11:16

  • BYOD? Is it too late for IT to shut the back door...

    On demand Multiple devices, one security policy

    For over 30 years the IT department issued kit and managed it. But recently the techies have lost control to gadget hungry managers and workers who insist on bringing their own kit into the office. Our latest Regcast, Many Devices, One Policy, explored how this trend is causing the IT department to pull out its collective hair …

    CIO 28 Sep 11:32

  • Suffering Sharp gets a whopping bailout from the banks

    Sells its soul to the man for one more chance at profit

    Struggling electronics firm Sharp has announced that it signed a ¥360bn (£2.9bn, $4.6bn) bailout deal with banks including Mizuho Corporate Bank and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. The Japanese firm said that it had signed a loan deal with the banks for ¥180bn upfront and a loan facility of an equal amount to take care of its …

    Financial News 28 Sep 11:33

  • Icelandic town demands vulva museum

    Stuff wild animals, we want Pussy Riot

    The good burghers of the Icelandic town of Mosfellsbær are unimpressed with local council plans to build a wild animal museum, and instead favour opening a vulva attraction. The campaigning Residents' Movement reckons a vulvular lipsmacker is a better way celebrating Mosfellsbær's "25th anniversary"* than the council's …

    Bootnotes 28 Sep 11:48

  • Intel: Behold the TABLETS of our partners, proof of Win8's MIGHT

    Dell and HP swing both ways on ARM/Clover Trail

    Windows 8 is ready, and to prove it Intel just listed PC chip partners who are putting Microsoft’s touchy operating system on its silicon. Yesterday, Chipzilla named nine OEMs that are building Windows 8 tablets and convertibles running its chips. Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Samsung and …

    Windows 8 28 Sep 11:59

  • Alibaba pushes on with mobile OS plans despite Android setback

    Taps up the Shenzhen massive for favours...

    Chinese web giant Alibaba is pushing ahead with plans to get its mobile operating system Aliyun onto more handsets in the country despite a recent clash with Google which saw Acer forced to pull a new handset based on the OS. Alibaba has high hopes for Aliyun, which it recently spun out of its burgeoning AliCloud business …

    Mobile 28 Sep 12:17

  • Tablet and laptop sales neck and neck

    Era of the notebook over?

    Brits bought as many tablets as laptops in August, market watcher GfK said today. Good news for tablet proponents, that, but not for the folk making and selling computer kit. They make less money selling slabs than notebooks. So while notebooks accounted for 33.6 per cent of IT sales revenue in August 2012, down from 34.5 per …

    reghardware 28 Sep 12:20

  • Graun Aid: Don't They Know It's Christmas 2.0?

    Competition Reg readers pen charity single for troubled newspaper

    Earlier this week we reported Guardian veteran David Leigh's big idea to save his job the British newspaper industry. The Seventies throwback proposed that every broadband subscriber in the country should pay ten per cent more for their internet, around £2 a month, with money going to dead tree media based on their web …

    Media 28 Sep 12:37

  • Yet another exec dashes out Groupon's door

    Voucher bazaar reported to have lost EMEA chief as it struggles in Europe

    Groupon has lost yet another top executive, this time the chief of its international business, as its weensy second quarter profit fails to impress investors. According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, Veit Dengler is on his way out, while Chris Muhr, SVP of sales, will take over Europe, Middle East and Africa for the …

    Financial News 28 Sep 13:02

  • JK Rowling's adult novel arrives on ebook full of FAIL

    Where's a digital wizard when you need one?

    JK Rowling's first novel not to feature young bespectacled wizard Harry Potter was released on Wednesday, following a massive marketing campaign that effectively shrouded The Casual Vacancy in mystery before its debut on bookstore shelves. But it didn't all go according to plan, after the ebook version of the 506-page tome was …

    Media 28 Sep 13:32

  • Democratic congresswomen 'less feminine in appearance' than Republicans

    Trick-cyclists discover 'Michele Bachmann effect'

    Time-rich psychologists in the USA say they have discovered that female Democratic politicians are significantly less feminine in appearance than Republican ones - so much so that it's often possible to tell which party a woman politico belongs to just by looking at her. Michele Bachmann (Republican) "I suppose we could …

    Science 28 Sep 14:31

  • Mosley thrash'n'tickle vid case against Google opens in Hamburg

    Ex F1 chief's clip campaign flogging a -erm- dead horse?

