7th November 2012 Archive
Browse by publication date, or search the site.
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SGI losses widen, but revenue bumps up
Still disposing of 'LMDs of profit destruction'
Hyperscale server and supercomputer maker Silicon Graphics is still chewing through a pile of ICE X cluster low-margin deals – what company top brass call LMDs, a weapon of profit destruction that their predecessors allowed – which whacked profits in the quarter ended in September. That September quarter is the first quarter …
HPC 7 Nov 00:40
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RISC OS comes to Raspberry Pi
Who remembers their BBC BASIC syntax?
RISC OS, the operating system with its roots in Acorn's 1987 Archimedes micro and therefore the birth of the ARM processor architecture, has been released for the Raspberry Pi. Available as a free download, or pre-loaded onto an SD card for £10 plus postage, the release for the Pi is version 5.19 RC6. There's also a £35 …
Hardware 7 Nov 00:45
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Kim Dotcom's new Mega site barred by Gabon
Government wants no truck with 'unscrupulous people'
The government of Gabon has thrown a wrench in internet tycoon Kim Dotcom's plans to launch a new version of his Megaupload file-sharing site by suspending his domain name registration in that country, citing intellectual property concerns. Dotcom had planned to call his new site www.me.ga, using Gabon's .ga top-level domain …
Hosting 7 Nov 00:56
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Who needs flying cars when we can robotically sort Skittles?
Video And who said that American innovation was on the wane?
One of life's most vexing chores has finally been roboticized: sorting those delectable candy pellets, Skittles, by color. If you insist to The Reg that you've never separated a bag of Skittles – or, for that matter, their chocolaty analog, M&M's – into piles segregated by their purple, green, orange, red, and yellow hues, …
Hardware 7 Nov 01:21
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Pandora sues publishers over online music royalties
Says ASCAP is being unreasonable on rates
Internet radio station Pandora has gone to court to try and get a better royalty deal from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP.) ASCAP has over 435,000 members, ranging from the biggest music publishers to individual troubadours, and Pandora had a license with them from 2005 to 2010. But over a …
Media 7 Nov 01:23
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Bangor University touts 20 Gbps access tech
Backbone vendors throw hats in the air
A UK university is claiming front-runner status in the development of next-generation optical access networks using optical OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) technology. In a blow for clueless commentators that describe optical networks as obsolete (in Australia, News Limited’s Andrew Bolt is one such anti- …
Networks 7 Nov 01:34
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Rackspace sales and profits pop in Q3
'We are the birth mother of OpenStack'
The cloud computing wave and the goodwill and technical expertise that Rackspace Hosting has attained through its founding of the OpenStack cloud control freak, more than two years ago, are helping to puff up the company's finances. Both revenues were up 27 percent and net income was up 36 per cent in the third quarter, to $ …
Cloud 7 Nov 02:01
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Boffins foul VM sandboxes with CPU-sniffing hack
Elaborate attack watches CPU activity on co-located VM, retrieves crypto key
So much for your sandbox US researchers at RSA, the University of Wisconsin and the University of North Carolina have used a malicious virtual machine to extract a cryptographic key from another virtual machine running on the same hardware. The finding, published here (PDF), will not be welcomed by virtualisation companies or …
Security 7 Nov 02:27
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HIV vaccine safe for Phase II human trials
Canadian university claim no adverse effects from first tests
Researchers from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Canada's University of Western Ontario have issued a statement saying the first phase of clinical trials of an HIV vaccine have produced “no adverse effects observed including local reactions, signs/symptoms and laboratory toxicities”. The Reg understands the …
Science 7 Nov 04:32
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Optus to shutter Unwired
HerdingMigrating customers to 3G or 4G on Feb 28, 2013 after WiMax wipeoutOptus has written to customers of fixed-wireless-only ISP Unwired, advising them the company's network will be closed as of February 28, 2013, and offering them alternatives in the form of 3G and 4G wireless broadband plans. The letter to customers, a copy of which has been obtained by The Register, contains some nifty …
Networks 7 Nov 04:46
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Kyocera boffins make on-screen buttons feel real
Piezoelectric magic offers hope to fat-fingered typers
