The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

13th November 2012 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Sinclair BASIC comes to Raspberry Pi

    Or Linux, Windows and Pandora

    The 80's are so now, as hot on the heels of the RISC OS' Raspberry Pi debut comes the equally retro-tastic news that the BASIC version used in the Sinclair ZX Spectrum can also run on the Pi. The BASIC in question is SpecBAS, is a project run by a chap called Paul Dunn. Full Pi support came to the project with the recently- …

    Hardware 13 Nov 00:42

  • Fans splurge $220m on Halo 4 in first 24 hours

    Master Chief and his Halo franchise have captured $3.38bn total

    Redmond reports that Halo fans have broken its sales records, spending $220m in just 24 hours as they seek their latest fix from the franchise that is once again headed by Master Chief John-117. "Consumer demand and excitement for Halo 4 is even greater than we anticipated," said Tony Bartel, president of video game retailer …

    Media 13 Nov 00:44

  • Apple retail stores most productive in US – by far

    Double the revenue per square foot than second-place Tiffany & Co.

    Apple's brick-and-mortar stores rake in over twice the income per square foot as the US second-place earner, luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. According to a new study by the research firm Retail Sails, Apple's real-world stores earned an average of $6,050 per square foot during the year ending in June. Tiffany pulled in a distant …

    Business 13 Nov 01:33

  • Windows boss Steve Sinofsky exits Microsoft

    Dual execs named to lead Redmond's OS, hardware efforts

    Steven Sinofsky, who since 2009 has served as president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live divisions, has left the company less than a month after launching what Steve Ballmer called the most important operating system in Redmond's history. "It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at …

    Business 13 Nov 02:52

  • Steelie Neelie admits laptop hack during IGF

    EU officials' MacBooks hacked in Azerbaijani hotel

    Two laptops used by European Commission officials were pinched last week in Azerbaijan's capital Baku during the Internet Governance Forum, Digital Agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes has revealed. In a blog post at the weekend, Kroes explained that she was in two minds about attending the summit, held this year in the gas and …

    Security 13 Nov 04:42

  • China's robot population to lead world by 2014

    Worker's paradise to become nirvana for automata

    China is poised to take over from arch rival Japan as the biggest robotics market in the world in the next few years, as manufacturers struggle with rising labour costs and demand greater efficiencies. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) said back in August that China had quadrupled its annual supply of industrial …

    Business 13 Nov 04:52

  • VMware wants to play 'Server Tetris' in your data centre

    Line up the workloads just right and the costs disappear

    VMware chief technology officer Steve Herrod wants to play Tetris with your data centre, in the hope that if he can get your workloads lined up just right some of your costs will disappear. Herrod explained his new game at a press lunch in Sydney today, where he outlined some of VMware's future plans. While he never strayed …

    Datacenter 13 Nov 05:54

  • Sorority girls gone WILD: '1 to 3' casual sex 'hookups' every MONTH

    Totally bona-fide scientific research

    Saucy young college girls in the States are indulging in "casual, no-strings-attached sexual encounters" at such a rate that one needs a little lie down just after thinking about it, according to bona-fide scientific research done for totally high-minded reasons. A smoking hot press release from the Miriam Hospital in Rhode …

    Science 13 Nov 05:57

  • Your job's going to Asia, in a good way

    Gartner says Asian growth means local firms will need to hire Westerners soon

    IT spending in APAC will grow by nearly eight per cent over the coming year to $743bn, with Western markets set to benefit eventually as successful Asian firms expand and hire abroad, according to analyst outfit Gartner. The firm forecast spending in APAC to increase 7.8 per cent year-on-year in 2013, more than double the …

    Jobs 13 Nov 06:21

  • Plastic screen outfit teams with Epson to offer screen on your plastic

    Will a credit card that shows your balance be popular?

