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21st December 2012 Archive

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  • Brazilian-made 'iphone' runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread

    Company claims 'exclusive right' to brand

    There's a new official iphone out this week, but it's only available in Brazil and it doesn't run iOS 6, the latest incarnation of Apple's smartphone OS. In fact, it runs Android. The Associated Press reports that Brazilian consumer electronics maker Gradiente has begun marketing a device under the iphone brand after being …

    Phones 21 Dec 00:04

  • Red Hat ups cloud control freakage with $104m ManageIQ buy

    Novadigm redux, and another solid quarter turned in

    Red Hat is still mostly a commercial Linux distributor, but it is also a key application middleware supplier and is working on building out its server virtualization and clustered storage. But it wants to – like so many others – be the Red Hat of The Cloud, and despite appearances to the contrary in recent announcements, it does …

    Cloud 21 Dec 00:29

  • Samsung still faces EU antitrust charges, says official

    Dropping its anti-Apple injunction requests didn't distract regulators

    Samsung may have dropped its injunction requests against Apple in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, but that move won't stop the EU from pursuing antitrust charges against the South Korean electronics giant. "We will adopt a statement of objections very soon," the EU's top antitrust official Joaquín Almunia …

    Mobile 21 Dec 00:34

  • North Korea releases first computer game

    Vid Pyongyang Racer offers tour of capital's monuments

    Just popped a Wii U under the tree? You poor, poor fool: this Christmas your kids won't clamour for Nintendo's latest, the thumb candy they really want is "Pyongyang Racer", the very first North Korean Computer game! We make that assertion because the in-browser Pyongyang Racer is, at the time of writing, down. Servers at …

    Games 21 Dec 01:07

  • ACCC kills Telstra's transcation cheer

    Opposes Trading Post, Carsales tie-up, delays Adam Internet swoop

    Telstra has been given a double dose of pre-Christmas disappointment by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission which has thwarted the proposed acquisition by Carsales.com of Trading Post assets from Telstra in addition to delaying Telstra’s acquisition of Adam Internet. On both counts the regulator has raised …

    Business 21 Dec 01:21

  • Instagram BOWS to pressure, revises T&Cs – a little

    Burning question: Will move satisfy über-Instagrammer Kim Kardashian?

    It looks like Kim Kardashian might not have to dump her Instagram account after all, now that the social photo-sharing firm has revised the updated terms and conditions of service that caused so much uproar among users earlier this week. On Monday, Instagram announced new T&Cs, effective January 16, that seemingly granted it …

    Media 21 Dec 01:41

  • China lags on new tech patents

    Japan surges, but just two Chinese companies scored big numbers of US patents

    Japan’s technology giants may be struggling to cope commercially with cheaper rivals from China and beyond but they’re still among the most innovative companies in the world, according to the IEEE. The institute’s sixth annual Patent Power scorecard ranks firms according to the size and quality of their US patent portfolios in …

    Business 21 Dec 02:16

  • Take a number, says new social network

    Anonymous colonises 'Social Number', where you're a number not a name

    If you're tired of old schoolmates looking you up on Facebook and then bombarding you with endless inspirational junk and/or heart-tugging slactivism but still crave online interaction, a new social network on which you are just a number might be for you. “Revealed” this week, “Social Number” doesn't offer users instantly …

    Networks 21 Dec 03:11

  • Apple shifts iTunes to HTTPS, sidesteps China’s censors

    Great Firewall foiled … for now

    Apple has adopted HTTPS for searches and downloads on the version of iTunes used in China. The move comes at a time when China's government prepares to step up regulation of online app stores and continues its crackdown on VPNs. Greatfirewall.org, which tests blocked URLs and popular web platforms to provide info on censorship …

    Security 21 Dec 04:55

  • 10,000 Indian government and military emails hacked

    State-sponsored snoopers suspected of large scale incursion

    India’s government and military have suffered one of the worst cyber attacks in the nation’s history, after over 10,000 email accounts belonging to top officials were compromised, despite a warning from the country’s cyber security agency. The attack came on 12 July, four days after the government was warned by the National …

    Security 21 Dec 05:14

  • End of days: Possessed POWERPOINT predicts Mayan Apocalypse

    Hardly the end of the world, OR IS IT?