Japanese electronics-maker Kyocera has been showing off new touchscreen tech designed to make typing keys and other elements on a smartphone or tablet display feel like the real thing. Boffins at the firm have developed a system which harnesses piezoelectricity to vibrate the screen back and forth incredibly quickly when it is …
Hardware 7 Nov 05:28
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Google Search and Maps take a pounding in China
Govt restrictions and local rivals undermine Android advantage
Google is sinking without a trace in China, according to market-watchers who now place it fourth in the domestic search market and claim its Maps service tumbled to sixth position after a near double figures percentage decline. The Chocolate Factory was struggling for market share even before its well-publicised post-Operation …
Business 7 Nov 05:50
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Torvalds: I want to be nice, and curse less, but it's just not in me
'People do think I'm grumpy ... CHRIST this is ugly code'
NVIDIA, gnomes and people working on Linux distro security – these are just some of those who’ve felt the wrath of kernel kingpin Linus Torvalds. Now the KDE team is the latest to feel the heat after the Linux founder wrote a review of the desktop environment, albeit in relatively toned down language for the Finn. “It still …
Software 7 Nov 06:00
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Smartphones eclipse laptops as top WiFi hogs
Phondleslabs now using cellular merely to fill in gaps
Two out of five devices using public Wi-Fi networks are smartphones according to new figures. Laptops nipped in just below, accounting for 39 per cent of connected computers, tablets lag behind at 17 per cent, and the rest are unidentified. The numbers come from the Wireless Broadband Alliance, which got them from biz research …
Mobile 7 Nov 06:28
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I, for one, would like to welcome our Android overlord
Open ... and Shut Domination now and FOREVER
In case the barrage of lawsuits didn't clue us in, IDC's recent report showcasing an avalanche of Android phones must. Android accounted for 75 per cent of all smartphones sold in the last three months. That's serious domination, but we didn't need to wait for IDC to tell us about it. All the trends point to Android's dominance …
Operating Systems 7 Nov 07:00
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Google's UK grip slips a bit, brutal dominance basically unshaken
Lowest share in 5 years - still almost 90 per cent
Google's share of the UK search market has fallen below 90 per cent for the first time in five years, but only by 1.41 per cent. The Chocolate Factory dipped to 89.33 per cent of the market in October, Experian Hitwise reported, while Microsoft's bing and Ask and Yahoo! sites upped their shares. Bing is up on its previous …
Media 7 Nov 07:19
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NetApp offers middleweight refreshments
Will you paddle happily in your Flash Pool?
NetApp has refreshed its three mid-range FAS arrays, giving customers two models with speed and capacity increases and perhaps leaving room for a future top-end 3200. The company has three mainstream dual-controller FAS array product lines: the entry-level FAS2000s, the medium FAS3000s and the high-end FAS6000s. The FAS2000s …
Storage 7 Nov 07:39
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WTF is... RF-MEMS?
Feature Apparently, a way to make smartphones much, much better phones
Smartphones nowadays come with big screens, megapixel-packed cameras and, thanks to apps, many, many more features than anyone could have dreamed of in the early days of mobile telephony. It has even reached the stage where making telephone calls is just one small part of a modern phone. And yet the need to support all the radio …
Networks 7 Nov 08:01
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Phone lacking NFC pay-by-bonk tech? It can go on a SIM
Sorry iPhone fanbois, no bonking for you though
Inside Secure has finally announced the NFC SIM technology demonstrated a year ago, potentially adding ticketing and payments to any mobile phone, only without the other cool stuff NFC can do. The technology uses an RF booster, branded The PicoPulse, which uses handset power to push the Near Field Communications radio signal …
Mobile 7 Nov 09:01
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Prudential cops £50k ICO slap for giving customer's life savings away
Company repeatedly mixed up pair with same name, DOB
Insurance firm Prudential has been slapped with a £50,000 fine for merging the accounts of two customers' accounts with the same name and date of birth and not bothering to fix the situation when the customers complained. The company merged the two accounts with the same first name, surname and date of birth in March 2007, a …
Government 7 Nov 09:19
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Intel in Flash flush, offers 'smoother' fresh jobbie to data centre bods
Read the 'rithmetic on righted 'riting from Chipzilla
Intel has replaced its data centre-class 710 SSD - and its poor write performance - with a DC S3700 that reads twice as fast and writes 15 times faster. The DC, standing for Data Centre, S3700 uses the same 25nm High-Endurance Technology (HET) multi-level cell NAND as the 710 - it was announced roughly only a year ago after …