    Plastic Logic, the failed ereader company which nearly went bust trying to prove one could print electronic components onto plastic, is targeting diminutive displays with a new driver from Epson as it continues spending Russian cash. The new screens, and driver chip, will be demonstrated at trade fair Electronica 2012 from …

    Hardware 13 Nov 06:28

  • EU approves push to get the unknown security in ARM chips into use

    Chipmaker must promise to let others join the TEE party

    The European Commission has approved the creation of a new secure-element company backed by ARM, Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient, just as long as ARM promises to keep its hardware open. The new company will develop and sell products running software from G&D and Gemalto on the TrustZone element embedded in ARM chips, complete …

    Hardware 13 Nov 07:01

  • Devs cook up 'leakproof' all-Tor untrackable platform

    Whonix? You'll never find out, The Man

    Developers are brewing an anonymous general purpose computing platform, dubbed Whonix. Whonix is designed to ensure that applications (such as Flash and Java etc) can only connect through Tor. The design goal, at least, is that direct connections (leaks) ought to be impossible. "This is the only way we know of that can …

    Security 13 Nov 07:28

  • Apple MacBook Pro 13in Retina display review

    Exorbitant eye candy, anyone?

    When I reviewed the latest version of the 13in MacBook Pro just a few months ago, it seemed to me that Apple was getting a bit complacent. The mid-2012 update did gain a new Ivy Bridge processor, but the modest speedbump that this produced no longer justified the MacBook’s starting price of £999 – especially with classy new …

    Laptops 13 Nov 08:00

  • Even a CHILD can make a Trojan to pillage Windows Phone 8

    Whippersnapper will reveal all in the Malcon tent

    A teenager has crafted prototype malware for Windows Phone 8 just weeks after the official unveiling of the smartphone platform. The proof-of-concept code is due to be demonstrated by Shantanu Gawde at the International Malware Conference (MalCon) in New Delhi, India on 24 November. Gawde, who is a member of the Indian …

    Security 13 Nov 09:01

  • Memo to Groupon: Best cheapo deals have a premium tag

    Open ... and Shut The end of coupon bazaar's deal-fetishing gravy train

    The biggest problem with Groupon isn't its accounting. It's also not Groupon's shrinking margins on new products, concerning as they are. No, Groupon's biggest problem is that it fetishes bargains in lieu of building real customer value. Groupon's business model is simply not sustainable, which is why its stock is now on sale …

    Business 13 Nov 09:20

  • Peak Apple: Forstall was 'closest thing to Jobs they had left'

    Sweary, 'asshole' - to return from wilderness with beard?

    Ejected iOS chief Scott Forstall was an "asshole" and Apple's "closest approximation" to Steve Jobs, according to a former senior employee. Ex-Apple engineer Michael Lopp took to his personal website to swipe wildly at the Cupertino giant for striving to become a happy-clappy collaborative organisation, something Jobs would …

    Business 13 Nov 09:38

  • Fujitsu: We could run Office on any device if Microsoft lets us

    Exclusive iOS Office is more about licencing than tech

    Fujitsu Technology Solutions is in talks with Microsoft which could see it offer Redmond’s Office Application suite via the Personal Cloud Service, which the Japanese tech firm hopes to trial with customers next year. The server and services firm unveiled its Personal Cloud service at its user Forum event in Munich last week, …

    The Channel 13 Nov 10:01

  • iFixit CEO launches open Toshiba service guide scheme

    If you use lawyers to hide your manuals, we'll write our own

    Kyle Wiens, head of gadget repair service iFixit - an operation best known for its device disassembly efforts - has called on owners of Toshiba laptops to help pen open source repair manuals to make good the computer makers’ closure of an independent Toshiba documentation archive. Launching Operation Fix Toshiba, Wiens …

    Laptops 13 Nov 10:08

  • Sky rudely barges TalkTalk off the top-three UK ISP podium

    Bosses talk the talk, but customers walk the walk

    The decline and fall of TalkTalk sales each quarter is becoming a regular tale of woe for the budget telco, which this morning told the City that revenues had once again gone south as the company bled yet more punters. The numbers also tell another story: TalkTalk is no longer the third-biggest ISP in the country. That …