    Miscreants have crammed malware into a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation about today's supposed Mayan Apocalypse. If someone emails you a .ppt slideshow titled Will the world end in 2012?, give it a wide berth unless the world really does end today and you're feeling wild. The booby-trapped presentation packs Visual Basic …

    Security 21 Dec 07:04

  • Canadian man: I solved WWII WAR HERO pigeon code!

    GCHQ: Er, I think you'll find...

    An amateur code-breaking enthusiast and history buff from Canada claims to have succeeded where professional cryptographers from GCHQ failed in decoding a message found on the long-dead remains of a carrier pigeon. Gord Young, from Peterborough, in Ontario, claims that the message can be deciphered using a WWI codebook he …

    Bootnotes 21 Dec 08:03

  • Lego quad-copter: your ultimate drone nightmare

    Vid Bricks, camera, GPS nav ... next step, world domination

    Two cameras, four engines, a GPS-driven autopilot: meet the Lego drone. Documented at a site called sUASNews, here, the quad-copter-style drone was built by the sons of a programmer and Lego enthusiast, Ed Scott. A central structure houses power and electronics, including a Go Pro camera to record the drone’s surroundings and …

    Hardware 21 Dec 08:15

  • Do users have enough power?

    Or are they gaining too much!

    Pundits say we are entering a new era of freedom and empowerment. Users should be allowed to do whatever they want to improve productivity and make their lives easier. Whether it’s hooking up personal devices to the corporate network, storing confidential documents in DropBox, or discussing business matters over social networks …

    Management 21 Dec 08:18

  • OpenTV slaps Netflix with patent lawsuit

    Analysis Blockbuster: Awesome, I don't need to lift a finger...

    Netflix has been hit by a patent infringement lawsuit by Open TV, now a subsidiary of Nagra, the Switzerland-based conditional access company, part of the Kudelski Group. It has not said what the patents are, but the filings at the US District Court for the District of Delaware show that they are all software patents. There …

    Media 21 Dec 09:01

  • Opposable thumbs for FISTS, not finesse, say bioboffins

    Hands evolved to fight for sex, not to play Paganini

    A pair of researchers at the University of Utah have published a paper arguing that our hands did not evolve merely so that our ancestors could perform delicate tasks, but also so that the males of the species could knock the crap out of one another in competition for mates. "There are people who do not like this idea, but it …

    Science 21 Dec 09:30

  • MIT boffins demonstrate NEW form of magnetism

    Atom can't tell up from down in 'quantum spin liquid'

    A state of magnetism predicted in 1987 has been observed for the first time at MIT, with researchers saying that it might one day find applications in storage and communications technologies. The “one day” is still quite some way off, however, with the researchers only at the very beginning of observing the properties of what’ …

    Science 21 Dec 09:47

  • What Compsci textbooks don't tell you: Real world code sucks

    Bodged code, strapped-on patches, beellion dollar screw-ups... and that's the good stuff

    There’s a kind of cognitive dissonance in most people who’ve moved from the academic study of computer science to a job as a real-world software developer. The conflict lies in the fact that, whereas nearly every sample program in every textbook is a perfect and well-thought-out specimen, virtually no software out in the wild is …

    Developer 21 Dec 10:19

  • Mystery storage startup sheds cloak, reveals $22m package

    Dosh to 'leverage cloud-based management paradigms'. Argh

    Stealthy startup Exablox has just dropped its cloak and announced its existence to the storage world after amassing $22m in funding in two rounds. The start-up certainly has buzzword marketing down pat: it says it is "re-imagining storage" to solve "pain points". I don't know about you but I find myself in a pain point when I …

    Storage 21 Dec 10:42

  • 'Instagram, you were my favourite app and you stabbed me in the back'

    Quotw Plus: 'The rules are inconvenient, don't make sense and lack a scientific basis'

    This was the week when Instagram made the corporate faux pas of the holiday season when it told all of its hipster users that their photos didn't belong to them, the people who'd shot the images, but to Instagram, which had provided the "quirky filters" and host servers, and now wished to use the snaps any way it liked. It …

    Networks 21 Dec 11:02

  • RIM writes Nokia a fat cheque as pair bury the patent hatchet

    Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... with cash

    Peace has broken out between patent battling firms Nokia and RIM: the pair have signed a technology licensing agreement that will kill off all litigation between them. Nokia announced that, as part of the deal, it will take a one-off payment as well as ongoing payments from the BlackBerry biz, but it wouldn't reveal any …

    Financial News 21 Dec 11:19

  • Are your landlines buried in the stone age?

