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6th November 2012 Archive

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  • Apple to ditch Intel – report

    Here we go again

    Apple may dump Intel as its CPU supplier for the Mac, reports Bloomberg. The newswire quotes “people familiar with the company’s research” as saying Apple is “exploring ways” to use its own silicon in future Macs, as it has become frustrated with Intel’s inability to deliver chips that can be built into thin and light devices …

    Hardware 6 Nov 00:47

  • Swiss boffins slap together homegrown zBox4 supercomputer

    Overnighter yields 54 teraflops with flashy storage

    Students and a few wandering professors at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Zurich had a perfect weekend when they scraped together the funds to buy the parts for their zBox4 homegrown supercomputer and assembled the two-rack beast. This is the fourth generation of homegrown machines that the ITP …

    HPC 6 Nov 01:01

  • Army patents neural chip design for quantum internet

    Nonlinear chips for a nonlinear world

    A team lead by US Army researchers has been granted a patent on a new chip design that offers radically faster processing speeds and could form the basis for quantum computing systems in the future. Ron Meyers, a quantum physicist with the US Army Research Laboratory, told The Register that the new chip design is capable of …

    Hardware 6 Nov 01:07

  • Verizon to close mobile app store, disappointing few

    Apps to go dark by January 2013 or sooner

    Leading US mobile carrier Verizon Wireless has announced that it will shutter its app store for Android and BlackBerry devices in January 2013, ending a three-year experiment that went all but unnoticed by most customers. Verizon first unveiled its apps marketplace in March 2010 under the name VCast App Store, and although it …

    Mobile 6 Nov 01:09

  • Mobiles susceptible to radio hacks

    Podcast Attack could command phones to record and transmit your voice

    Deep inside your mobe is the “baseband chipset”, a slab of silicon that handles all radio communications. Baseband systems have plenty of processing grunt and, according to renowned Jailbreaker Eric "Musclenerd" McDonald, are deeply integrated with the rest of a mobe’s hardware. That makes them a great place to run a virus, …

    Security 6 Nov 01:25

  • Monitors to grow half an inch in 2013

    Sales to go soft as it's what we do with them that counts

    Monitors will grow by about half an inch in 2013, but there's be no sales bulge for resellers according to Taiwanese market-watcher WitsView. The firm says new manufacturing processes mean it is now just as easy and cost-effective to cut LCD screens 19.5 inches wide as it is to slice them into 18.5 inch slabs. While only one …

    Hardware 6 Nov 03:08

  • Red Hat's off to China with ambitious growth plans

    Firm looks to cash in on huge cloud expansion

    Linux software giant Red Hat has become the latest US technology behemoth to talk up the huge potential in the Chinese market, revealing plans to expand its footprint there as it attempts to come good on ambitious growth plans. CEO Jim Whitehurst told China Daily that he would be putting a greater focus on the People’s …

    Business 6 Nov 04:42

  • Classic game 'Elite' returns … on Kickstarter

    Frontier Developments promises multiplayer 'space epic with stunning visuals'

    Elite, the classic BBC Micro game immortalised as winner of Reg Hardware's Antique Code Show All-time Classic Award, has returned as a Kickstarter project. David Braben, one of the developers of the original game and founder of Frontier Developments, writes on the game's Kickstarter page that the next instalment of the game, “ …

    Software 6 Nov 05:12

  • Cover your 4G LTE legal arse for just 79p per mobe

    Dive in to the patent pool party, the people are FRANDly

    A second patent pool is now open for business and touting licences to anyone making devices featuring next-gen mobile broadband LTE. It's hoped this will simplify the design process and make LTE devices cheaper, eventually. The new pool comes from Sisvel, which bought 350 essential telecommunications patents from Nokia earlier …

    Mobile 6 Nov 06:01

  • Chinese jitters as tech firms look to SE Asia expansion

    Could the global tech power balance be shifting?