Storage 7 Nov 09:36
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Telefonica stirs up clouds, offers steaming mug of Instant Servers
99.996 per cent uptime. Not 99.995, not 99.997: 99.996
Telefonica Digital has launched a cloud service from servers in Madrid and London, using kit from Joyent and promising faster scalability and greater reliability than the competition. Instant Servers promises 99.996% uptime and backed cash compensation. Telefonica also reckons its clouds can quadruple in capacity instantly, …
Cloud 7 Nov 09:57
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Snake-fondling blonde nude punts Polish coffins
NSFW Catholic church condemns candid casket calendar
The Polish tentacle of the Catholic church is less than impressed with a local coffin-making outfit which punts its wares by draping disrobed women across its caskets. The 2013 Lindner calendar (NSFW) features a series of provocative images, including Miss March - presumably called Eve, and who's apparently been beamed onto …
Bootnotes 7 Nov 10:19
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Fujitsu hugs SAP, says it's all about solutions now
Welcomes users after saying goodbye to boss
Fujitsu Forum 2012 Fujitsu Technology Solutions insisted its integration into its parent company and parallel global expansion was on track this week as it kicked off its European user forum minus CEO Rolf Schwirz, who left the firm on Halloween. At the same time, it tied its wagon to SAP, declared support for third-party …
The Channel 7 Nov 10:38
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Xbox SmartGlass comes to iOS
Microsoft caters for Apple community
The iOS version of Xbox SmartGlass hit the App Store this week, bringing Microsoft's advanced remote console controllability to those with Apple devices a week after the release of the Android version. Microsoft's Xbox SmartGlass technology turns mobile gadgets like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad into interactive second …
Media 7 Nov 10:58
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BBC argues it is not bound by FOIA in bid to keep Climate 28 secret
Analysis We're private sector! Auntie's shock claim
BBC lawyers are insisting the law treats the public-funded broadcaster as a private body in a battle to resist a Freedom of Information request. At the heart of the six-year case lies the question of whether or not the public is entitled to ask the Beeb questions and have them answered using FOI legislation. It will test the …
Policy 7 Nov 11:00
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GCHQ lines up BAE and pals for 'Cyber Incident Response'
When only a huge, bloated military contractor can help
Eavesdropping spook base GCHQ is drawing up a list of companies that can help power stations, banks and other crucial UK organisations fend off and recover from hacking attacks. The "Cyber Incident Response" scheme - launched today by CESG, the data security arm of GCHQ, and the Centre for the Protection of National …
Security 7 Nov 11:19
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Theresa May DDoS case: Man cuffed by eCops
Home Office topple coppers take trip to Stoke
A man has been arrested in Stoke-on-Trent by police investigating a DDoS attack on Theresa May's website and the Home Office website in June. The 41 year old was arrested this morning by officers from the eCrime unit. He was later bailed until December. The man was arrested on suspicion of assisting or encouraging the denial …
Security 7 Nov 11:43
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Bird of Prey: 1980s IT on on the small screen
Monitor How an overweight computer expert took on a Europe-wide conspiracy and won
is an occasional column written at the crossroads where the arts, popular culture and technology intersect. In this first instalment, we look back at the BBC’s IT-themed Bird of Prey, a four-part conspiracy thriller “for the electronic age” and cult geek favourite. Let’s be clear about this right from the start: Bird of Prey, …
Media 7 Nov 12:03
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Microsoft and Skype to axe world's most popular IM client early 2013
If it works, don't fix it. Kill it and go P2P
Microsoft’s Instant Messenger will be sacrificed for Skype by the end of March 2013, it has finally emerged. The software giant’s Skype business has blogged Windows Live Messenger will be “retired” in the first quarter of 2013, except in mainland China. Skype said it will work with Windows Live Messenger users during the next …
Applications 7 Nov 12:04
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Comet staff should be for life, not just for Christmas
Dixons to recruit 2,000 for festive peak season
Dixons Retail is throwing a lifeline to beleaguered Comet staff awaiting the arrival of their P45s by offering some of them seasonal work in its PC World and Currys stores over the peak Christmas season. Administrator Deloitte took control of Comet late on Friday after the ailing retailer ran into insurmountable liquidity woes …
The Channel 7 Nov 12:14
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Microsoft mulls 'Xbox Surface' slate for games
Logical seven-inch extension of SmartGlass?