    Time to talk IP telephony

    The last few years have seen significant changes in end-user computing. In this workshop we have looked at how there has been a shift from desktop PCs towards notebooks, smartphones have become well established and tablets are on the rise. This has caused some quite fundamental changes in how and where people are able to work …

    Management 21 Dec 11:49

  • Brits are so outraged by Amazon, they voted it TOP for shopping

    Tax, schmax. 10,000 gift hunters can't be wrong?

    Amazon is the best for online shopping according to Brits snapping up Christmas gifts. Judging from a survey of roughly 10,000 folks, this year's outcry over the web bazaar's tax chicanery has had little or no effect the US giant's popularity among shoppers. Amazon.co.uk's cheap prices and brutally functional design landed it …

    Financial News 21 Dec 12:02

  • BT's 4G bid WON'T lead to mobile network launch

    It's a low-powered red herring

    BT is among the bidders registered with Ofcom as hoping for a slice of 4G spectrum, prompting speculation of a return to mobility and a contested auction, but the truth is almost certainly a good deal less interesting. There are three new entrants on Ofcom's list of companies that have registered to bid in the 4G auction, …

    Networks 21 Dec 12:33

  • Kickstarted mobe charger 'kicked to death by Apple'

    A Lightning connector AND filthy USB? That's not how Cupertino works

    Apple has apparently screwed a bullet into a project to build a charger for iPads, iPhones, Android mobes and other handheld gadgets. The device includes Apple's new Lightning power and high-speed data connector but, we're told, the Cupertino giant refused to grant a licence for its use because the charger can also top up …

    Phones 21 Dec 13:03

  • China 'enhances' Great Firewall, teaches it to choke off VPNs

    If we sniff a private virty network... you're toast

    China has tightened the screws on its infamous web-filtering system, according to virtual private network providers. The Great Firewall of China has been enhanced to "learn, discover and block" encrypted VPN protocols. Machine learning algorithms have been applied to carry out encrypted traffic analysis, something advocated by …

    Security 21 Dec 13:27

  • Dead Steve Jobs' mega yacht seized by testy Philippe Starck

    Frenchman chains iGinpalace to dockside in payout row

    Steve Jobs' luxury yacht has been impounded in Amsterdam port after French designer Philippe Starck's bill wasn't paid. Bailiffs boarded the shiny new boat, named Venus, last Wednesday and have chained it to the dock, the Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad reported. Venus has been seized over Starck's claim that Jobs' estate …

    Bootnotes 21 Dec 13:29

  • UK.gov stalks jobless online to axe work refuseniks' benefits

    Big Brother knows you turned down that PHP dev role

    Unemployed Brits who don't look hard enough for work through the government's new Universal Jobmatch website could end up losing their benefits from next year. Jobseekers already need to prove to officials they are applying for plenty of roles in order to claim their government handouts, but this new system takes the process …

    Government 21 Dec 14:05

  • Don't let your data centre be overtaken

    Keep up with future needs

    The last decade has seen massive leaps in performance and capability across all areas of IT, enabling organisations of all shapes and sizes to do business in new ways, or do it better and more effectively. Yet many companies feel that the service delivered by IT often falls short of what is needed and expected. The result is a …

    Data Center 21 Dec 14:31

  • BT ordered to pay £95m to rivals it overcharged for FIVE years

    Backhaul rates unjustified, rules Ofcom

    BT overcharged its rivals £95m between 2006 and 2011 - and will pay the excess back to TalkTalk, Virgin Media and others following an Ofcom probe. There were three investigations in total: one was triggered by Verizon UK, another by Cable & Wireless and the third by an aggregation of ISPs including TalkTalk and Sky. They all …