    Broadband 13 Nov 10:19

  • Finns look to bring Phorm style stalker ads to UK radio streaming

    Hey, your mobile kit is probably tracking you already

    UTuneMe has invited UK radio stations to sign up to its embedded advertising, promising to deliver targeted audio ads in the same way Google delivers online ones, personalised for the listener. The idea is that targeted adverts pay better, but while websites have half a dozen companies which will happily drop targeted ads into …

    Media 13 Nov 10:37

  • LOHAN to slip in sexy little black number

    Two is one, one is none for rocketgasm success

    Our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) electronics team are rubbing their hands in anticipation of the imminent arrival of our spaceplane mission's PCB - a sexy black number lovingly crafted in the distant land of China. Anthony Stirk and Neil Barnes have put in some serious graft designing a custom board based on …

    SPB 13 Nov 11:07

  • Google, Amazon, Starbucks are 'immoral' and 'ridiculous' over UK tax

    'We don't make any money here' insists milkbar bigwig

    MPs didn't shrink from telling senior execs from Amazon, Starbucks and Google that they were "ridiculous", "unbelievable" and "immoral" about their UK taxes. Under questioning from the Public Accounts Committee, Andrew Cecil, the director of public policy for Amazon, tried to claim that he had no idea what sales were made in …

    Government 13 Nov 11:21

  • Brits swallow Google Nexus 4 supply 'in 30 minutes'

    World+Dog eats smarties for breakfast

    Google's Nexus 4 is said to have been snapped up within 30 minutes of its UK release this morning. Getting hold of a Glastonbury ticket would have been easier, apparently. The handset's affordable price obviously had masses eager with the Visa, ready to splash either £239 for an 8GB or £279 for a 16GB version. Google's Play …

    Mobile 13 Nov 11:26

  • SUN to GO OUT COMPLETELY: Here's how to watch online

    Vidstreams Join the Dark Dawn Down Under party

    At around 19:45 GMT on November 13th, the northern Australian city of Cairns will begin to experience a total solar eclipse, and we here at the Register's Australian bureau have chosen a couple of methods whereby our round-the-globe-round-the-clock readership can join in the excitement and watch the sun go out online. Complete …

    Science 13 Nov 11:45

  • Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

    Light reading

    Kindle came first, of course, but is it the best ebook reader still? After all, there is a wide range of alternatives from multi-talented colour-screen machines like the Google Nexus 7, Kindle’s own Fire and Fire HD models and now the iPad mini. Those are designed to offer greater versatility with apps galore. But they lack the …

    Tablets 13 Nov 12:00

  • Virgin Media vid misery blamed on unnamed peering network

    'It was not me, it was the one armed man', pleads VM

    Virgin Media has blamed an unnamed peering network for crippling its broadband service, particularly at peak times, for some folk. The Register contacted the telco after a number of peeved VM punters complained of yet more problems when downloading data, leading to video streams and the like stuck on buffering. One reader …

    Broadband 13 Nov 12:19

  • Mobo monster Vodafone takes £6bn kick down south

    Spaniards, Italians just not as talkative these days

    Vodafone lost almost half-a-billion quid in the six months to November, its half-year results reveal, but it also had to write down £6bn from the value of its operations in southern Europe. The US is doing OK, and Vodafone will get a dividend payment from Verizon Communications (of which it owns 45 per cent) of £2.4bn, but …

    Financial News 13 Nov 12:37

  • Even £9.8m on consultants can't get UK.gov network push underway

    Brussels beurocrats block BT BDUK broadband boost

    The government's push to increase boraband speeds across the UK has so far signed off a massive £9.8m bill for 70 consultants over the past two years and four months, it has been revealed. Broadband minister Ed Vaizey, responding to a Parliamentary question from shadow Culture Secretary Helen Goodman late last week, told MPs …

    Broadband 13 Nov 12:57

  • Industry in 'denial' as demand for pricey PCs plunges

    Today's low-cost computers are yesterday's high-enders, so why pay more?

    The question most taxing the minds behind the personal computer industry right now is how to persuade punters to spend their money not merely on new notebooks and desktops, but specifically on more powerful - and thus more expensive - machines. All the evidence suggests they are currently not doing so. More problematically, …

    Hardware 13 Nov 13:13

  • SECRET 28 'scientific experts' who Greened the BBC - Revealed!