Microsoft wants to release a 7in gaming tablet, with hardware planning for an "Xbox Surface" already in the works, sources claim. Details of the device - which was first mooted in June when speculation pointed towards an E3 games show reveal - indicate the use of custom ARM chippery and high-bandwidth memory geared …
Hardware 7 Nov 12:26
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The genetic button that could turn a WOMAN into a CHIMPANZEE
Or a man, of course. Just doing our bit for equality
Certain regulatory mechanisms in genes are all that's stopping the human race from turning into monkeys, boffins have found. Humans share over 90 per cent of their DNA with primates, but mankind has somewhat different biology and behaviour. To get that difference from the same genetic soup, the activity of the genes has to …
Science 7 Nov 12:44
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Fujitsu guru: Win 8 will triumph. And we'll have brain plugs in 2027
Quite literally inside the mind of the CTO
Fujitsu's CTO made a series of fantastical projections on Tuesday, including ditching Google Goggles for direct brain implants and the end-to-end success of Windows 8 in the enterprise. Joseph Reger, in a session dubbed “What’s on the CTO’s Mind” at Fujitsu's user forum in Munich, said that while Microsoft had initially …
The Channel 7 Nov 13:00
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Apple engineers 'pay no attention to anyone's patents', court told
Cupertino ordered to pay $368m as FaceTime infringes VPN tech
Apple must pay software biz VirnetX $368m after a court ruled FaceTime video calls infringed VirnetX's patents. The fruity firm was on the hook for as much as $900m, but a jury awarded a lower payout during a Texas court hearing yesterday evening, according to VirnetX's lawyers McKool Smith. The jury, which had sat through …
Law 7 Nov 13:20
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Virgin launches TV Anywhere streaming
Playing catch up
Virgin Media has launched TV Anywhere, a service which lets its cable telly subscribers view content on a laptop, tablet or smartphone over a Wi-Fi connection. Depending on a user's Virgin package, the service - similar to Sky Go and BBC iPlayer - provides streams of up to 45 channels and 4000 hours of on-demand content. As …
Media 7 Nov 13:34
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UK prosecutors, cops ponder new probe into NASA hacker McKinnon
Lawyers, plods to meet following 'preliminary enquiries'
UK criminal prosecution lawyers will meet cops this month to decide whether or not to open a new investigation into Pentagon-hacking Brit Gary McKinnon. Last month Home Secretary Theresa May withdrew an extradition order against the 46-year-old on medical and human rights grounds. Five psychiatrists warned there was a risk the …
Security 7 Nov 13:36
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2.5 million trades a DAY: How ISE admins became Puppet masters
Sysadmin blog Penguins and Windows kids pull strings
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) has just completed the first phase of a Puppet Enterprise deployment. Their approach and the lessons they have learned are a teaching tool for all of us. Even in the cases where two organisations seek to accomplish the same task with the same product, the rationale and methodology can …
Datacenter 7 Nov 14:00
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Juniper in shock dump of biggest supplier
Plexus finds Facebook status suddenly 'single'
Juniper Networks has dumped its biggest manufacturer Plexus from a huge contract to make switches and network gear. Juniper had said that it was cutting the number of suppliers it uses and Plexus announced yesterday that it was one of the firms getting the axe. "This is very surprising news to us given our recent …
Data Networking 7 Nov 14:22
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Fallen flash star STEC sputters: We're cutting our OEM losses
Plays the joker in the PCIe card game
STEC, the once high-flying Fibre Chanel SSD start-up star, is still losing millions, although not as many as before. Its third 2012 quarter numbers show revenues up sequentially. Revenues were $42.1m, 3.4 per cent higher than the second quarter but a whopping 41.9 per cent lower than the $72.5m recorded a year ago, as the …
Storage 7 Nov 14:52
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Adobe spurts spackle* into Flash's gaping holes
Google strikes again leaving Player moist and lumpy
Adobe has updated its Flash Player software ahead of schedule to head off crooks exploiting critical vulnerabilities uncovered in the product. The flaws were reported by Google's security team. The cross-platform upgrade includes new builds of Flash for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Android-powered smartphones. Adobe AIR on …