    Google is being sued in a Hamburg court by Max Mosley, who is claiming that the company has broken Germany privacy laws by continuing to host a video online which shows the erstwhile Formula One chief engaging in a sordid sex pantomime. Mosley told the Leveson Inquiry nearly a year ago that he would bring a lawsuit against …

    Media 28 Sep 14:42

  • Firefox's birthday present to us: Teaching tech titans about DIY upstarts

    Open ... and Shut A decade of real choice - there's no app for that

    It's hard to believe it now, but not too long ago the web was dangerously close to being owned by one vendor: Microsoft. As mainstream users came to equate Internet Explorer's logo with the Web, Microsoft worked to lock in its advantage with increasingly proprietary technology like ActiveX. It surely would have done so, too, …

    Developer 28 Sep 14:59

  • Nokia lops UK Lumia prices ahead of Win 8 phones

    Old tech, going cheaper?

    Nokia has reportedly cut up to 15 per cent off the price of its Lumia handsets in a bid to flog off Window Phone 7 kit before Windows 8 appears in its next-gen smartphones. The Finnish phone giant hasn't confirmed the cut, which was highlighted today by UK-based market watcher CCS Insight and made public by Reuters. The Lumia …

    reghardware 28 Sep 15:15

  • Google axes YouTube attack vid after Brazilian fuzz uncuff chief

    Appeal against judge's banning order fails

    Google's chief in Brazil has been forced to take down the YouTube video that got him arrested on Wednesday. Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, who did not make the video, was briefly detained for questioning by police for "disobedience" after Google refused to remove the piece. The vid broke the country's strict election laws by taking …

    Media 28 Sep 15:32

  • Zombies are attacking America – researchers

    Banking sector DDoSers 'used botnets', say security boffins

    Hackers responsible for an ongoing series of attacks against US banks over the past week may be tapping into botnets to power their assaults, according to security researchers. Meanwhile, the Financial Services ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Center) continues to advise banks to be prepared for attack. Bank of America, …

    Security 28 Sep 15:59

  • World's power-grid cyber breach traced to notorious Chinese crew

    Telvent pulls plug on networks after shock raid

    An espionage attack on Telvent - the maker of power-grid control systems and smart meters - has been linked to a prolific Chinese hacking crew. Telvent, a division of Schneider Electric, has admitted hackers breached its corporate network, implanted malicious software and lifted sensitive project files. The raid spanned …

    Security 28 Sep 16:28

  • US gov on track to miss its own IPv6 deadline

    Just 12% of Feds' websites are ready, says tech watchdog

    US government websites will miss the deadline for transition to IPv6 on a huge scale, predicts a watchdog. Only 12 per cent of federal website domains are currently compatible with new internet protocol IPv6 according to the National institute of Standards and Technology. There are just two days to go before the deadline for …

    Networks 28 Sep 17:03

  • US said to designate Assange 'enemy' of the state

    Military who 'communicate' with WikiLeaks could face death penalty

    The US military has allegedly classified Julian Assange as an "enemy", a desigation that could make any member of those forces who communicates with him or WikiLeaks to be liable for the death penalty. According to an article in Thursday's Sydney Morning Herald, this latest elevation of the charges against Assange was …

    Law 28 Sep 17:37

  • Network boffins say Terabit Ethernet is TOO FAST

    Sticking to 400Gb for now

    The IEEE consensus group in charge of developing future networking standards has some words for anyone who was hoping to see Terabit Ethernet in the next few years: not so fast. In July, the IEEE Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment ad hoc group issued a report stating that global demand for network bandwidth is growing at such an …

    Data Networking 28 Sep 19:17

  • Microsoft: 'To fill 6,000 jobs, we'll pay $10K per visa'

    Plus $15K for green cards – other companies could buy in, as well

    Microsoft has entered the US immigration debate with a novel proposal for expanding the number of visas available for foreign techies: have companies pay the government a good chunk of change for an expanded number of them. Redmond's general counsel Brad Smith, speaking on a panel discussing STEM (science, technology, …

    Jobs 28 Sep 22:15

  • AMD launches Android app store for Windows PCs

    More ways to get your Angry Birds fix

    AMD has launched a new web portal designed to connect users with applications and games to run on their AMD-powered Windows PCs – including some 675,000 Android apps, thanks to a partnership with virty Android vendor BlueStacks. Announced on Thursday, AMD AppZone is a showcase for software that has been optimized for AMD …

    Software 28 Sep 22:38

  • OpenStack gets 'Folsom' release out on time

    Block storage and virty networking for cloud control freak

    The OpenStack project has delivered the promised "Folsom" release of its cloud controller on time – ahead of the OpenStack Design Summit in the middle of next month – and delivering a much-improved implementation of OpenStack that sports many features that cloud builders need. The Folsom release had over 330 developers …

    Storage 28 Sep 22:46