    Beeb spent a mint to suppress list on Wayback Machine (includes Greenpeacers)

    A list of attendees at a climate-change seminar the BBC has spent tens of thousands of pounds trying to keep secret has been unearthed on an internet archive. The listed names emerged after the publicly-funded broadcaster fought off requests for the list under freedom of information (FOI) laws. This surreal story is only …

    Media 13 Nov 13:25

  • BOSS Bang boffins: DARK ENERGY spreading across the Universe

    Mystery stuff is now 73 per cent of EVERYTHING

    New data from looking at black holes has confirmed a theory that dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the universe. The findings come from a research team that goes by the name of BOSS (Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey). Scientists have used a technique of measuring the light emitted from quasars - dying …

    Science 13 Nov 13:36

  • Apple forced to cut dealers in to get iPad Mini shifting, says analyst

    Peak Apple: An unwelcome first for tightfisted Cupertino

    Apple is sacrificing some margin on the iPad Mini in a bid to muster channel support for its late-to-the-party seven-incher - or so says an analyst. According to data from Context, some 10,000 units were shipped through distribution across Western Europe in the first week after launch, compared to the millions of Minis and …

    The Channel 13 Nov 14:02

  • Top prosecutor warns troll-hunting cops not to choke courts

    If you cuff every tw*t we'll be snowed under

    The director of public prosecutions has warned that millions of offences citing section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act* could end up in court if cops handing out charges fail to approach such cases in a measured way. Keir Starmer, who was talking at an Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) conference in London on …

    Law 13 Nov 14:24

  • Sinofsky OFFSKI: Is Windows 9 now codenamed 'Defenestrate'?

    'Inconceivable' - May not mean what you think it means

    So Microsoft's Windows 8 chief Steve Sinofsky is offski. Was it corporate politics, modest Surface RT sales, or some hippie desire to find himself that made him quit? Whatever the reason, the news of his departure - just three weeks after Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 and said it was its most significant launch since Windows 95 …

    Business 13 Nov 14:54

  • HTC share zoom prior to Apple peace pact under investigation

    You guys better have a crystal ball on you

    The Taiwanese Stock Exchange has said that it will investigate why HTC's shares shot up a week before anyone knew the firm was going to settle its patent disputes with Apple. HTC stock shot up the Taiwan maximum of 7 per cent yesterday after the announcement that it had signed a licensing agreement with Apple that put an end …

    Financial News 13 Nov 15:22

  • Omnishambles beats off mummy-porn, becomes English word of 2012

    Thick Of It whips Fifty Shades of Grey

    The UK's new word of 2012 is "omnishambles", according to the Oxford English Dictionary's compilers. Selected from a list of several new words added to the gold-standard dictionary this year, omnishambles was chosen by lexicographers at Oxford University Press because it best reflects the mood of the past 12 months. It was …

    Bootnotes 13 Nov 15:57

  • Petraeus sex'n'menaces webmail trail leads to NATO A'stan general

    Spook, soldier, G-man embroiled with adulterous minx duo

    The top US Army commander in Afghanistan has been dragged into an investigation that led to the resignation of former CIA Director David Petraeus over an extramarital affair. General John Allen faces allegations of allegedly inappropriate communication with Jill Kelley, a central figure in the unfolding scandal. Kelley is a …

    Security 13 Nov 16:37

  • Metro's mother to replace defenestrated Windows boss Sinofsky

    Comment Larson-Green also invented Office Ribbon. Just sayin'

    Microsoft's decision to fill the small void left by departing Windows boss Steven Sinofsky with Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller is a boost for the empowerment of women at US tech companies. Larson-Green is Microsoft's first female Windows development chief, in the wake of Tuesday's shock departure of Windows and Windows …

    Operating Systems 13 Nov 16:44

  • Microsoft v Google judge could shape the world in new patent punchup

    Redmond: Damn Oompa Loompas are eating all the chocolate

    The next case that could finally tell tech companies how much a standards-essential patent is worth is about to kick off in the US. Microsoft filed a lawsuit in 2010 that challenges Google-owned Motorola over the its use of standards-essential patents (SEP) in court cases. The trial starts today at 9.00 PST (17.00 GMT). Apple …