Security 7 Nov 14:57
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Apple tries to add Galaxy Note, Jelly Bean to patent slapfest
Slab market is OURS, says so right in the Bible
Apple has moved to add Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 and, unusually, the Google-built Android OS Jelly Bean which runs on the phone to an existing patent lawsuit in the US. The fruity firm argues that the Note 10.1 infringes on its intellectual property just as much as Samsung's other products in the case do. "Shortly after the …
Law 7 Nov 15:17
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President Obama declares VICTORY over JUSTIN BIEBER
I think we all know who the real enemy is
President Obama beat out Justin Bieber today to become the tweeter with the most retweeted tweet in the history of the internet. His victory tweet "Four more years" accompanied by a photo of him hugging wife Michelle has been retweeted by over 637,000 people and favourited 215,000 times. Most retweeted ever Obama's tweet …
Government 7 Nov 15:27
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Bald? Looking old before your time? Don't panic, but you might DIE
It's not the years, it's the mileage, say docs
If you look old, wrinkly, fat-eyed and bald, you might die from heart disease, doctors who spent years researching the matter have said. Check out the fat eyelids on him! In a new study presented to the American Heart Association, the docs claim that people who had three to four ageing signs like receding hairlines at the …
Science 7 Nov 15:27
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Big Data and analytics: Reg survey crunches the numbers
Dazzling new solutions or irritating new hype?
Every IT professional understands that relational databases play an important role in most organisations. Indeed, the previous article in this series highlighted that such repositories are used to hold business critical data in many organisations. Such “traditional platforms” are not only widely deployed, they are also well …
Management 7 Nov 15:28
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Flooded inboxes derail New Jersey vote-by-email scheme
Official directs voters to PERSONAL HOTMAIL
New Jersey's well-intentioned plans to allow voters displaced by Hurricane Sandy to vote by email or fax in the presidential elections on Tuesday predictably went awry. The plan permitting voters to download absentee ballots before returning them by either email or fax in order to cast their vote was only announced on Saturday …
Government 7 Nov 15:55
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Pixar names HQ after Steve Jobs
Apple founder's name goes up above the front door
Pixar, the computer animation company founded by George Lucas and sold to Steve Jobs - who later sold his company to Disney, as George has just done with his - has renamed its main office block after its rescuer. To be fair to Pixar, it’s an appropriate tribute. Jobs’ money kept the company in business, allowing it to continue …
Media 7 Nov 16:07
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AT&T spaffs another $14bn on 4G cellular and fibre
Aims to get in below the ground floor
AT&T will spend an additional $14bn over the next three years rolling out cellular and fibre optic infrastructure, accelerating deployment plans for both 4G and fixed internet connections. The blatantly-backronymed Project Velocity IP (VIP) will see an additional $8bn spent on cellular while $6bn gets dropped on fixed …
Networks 7 Nov 16:11
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Office for Android, Apple iOS: 'REALLY REAL this time' - report
O please please let us fondle our spreadsheets
Microsoft still hasn't made any official announcements regarding when it will be debuting Office Mobile apps for Google and Apple slabs and devices, but it has been reported that versions of the software will be released in early 2013. Readers may recall that the same thing was said last month. Now The Verge's Tom Warren, …
Applications 7 Nov 16:28
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Apple screen maker preps 'retina' iPad Mini panel, pants reporter
Or maybe, just maybe a 5.2in iPhone 6
Chinese-language website Do News has claimed that screen maker AUO is even now working on a “retina” display for the next-generation iPad Mini. But the site does itself no favours by alleging the panel will have a pixel density of a massive, unprecedented 497ppi. Now if Apple really is planning to up the Mini’s display …
Hardware 7 Nov 16:43
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CSC pops its cork after slashing costs faster than expected
Turns a profit, worries about the US and Europe