    Networks 21 Dec 14:36

  • London and New York? Pfft... if you want buy low latency, move to BRAZIL

    NetApp, Amazon unleash Private Storage for speed freaks... but it'll cost you

    NetApp and Amazon have devised Private Storage for AWS with a NetApp array in a colocation facility with a Direct Connect link to AWS and data replicated to it from a customer's own NetApp array. When should NetApp customers go to the expense of doing this? We're told by a person close to the situation that the rationale for …

    Storage 21 Dec 15:03

  • It MUST be the END of the WORLD... El Reg man thanks commentards

    Sysadmin blog Cool tech, nice PRs, breaking the server-client tether: This was 2012

    As the year draws to a close, I'd like to take the time out to thank companies and individuals that have made my life as a writer, a systems administrator, and business owner easier in 2012. Readers of The Register - myself among them - are notorious for their endless cynicism and love of a right good digital kicking, but some …

    Bootnotes 21 Dec 16:09

  • Micron struggling to get its flash surfboard up on the crest

    Is that blood in the water, or just more red ink?

    DRAM and NAND chip supplier Micron has recorded its sixth loss-making quarter with revenues the lowest they have been for almost three years. How long can this go on? Revenues in the first fiscal 2013 quarter plunged to $1.8bn, 14.6 per cent lower than a year ago and 10 per cent down on the previous quarter. Micron declared a …

    Storage 21 Dec 16:57

  • 'Shake to charge', similar crapps foul up Amazon Android store

    Thrown out of Google Play, now back in another bazaar

    Security researchers have sniffed out dodgy apps floating around the Amazon App Store for Android-powered devices. Roel Schouwenberg, a Kaspersky Lab Expert, ran into the "malware" while looking for benchmarking apps for his Kindle Fire HD on the online shop. The "Internet Accelerator Speed Up" program, for example, is …

    Mobile 21 Dec 18:03

  • Facebook tests feature to let strangers pay to message you

    Bug anyone you want for a buck

    Facebook users may soon start seeing more messages in their Inboxes, thanks to a new pilot program that allows users to pay a fee to send personal messages to people with whom they have no direct connection. Ordinarily, a Facebook user's Inbox will only display messages from friends and people the user might know, such as …

    Media 21 Dec 20:12

  • iPhone tops US market, but trounced by Android in world+dog

    UK smartphoners prefer Android, but not as much as their EU brethren

    Apple's iPhone now accounts for over half of US smartphone sales, but in the UK and the rest of Europe – and the rest of the world, for that matter – Android phones still hold a healthy lead. "Apple has reached a major milestone in the US by passing the 50 per cent share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to …

    Mobile 21 Dec 20:35

  • Senator pushes data cap and ISP monitoring legislation

    Wants consumers to have the tools to manage data

    Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has introduced the Data Cap Integrity Act, which will limit the amount of capping ISPs can do and give consumers a clear idea of how much data they are using and what they are being charged for. "Americans are increasingly tethered to the Internet and connecting more devices to it, but they don't …

    Government 21 Dec 20:47

  • Amazon fluffs up fat EC2 images for big data munching

    Flips switch on Data Pipeline automagic bit shifter

    The big fat storage instances that Amazon Web Services was promising to deliver back at its re:Invent user conference in November are now shipping, and we now know a few more things about them – such as how expensive they are. Amazon has also fired up the Data Pipeline service, which is a workflow-based tool for moving data …

    Cloud 21 Dec 21:21

  • New York takes 2,100 pervs offline, gets gaming support

    'Operation Game Over' going well

    New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced that the state has taken more than 2,100 registered sex offenders off of online games and forums, and has signed up another five firms to expand the banning regimen further in the future. "The Internet is the crime scene of the 21st century, and we must ensure …

    Law 21 Dec 21:27

  • Rampaging gnu crashes Microsoft Store, hands out literature

    Free Software Foundation protest against 'more restrictive' Windows 8

    Activists representing the Free Software Foundation disrupted an event at the Microsoft retail store in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday, urging passers-by to shun the software giant's Windows 8 operating system in favor of free software alternatives. The demonstrators, wearing Santa Claus and elf hats in the spirit of the …

    Software 21 Dec 21:31