    China could be at risk of losing its position at the centre of the technology manufacturing world as increasing numbers of producers move their operations to other nations in order to combat rising wages and ongoing trade concerns. Taiwan’s WantChinaTimes, citing a report in China’s influential Economic Information Daily, said …

    Business 6 Nov 06:13

  • Sharp clarifies doom-laden English earnings report

    'Mis-translation' of report corrected to remove reference to possible collapse

    Ailing Japanese electronics giant Sharp has been forced into an embarrassing clarification on the future of the company, claiming that a doom-laden warning it made last week was mis-translated into English. The under-fire firm, which could be set to slash as much as 19 per cent of its workforce, said in an earnings report last …

    Business 6 Nov 06:24

  • Flash-killer nanotube memory firm teams with Belgians to try again

    3 yrs late, and counting - but now moving 'even faster'

    Carbon nanotube memory startup Nantero has inked a deal to develop dense non-volatile memory with IMEC, a Belgian research centre, using its NRAM technology. For those of you who remember, back in 2007, Nantero told The Reg it expected the tech to replace flash by 2009, which seemed over-optimistic at the time. But the new deal …

    Storage 6 Nov 07:29

  • Ten... Apple iPad Mini alternatives

    Product Round-up Picks for the fruit-phobic fondleslab fancier

    Before you rush out and buy a device that the late Steve Jobs said wouldn’t, couldn’t and shouldn’t exist - well, kind of - you may care to consider some of the alternatives on offer, assuming that is you can’t quite make the nut and afford a full-size iPad. Until Windows RT fondleslabs percolate down to those of us empty of …

    Hardware 6 Nov 08:00

  • New trend: Trojan which steals your pics instead of your text

    That private stash of, ah, special-interest jpgs? Lifted

    Miscreants have developed a strain of malware that steals image files from compromised systems. The Pixsteal-A Trojan dispenses with the conventional tactic of only stealing text files, instead concentrating on uploading .jpg, .jpeg, and .dmp (memory dump) files from infected machines onto a remote FTP server. The switch in …

    Security 6 Nov 08:27

  • TwinStrata wrestles Nasuni in the cloud-gateway Jell-O pool

    Aims to twang rival's thong with new CIFS CloudArray

    Cloud storage gateway start-up TwinStrata is back with an updated version of its CloudArray product - 4.0. And while it claims the new kit is the first cloud-integrated storage product to natively support both network-attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN) protocols, we think Nasuni might beg to differ... …

    Storage 6 Nov 09:02

  • UN internet talkshop to meet, blue helmets still not poised to invade USA

    Twitter bullshitters, porn, other vital topics on agenda

    The United Nations will this week talk about how the internet could be better run, but grabbing the wheel remains off the agenda despite US fears. Fifteen-hundred delegates will head to Azerbaijan to chat about the web and how to ensure it best serves the world's population. The talks will include questions on how, and if, …

    Policy 6 Nov 09:20

  • Good ship Quantum turns to Starboard, fires a few ranging shots

    Responds to SEC filing across its bows

    Tape storage vendor Quantum has agreed to meet with Starboard Value, the activist investor that has sprung onto the scene claiming to be Quantum's largest shareholder - to the tune of 16 per cent - and wanting to prod the company into raising shareholder value. We wrote about this here, and Quantum has issued a statement which …

    Storage 6 Nov 09:41

  • 007 hardware: Gadgetry, spyware and things that make you go Boom

    Tracking gadgets, stealth comms, underwater cars and more...

    As Daniel Craig enjoys his third outing as Britain's most famous spy, fans who didn't get to see the film this weekend are rubbing their hands together in anticipation of 007's latest gadget collection. While we expect any contraption to feel futuristic and perhaps implausible, the gizmos on show from Bond films of yesteryear …

    Bond, James Bond 6 Nov 10:00

  • Avira 'fesses up: Our software isn't compatible with Windows 8

    Update Firm clutches smoking gun, hops toward 2012

    Freebie anti-virus firm Avira has admitted its security software is not compatible with either Windows 8 or Windows 12 Server. The German firm issued an advisory on Friday admitting its products would not be compatible with Windows 8 until the first quarter of 2013 after users complained that attempting to run Avira's software …

    Security 6 Nov 10:17

  • Are you an IT pro? It's no longer safe to bet your career on Microsoft

    Obviously don't just become an iOS dev, though ...