    Law 13 Nov 16:55

  • Big Switch uncloaks, fires virty network wares at VMware/Nicira

    'Our OpenFlow is more open than your OpenFlow'

    Big Switch Networks, the stealthy startup spun out of the Stanford University labs that developed the OpenFlow software-defined networking protocol that's reshaping the stodgy and crufty networking business, has uncloaked – and it's taking direct aim at VMware's Nicira acquisition, which also spun out of Stanford. Speaking to …

    Virtualization 13 Nov 16:59

  • German dealer Bechtle planning Euro blitz

    'We're taking market share' says CEO with slippery bottom

    Lower than expected sales outside of its German homeland and rising staff costs were blamed by Bechtle's bosses for a double digit slide in profits. The reseller giant said sales edge up just one per cent to €502m (£401m) in calendar Q3 but profits before tax (PBT) fell 15.5 per cent to €18.7m (£15m). Domestic turnover grew 6 …

    The Channel 13 Nov 17:02

  • ID providers signed for Blighty's One Dole To Rule Them All plan

    Money for all! Starting with contractors, 'course

    The Department for Work and Pensions - seen last week attempting to stave off suggestions that management of its Universal Credit system was in crisis - has confirmed the first providers of its online identity scheme. Credit report outfit Experian is on the list, as is the Post Office. The other players that will help design …

    Government 13 Nov 17:12

  • Trend Micro squishes 'stuck in a loop' SafeSync bug

    Safesunk more like, grumbles user

    Trend Micro has issued software patches for its SafeSync product after some users complained that the software was not syncing files between two or more devices properly. Posts of complaints on a user forum, and a tip from a Reg reader, suggested the software's synchronisation of files between devices was not functioning and …

    Security 13 Nov 18:01

  • Apple granted patent for ebook page-turning

    Intellectual property protection run amuck?

    Adding another weapon to the Cupertian arsenal being wielded in the ongoing patent wars, the US Patent and Trademark office has granted Apple a new design patent, D670,713, entitled "Display screen or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface". The patent is one the briefest we've seen in our coverage of the …

    Software 13 Nov 18:32

  • McAfee founder claims police framing him for murder

    Security boss boxes clever escape

    John McAfee, antivirus pioneer and current fugitive from the Belizean police, claims he is being set up by locals as the fall guy for the murder of his next-door neighbor. "Under no circumstances am I going to willingly talk to the police in this country," he told Wired. "You can say I'm paranoid about it but they will kill me …

    Law 13 Nov 18:38

  • Post-defenestration Microsoft: It's the APIs, stupid. And Metro

    Analysis Sinofsky, Microsoft's Caligula

    "Tiles to the right of them, Tiles to left of them, Tiles in front of them" - Alfred Tennyson, The Charge of the Metro Brigade (1854) The sudden departure of Steve Sinofsky from Microsoft leaves Redmond with its biggest crisis for years - and it needs to assure investors as a matter of urgency. He's achieved a huge amount of …

    Business 13 Nov 18:49

  • Lockheed to cyber-armour its supply chain against 'the Adversary'

    Death-tech goliath faces tougher enemies than most

    Top Pentagon supplier Lockheed Martin says its computer networks are under increasing heavy fire from hackers, forcing it to beef up its supply chain's defences. Lockheed veep and chief information security officer Chandra McMahon said about a fifth of the assaults were considered "advanced persistent threats", which are …

    Security 13 Nov 19:05

  • Compute-storage mashup: Great for Big Data, but what of my mobile?