The CEO at lumbering integrator CSC says its turnaround strategy is ahead of schedule despite a sales blemish on an otherwise improved set of fiscal Q2 numbers. Revenues for the three months ended 28 September dipped 2.8 per cent year-on-year to $3.85bn (£2.41bn) with declines posted across its three operating units. The …
The Channel 7 Nov 17:01
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Lenovo ships first US-designed server
Still built in China, though
Sino-American server maker Lenovo Group established its Enterprise Product Group last week to design servers for itself and for OEM partners like EMC, and now the first product designed by EPG – the ThinkServer TD330. No, it is not a funky box aimed at hyperscale data centers, but a low-cost Xeon E5 tower server aimed at SMBs …
Servers 7 Nov 17:40
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Widow lost savings in Facebook stock, sues all concerned for $1.9m
It says 'bumwad from Bank of Toyland' right on it
Global financial services firm Morgan Stanley is trying to get its name removed from the securities case of a New Jersey widow who lost her life savings in the Facebook IPOcalypse. Uma Swaminathan filed an arbitration complaint with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) looking for $1.9m compensation for the …
Law 7 Nov 17:52
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'iPhone 5 is so easily scratched we just can't get them out the door'
Fiendish mobe impossible to make in any numbers
Foxconn boss Terry Gou has said that the iPhone 5 is tricky to make and that he is shipping out "far fewer" than Apple has asked for. Gou, boss of Hon Hai, parent company of Foxconn, said he was struggling to keep up with orders for the iPhone 5, in remarks at a local economic forum reported by the Wall Street Journal. …
Hardware 7 Nov 17:59
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Boffins splash fluids on special soggy biscuits in anti-flood demo
China's 'Silicon Valley' builds bricks that let water IN
Chinese boffins from Beijing’s "Silicon Valley" are showing off innovative anti-flood technology – bricks that actually let the water in. Rechsand Science and Technology Group demoed the soggy bricks at its base in Zhongguancun Science Park – home to big-name domestic tech firms Lenovo, Sina and Baidu as well as international …
Science 7 Nov 18:28
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Sprint snags spectrum, and customers, from US Cellular
$800 a customer, and we'll throw in spectrum too
Sprint has bought 585,000 customers of US Cellular, but most of the $480m cash wad it will hand over to the wireless operator is for two chunks of radio spectrum that will enable Sprint to roll out LTE in previously unserved markets. Sprint was always just after the spectrum, the customers just got caught up in the frequencies …
Mobile 7 Nov 18:33
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Hitachi offers to cram 300TB of hardness into your array tray
Fast flash memory lovin' for your virty storage boxes
Hitachi Data Systems has announced a flash storage tray for Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) arrays, utilising its own in-house developed flash controller. It's called Hitachi Accelerated Flash (HAF) and uses non-volatile memory with two bits per cell. The controller is a multi-core chip managing flash memory dies rather than …
Storage 7 Nov 19:12
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Microsoft boasts of Big Data chops for in-memory SQL
Data warehousing gets handier with Hadoop
Microsoft claims that new in-memory data processing capabilities in the next build of SQL will improve performance by a factor of fifty compared to current speeds. "We're bringing an in-memory transactional capability to SQL Server," said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Business Platform Division, in his keynote …
Software 7 Nov 20:27
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AMD shutters German Linux lab, gives devs the axe
Updated Kernel contributors sent packing
Struggling chipmaker AMD has shut down its Dresden, Germany-based Operating System Research Center (OSRC), handing pink slips to most of its Linux kernel developers in the process. Rumors of the site's closure had been bouncing around the open source community for several days, owing in part to ominous posts to Linux kernel …
Operating Systems 7 Nov 20:45
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Microsoft patents spy-TV to check you've paid for content
Buying content by the friend
Microsoft has been granted a patent on a content distribution system that uses cameras built into televisions, PCs, and mobile phones to act as a "consumer detector," to enforce DRM licensing terms. "A fee can be charged for each viewer of the content for each view," Patent US20120278904 reads. "Viewers may be uniquely …
Media 7 Nov 22:00