    Is Microsoft still a safe bet for the IT pro? In a word: No. As an IT worker, you have to gamble on which technology will keep you fed and housed over the coming years. For a really long time that has been Microsoft, but you don’t get paid on the past. Instead you need to peer into an uncertain future. The Windows 8 launch …

    The Channel 6 Nov 10:30

  • Credit card-sized mobile simplified for oldies

    Retirement phone

    Charity Age UK has unveiled a basic Sim-free mobile phone that lets users dial contacts directly with the touch of an oversized button. The credit card-sized UK My Phone, jointly developed with specialist network operator CyCell, comes with a maximum of eight customised homescreen buttons, simplifying the art of speed-dial. …

    Mobile 6 Nov 10:52

  • Mystery robot-bringing UFOs sighted by Indian troops on Tibet border

    'Not necessarily from outer space', reports paper

    Mysterious UFOs have returned to a remote region on the Tibetan border, according to sightings by Indian troops stationed in the area. The UFOs, which have been reported for years, are said to have included a strange "robot like" figure seen by Indian scientists in 2004 walking along a mountain valley - which then "rapidly …

    Science 6 Nov 10:54

  • Windows Phone 8 has a secret feature which may activate at any time

    Updated Aims to let users surf free WiFi 'spots all unknowing

    Microsoft has embedded software from Devicescape into Windows Phone 8, allowing smartmobes to automatically leech off 11 million free Wi-Fi hotspots. Devicescape's technology is already mandated by Intel in its Ultrabook blueprints, but this Windows Phone tie-up is potentially a much bigger deal as phones already outnumber …

    Operating Systems 6 Nov 11:13

  • IT spending set to SOAR in Europe ... by, er, 1.4 per cent

    Crack open the economically priced sparkling wine!

    Slablets, smartphones and software will lead a very mini revival in IT spending across EMEA next year, but a bumper return to growth for some channel biz owners may be just out of reach. Beancounter Gartner forecasts market contraction in 2012, with the amount of cash that consumers and businesses splash on tech projected to …

    The Channel 6 Nov 11:29

  • Two Texan teams tool up, ride out to enormo cluster shootout

    SC12 We're gonna kick supercomputer ass and chew gum - and we're all out of gum

    People in most US states would be ecstatic (or, perhaps, totally indifferent) to hear that one of their universities made it to the 2012 Student Cluster Competition (SCC) in Salt Lake City, but the state of Texas wanted more - so it's sending two teams to the Great Salt Lake Siege. Details on cluster-building competition rules …

    HPC 6 Nov 11:41

  • Facebook starts to ingest Instagram: Users revealed to web

    InstaFacers fear their mum may now see sepia nudies

    Previously confined to smartphone apps, the photo-furtling social network Instagram is now shifting to the web with all users automatically getting web profiles in the next week. Instagram announced web profiles today and surprise surprise the format of the new web profiles looks a lot like profiles do Facebook, suggesting the …

    Media 6 Nov 11:50

  • In the loop: how Halo defined a new decade of first-person shooters

    Feature From 'Pillar of Autumn' to genre foundation

    The glint of alien sunlight on green body armour; the spark of purple crystal shards arcing their way across the battlefield; the roar of a Warthog’s engine as it bounces across uneven terrain; and the dull thud as the butt of Master Chief’s gun impacts Covenant skull… familiar enough occurrences these days given the impact Halo …

    Games 6 Nov 12:00

  • Skyrim DLC lets players FLY DRAGONS

    Bethesda unveils 'Dragonborn'

    Bethesda has unveiled its latest DLC pack for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. As well as the introduction of a fresh villain, gamers will be able to fly on the back of a dragon. Insert Bill & Ted sample: "Exccellllent." While full details of the Dragonborn DLC have yet to surface, this week's trailer offers a glimpse of what …

    Games 6 Nov 12:01

  • Astronauts in the US election: No, NOBODY is voting from space

    One 'naut may become a congressman, however

    Contrary to many a headline bespattering the space-focused portions of the internet today, no US astronauts (nor anyone else) will be voting in the imminent US presidential elections from space. Right now there are only two US citizens to be found in orbit, International Space Station commander Sunita Williams and her …

    Science 6 Nov 12:12

  • Surface more profitable than iPad

    Microsoft's margins greater than Apple's

    Microsoft's Windows RT-based Surface tablet - designed to compete with the full sized Apple iPad - has a larger profit margin than its rival, a teardown analysis has revealed. The Surface, with its minimum 32GB of Flash storage and optional Touch Cover, has a bill of materials (BoM) that totals $271. Chuck in an additional $13 …

    Hardware 6 Nov 12:29

  • EXTREMELY RARE never-seen-alive WHALES found (briefly) alive

    Not extinct after all. Probably, anyway

    A pair of rare whales that boffins thought might be extinct has washed up on a New Zealand beach. A Grays beaked, not a spade-toothed beaked, whale Marine biologists previously only knew the spade-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon traversii) from a few old bones: but then, not one but two of the rare cetaceans, a mother and …