    Blocks and Files Latency HELL as 'tops and 'slabs probe cloud

    Should compute and storage dance closer together or farther apart? In the enterprise there is a strengthening under-current of thought that says data access latency is bad. You shouldn't have to wait for data. In the networked storage array field that is causing the import of flash storage into arrays to kick disk seeks into …

    Cloud 13 Nov 19:27

  • Windows 8 security is like a swiss cheese flak jacket - sez AV firm

    Even so, mouldy old malware apparently worked in tests

    The knives are out for Windows Defender, the basic anti-malware protection bundled with Windows 8: makers of rival antivirus products are lining up to criticise Microsoft's efforts to secure its operating system. Windows 8 can be infected by 16 percent of the most common malware families, even with Windows Defender activated, …

    Security 13 Nov 19:56

  • 35 US states petition for secession – on White House website

    'We the People' becomes one government service the right approves of

    One week after a deeply divided US re-elected Barack Obama as its 44th president, citizens unhappy with that outcome are using the White House's own We the People website to create petitions promoting the secession of 35 of the country's 50 states. The Obama adminstration set up the website in September 2011 with the goal of …

    Government 13 Nov 20:09

  • IRS may be able to count beans, but it can't count its own PCs

    Treasury crawls up taxmen's ass with microscope

    Auditors have criticised US taxmen for failing to keep on top of its IT and the installation of software security patches. A report [PDF] by the US Treasury credits the IRS with upping its game in patching insecure products faster than it has done previously - but faults the agency for failing to apply a more coherent approach …

    Government 13 Nov 21:07

  • Australia and NZ fall behind in cloud race

    Call for more international capacity chimes

    Australia and New Zealand’s limited international connectivity has cast a shadow over both market’s cloud computing competitiveness against their Asian neighbours. According to the Cloud Readiness Index (CRI), an annual study produced by the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA), Australia has slipped three positions in the …

    Cloud 13 Nov 21:37

  • Nokia woos disgruntled iOS users with rebranded maps service

    Mappy times are HERE to stay

    Nokia has rebranded its mapping systems, dubbing it HERE, and is looking to bring over disgruntled (and disorientated) iOS users with an HTML5 app, as well as others unsatisfied with Google's mapping system. "We aren't reserving HERE just for Windows Phone," said Pino Bonetti, senior marketing manager for Nokia. "Instead, we …

    Applications 13 Nov 21:38

  • Oz lays plans to cover possible US met sat gap

    Alert but not alarmed

    In the aftermath of Sandy-the-storm, a surprised America looked skywards and started wondering about Uncle Sam’s weather forecasting prowess. In particular, venerable organs like Time and the New York Times have voiced concerns that as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-and NASA-run polar weather satellite …

    Science 13 Nov 21:39

  • AMD said to hire JPMorgan Chase to explore its options

    Updated TP Morgan will chase them for free

    Well, that didn't take very long. Reuters reports that chipmaker AMD is doing the old "exploring its options" routine, and has hired investment bankers at JP Morgan Chase to help it do that exploring. According to the report – which cites the usual "sources familiar with the situation," and in fact says it has three different …

    Business 13 Nov 21:46

  • Google starts rolling out Android 4.2 to select devices

    But if it's not a Nexus, you're out of luck

    Even though the entire worldwide stock of Google's latest Nexus 4 smartphone reportedly sold out in minutes, Android fans may not have to wait for a resupply from LG's factory to get their hands on the newest version of the Chocolate Factory's mobile OS. The Nexus 4 and its cousin the Nexus 10 are the first devices to ship …

    Mobile 13 Nov 22:28

  • IBM plunks Power7+ processors into Flex System servers

    Adds integrated Storwize storage, upgrades Flex control freak

    Big Blue has trotted out the Power7+ processors in its p260 server nodes in the Flex System modular server lineup. Back in October, when IBM debuted the first servers to use the Power7+ processors, the company put the new 32-nanometer chips in high-end Power 770+ and Power 780+ servers, then said that it would be next year …

    Servers 13 Nov 23:21

  • Next big thing for hard drives: self-assembling polymers

    Busting out of the density crunch

    University of Texas at Austin boffins are touting an advance in materials which could help squeeze five times as much data onto hard drives. At a Terabit per square inch, data density is pretty impressive, but it’s getting difficult to put the magnetic elements of hard drives any closer together without them starting to affect …

    Science 13 Nov 23:46