    Science 6 Nov 12:38

  • Firm-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's tax dodge profit shift? Totally legit

    Multinationals can 'choose where their profits are based'

    HMRC chief exec Lin Homer admitted yesterday that there was little the tax authority could do to stop big firms like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Starbucks moving their profits abroad to avoid tax. Homer told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee that it was up to multinationals where they were headquartered and where certain …

    Government 6 Nov 12:57

  • Belkin flaunts non-Apple Lightning add-ons

    Third-party first

    Belkin has announced a couple of iOS accessories for Apple's new lightning connecter, the first third-party products from a name brand to do so. The company's 'Car Charger for Lightning' and 'Charge + Sync Dock' are available for pre-order from tomorrow, both with a price-tag of £25. The latter features a foldaway aux jack, a …

    Hardware 6 Nov 13:20

  • Microsoft shoots Windows Live Messenger, brings in Skype IM

    Only room for one VoIP service

    Microsoft is reported to be retiring its popular messaging client in favour of Skype. Long-time Microsoft watcher Tom Warren writes here that the Windows Live Messenger service is to be wound up in the coming months and folded into Skype. An announcement is expected possibly as soon as this week. The Register contacted …

    Applications 6 Nov 13:23

  • China tries for 2012 WORLD cluster compo DOMINATION

    SC12 Sends NUDT, UTSC against the world at SC12 cluster-fest

    According to Chinese astrologers, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, and it’s certainly been a most auspicious year for Chinese HPC student cluster teams. So far this year*, China has completely dominated the Student Cluster Competition circuit. China's Tsinghua and NUDT university teams took both the Overall and highest LINPACK …

    HPC 6 Nov 13:24

  • iPhone 5 unlocked US prices placed on Apple website by accident

    Just $649 for the phruit-chomp phondleslab

    A unlocked iPhone 5 will cost $649 in America, according to listings popping up on Apple's own website which seem to have made it on there by accident. There are no official results for unlocked iPhone 5s on Apple's site, but a search for "unlocked iPhone 5" reveals a list of prices for the handset, as spotted by Apple Insider …

    Hardware 6 Nov 13:37

  • All-female code-crunching boffin team aims for cluster compo glory

    SC12 Comp sci, maths and hard science majors hope to draw more women into tech

    A couple of new – and quite different – teams are looking to shake things up at next week’s SC12 Student Cluster Competition (SCC) in Salt Lake City. For the first time, we’ll see a coalition of elite schools combine forces to take on their more experienced competitors. We will also see another SCC first: an all-female team. …

    HPC 6 Nov 13:51

  • Speaking in Tech: VMware $billion buy - brilliance ... or blunder?

    Podcast Also, how many bods needed to fit an SDN lightbulb?

    This week's techcast delves into all the latest technology in the storage and virtualisation sector. Your hosts Greg Knieriemen and Sarah Vela (Ed Saipetch is away on a secret mission) are talking to the Man Who Knows - special guest J Metz (@DrJMetz), who is strategic product manager of Storage and Unified Fabric at Cisco …

    Data Center 6 Nov 14:00

  • Maude reckons UK.gov web makeover will save £1.8bn annually

    Just want to talk to someone? Request it via HTML

    The Cabinet Office claimed today that shoving central government services online will save the UK roughly £1.8bn a year. The 7.5 million or so taxpayers in Blighty who are yet to use the internet may feel slightly miffed. The potential cost saving was the headline figure waved around by Francis Maude's department this morning …

    Government 6 Nov 14:17

  • Nvidia heralds Steam for Linux debut with 'double-speed' drivers

    GeForce to be reckoned with on the open source platform?

    The Linux version of Valve’s Steam games download shop goes live today, chip maker Nvidia has revealed. Nvidia said “Steam gaming platform that officially opened to gamers today” while announcing new Linux-optimised version of the R310 drivers for its GeForce graphics chips, including the new GTX 600 series. According to the …

    Applications 6 Nov 14:28

  • LOHAN's cold heart beats beneath silicon breast

    Spaceplane mission control electronics provisionally dubbed 'HILTON'

    Our crack Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) electronics team has made some cracking progress over the past few weeks, putting together the beating heart that will control our audacious Vulture 2 spaceplane mission. A couple of months back, we decided to fire the aircraft's solid rocket motor using a GPS trigger, …

    SPB 6 Nov 15:00

  • Cockatoo grabs his tool, manages to get hold of boffins' nuts

    Birdy genius stuns scientists with twiggy feats

    A twig may not be your idea of a great tool, but a cockatoo has worked out how to use it to move a cashew nut, getting scientists from the University of Oxford, Vienna and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany fairly excited. The complex tool innovation displayed by a Goffin's cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana) called …

    Science 6 Nov 15:23

  • ARM Holdings licenses big chunk of MIPS patents

    Updated Game over for MIPS ... or, just maybe, not

    ARM Holdings has helped form a consortium that has bought the rights to the majority of the patent portfolio of rival RISC chip biz MIPS Technologies. MIPS could have been a contender for clients and servers but almost certainly won't be now. MIPS chips have a minimalist, low-power design much like the various ARM processors …

    Servers 6 Nov 15:26

  • DCC SerCom: Suck on that, distie rivals - our sales went UP 20%

    Micro P daddy reports operating profits rising too

    DCC SerCom - parent of UK disties MicroP and Gem - cocked a snook to the economic turmoil engulfing many competitors by reporting a healthy set of financials for the first six months of ended September. Turnover was up by a little more than a fifth to €922.2m (£738.91m) compared to €766.9m in the same period a year earlier, as …

    The Channel 6 Nov 15:45

  • Man who put the manhood into the Speaking Clock dies

    Obit Brian Cobby - one-time Madonna arm candy - was 83

    British actor Brian Cobby, who is famous for being the first male voice for BT's speaking clock, has died aged 83. Cobby wasn't working as an actor when he won the role - he was a BT employee when he triumphed in a company-wide competition to find the next voice of the clock in 1984. Cobby was an assistant supervisor in a …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 16:02

  • Fujitsu Technology Solutions CEO throws in the towel

    Schwirz to 'pursue ambitions'. Don't let them get far

    Fujitsu Technology Solutions (FTS) CEO Rolf Schwirz has resigned, The Channel can reveal. He was brought into the Fujitsu fold in August 2010 after rocking up from SAP where he was head of mature markets EMEA. Prior to that he held various senior roles over a 12-year stretch at Oracle. Trotting out the much-used corporate …

    The Channel 6 Nov 16:29

  • Brussels looks set to OK Apple e-book collusion deal, sources say

    Alleged price caper put to bed after Amazon reads a story

    Brussels officials have reportedly indicated that a settlement deal proposed by Apple and four of the publishers in Europe's competition probe into ebooks price-fixing with be accepted by the Commission. According to Reuters, which cites two unnamed sources, an offer from Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, the …

    Media 6 Nov 16:50

  • Epic FAIL: Anonymous didn't hack PayPal, managed to frighten Oz hippies

    #OpNov5 pyrotechnics disappear in puff of smoke

    The smoke has cleared from Anonymous's Bonfire Night hacking spree with a denial from PayPal that it had been hacked. The payments-processing firm appeared to have been highest profile target of the hacking spree, but apparently this was an error caused by the tweeting and retweeting of an erroneous post by a cyber security …

    Security 6 Nov 16:57

  • CA Technologies sues New Relic over APM patents

    Cheaper than just buying it, maybe

    CA Technologies, the former Computer Associates, has thrown a patent sueball at application performance management (APM) software rival New Relic in Federal court. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in the US District Court for the Eastern District in New York, claims that New Relic violated three patents that came into CA's …

    Law 6 Nov 17:34

  • HP deed-poll drama: MORE new names for storage kiddies

    Isn't this getting a bit confusing?

    HP is currently rebranding its storage arrays as StoreSomething and the HP X9000 IBRIX scale-out filers are looking to become HP's StoreAll product line, with the 3PAR block arrays becoming StoreServs. The company has already announced the StoreOnce, StoreVirtual and StoreEasy brands. It looks as if there are going to be more …

    Storage 6 Nov 18:03

  • Google bod exposes Sophos Antivirus' gaping holes

    Ormandy - Are you pleased with yourself? Probably yes

    A security researcher has discovered embarrassing and critical vulnerabilities in Sophos' enterprise protection software. Tavis Ormandy, an information security engineer at Google, published a paper along with example attack code to highlight flaws present in Windows, Linux and Mac OS X builds of Sophos' antivirus product. …

    Security 6 Nov 18:28

  • Scraggly student veterans bid for SC12 victory

    SC12 Does experience = cluster triumph?

    A couple of old-timer teams round out the field at the upcoming SC12 Student Cluster Competition (SCC) in Salt Lake City. These contests started in 2007 and between them, these two teams have participated in a total of nine matches. Each school has six team members plus three advisors/coaches. Let’s assume that the competition …

    HPC 6 Nov 19:02

  • US election: New Jersey email voting plan 'best of bad bunch'

    Better to give a man two votes than none

    Security watchers have given a lukewarm backing to plans by New Jersey authorities to allow email voting for residents of the state left displaced by Superstorm Sandy. New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno issued a directive on Saturday permitting voters to download absentee ballots before returning them by either email …

    Government 6 Nov 19:24

  • Apple rejects NAKED HIPPIE ebook, despite apple coverup

    Photos 'Censorship threat to a major part of the Danish cultural heritage'

    A Danish author's ebooks documenting freewheeling hippie nudity have been rejected from Apple's iBookstore in that country, even after the author and publisher covered up the offending naughty bits – with images of ripe red apples. "Apple founder, Steve Jobs, marketed himself as a child of the hippie movement," author Peter …

    Media 6 Nov 19:52

  • Ohio voting machines have 'backdoor', lawsuit claims

    Video Security of e-voting called into question – again

    The software used in Ohio voting machines contain a backdoor that would allow third-parties to change electronic votes, claims a lawsuit filed by local Green Party candidate Bob Fitrakis. The lawsuit, filed on Monday afternoon against Ohio's Republican Secretary of State John Husted, claims that on September 18 he hired …

    Security 6 Nov 20:02

  • HP taps server exec Fink as CTO, lab director

    Business critical research and development needed

    HP has a techie-in-chief after nearly a year of leaving key CTO and lab director positions unfilled. A year ago, then-new CEO Meg Whitman decided that HP did not need a chief technology officer, and Shane Robison – who came into HP in the wake of outsider CEO Carly Fiorina – was shown the door. In April of this year Prith …

    Business 6 Nov 20:50

  • GPU-powered Chrome lets you watch YouTube longer

    Version 23 also adds better permissions and Do Not Track

    Google has pushed version 23 of its Chrome web browser to the Stable release channel, bringing GPU-accelerated video playback to the Windows platform and giving users finer control over what data that sites can collect about their browsing habits. Chrome has been able to use the GPU to accelerate web-page rendering for some …

    Applications 6 Nov 21:08

  • Satellite data gets a dose of Google cloudy goodness

    CSIRO invades the Chocolate Factory

    Google is teaming up with CSIRO via its Google Earth Outreach Program to put cloud-based satellite image analysis in front of earth sciences researchers. While there are plenty of public sources for satellite data – such as NASA, for example – turning images into analysis is a power-hungry business. First, you have to locate …

    Science 6 Nov 21:30

  • ACCC weighs in on IT pricing

    Vendors warned: don’t fib to the public

    IT vendors, already under attack for stonewalling the Australian government’s IT pricing inquiry, have received a blunt warning from the ACCC: don’t lie about why your products are expensive in Australia. Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims says the …

    Government 6 Nov 22:14

  • Google's Brin: Elected officials should quit political parties

    Calls US government 'a bonfire of partisanship'

    As Americans head to the polls in the 2012 national election, Google cofounder Sergey Brin has called on the winners of political races to renounce their parties and govern as independents. "I must confess, I am dreading today's elections," Brin wrote in a post to his Google+ page. "Not because of who might win or lose . . . …

    Government 6 Nov 22:39

  • NASA snaps revealing pix of visiting near-Earth asteroid

    Photos Imminent end of civilization highly unlikely

    In a marvelously precise bit of radar aiming, NASA astro-boffins captured a set of images of a near-Earth asteroid as it passed by our lonely planet late last month at distances of between 9 and 10 million kilometers (5.6 and 6.2 million miles). The images, released on Monday, show asteroid 2007 PA8 to be what NASA describes …

    Science 6 Nov 23:01

  • Hardware failure melts down Chocolate Factory

    CloudFlare engineers sort out Google's problem

    Google users in Southeast Asia had an outage last night after an Indonesian ISP had a bit of a meltdown. Engineers at content-delivery provider CloudFlare noticed the outage at around 2:24 UTC on Tuesday after their own Google Apps services went offline. The outage was primarily an Asian problem and the company estimates …

    Hosting 6 Nov 23:40