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3rd January 2013 Archive

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  • iPhone 'Do Not Disturb' bug to self-destruct on Monday

    Bug surfaces just as Apple trumpets feature in new Venus 'n' Serena ad

    Users of Apple's iPhone will have to wait until Monday for its latest bug to fix itself. On January 1, iOS 6's Do Not Disturb feature, which allows users to choose time periods during which they don't want to receive calls and to limit calls that do come through to members of selected groups, decided that it no longer wanted …

    Operating Systems 3 Jan 00:53

  • Eric Schmidt heading on mystery mission to North Korea

    Economic kaboom possible when über-capitalist meets anti-capitalist

    Google chairman Eric Schmidt is heading to the least internet-friendly country on the planet, according to AP, with a forthcoming trip to North Korea on his schedule. Schmidt will be accompanying former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who's a repeat visitor to the self-styled "Best Korea". The meeting is a private affair …

    Government 3 Jan 00:58

  • Microsoft says Google trying to undermine Windows Phone

    Blocked services lead to 'degraded experience'

    Microsoft has admitted that Windows Phone 8 doesn't work as well with some of the internet's most popular properties as do other smartphone platforms, but it has pinned the blame on a surprising culprit: apparently, it's all Google's fault. In a blog post on Wednesday, Microsoft VP and deputy general counsel Dave Heiner said …

    Operating Systems 3 Jan 01:04

  • Al Jazeera buys Al Gore's Current TV news network

    Planned relaunch as Al Jazeera America this year

    Pan-Arabic news network Al Jazeera has acquired Current TV, the small cable news network cofounded by one-time presidential hopeful Al Gore, for an undisclosed sum. Current TV's present line-up of programming will continue for three months, The New York Times reports, after which it will be phased out to make way for a new …

    Media 3 Jan 01:54

  • Aw grandad, I asked for an iPad and you got me an iPod

    I thought it was rather reasonably priced

    You'd think Brits receiving Apple products for Christmas would be happy to find the pricey kit in their stockings, but not all of them were. Searches for returns policies on Christmas Day in the UK were 250 per cent higher than last year, says Experian Hitwise, the web analytics company, and searches for the Apple returns …

    Hardware 3 Jan 06:06

  • Tiny Brit island stranded after £10m undersea fibre plea sunk

    FCO snubs St Helena, anyone got some spare cash?

    Days after walking away from the ITU treaty on global communications, which asked nations to connect up their islands, the UK confirmed it will not readily stump up the cash to do just that. The island in question is St Helena, a British territory smack bang in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. Its inhabitants need £10m …

    Government 3 Jan 08:06

  • 30 years ago, at flip of a switch, the internet as we know it WAS BORN

    Analysis How TCP/IP nearly fell at the first hurdle

    Thirty years ago this week the modern internet became operational as the US military flipped the switch on TCP/IP, but the move to the protocol stack was nearly killed at birth. The deadline was 1 January, 1983: after this, any of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network's (ARPANET) 400 hosts that were still clinging to …

    Networks 3 Jan 08:59

  • Soz, switch-fondlers: Doesn't look like 2013 is 10Gb Ethernet's year

    Recession-bashed users are waiting for another ball to drop

    It is becoming increasingly unlikely that 2013 will be the year that sees widespread adoption of 10 gigabit Ethernet. Of course we'll be told it will be, just as we have been told for years that wholesale shift is right on the horizon. The reason? It's not a question of technological capability – the technology for 10GbE has …

    Data Networking 3 Jan 09:29

  • Hey, Apple and Google: Stop trying to wolf the whole mobile pie

    Open ... and Shut Stick to your slice and we'll ALL get better tech

    It's become a truism that the way to win in mobile is with an end-to-end, hardware-to-software-to-cloud strategy. I just wish this were as good for consumers as it seems to be for vendors. If I could get any wish fulfilled for 2013, it would be to have Apple and Google, in particular, go back to doing what they do best - rather …

    Management 3 Jan 10:03

  • MEGAGRAPH: 1983's UK home computer chart toppers

    Updated No prize for guessing the leader, but the rest may surprise you

    How popular - relatively speaking - was your early 1980s home computer? Thanks to some old chart data, we can tell you. Back in the day - 1983, to be precise - VNU Business Publications’ launched Personal Computer News, a glossy magazine pitched against the weekly incumbent, Sunshine’s newsprint Popular Computing Weekly. A …

    Vintage 3 Jan 11:10

  • Malware SNEAK dons cunning disguise, opens creaky back door to servers

    Attack targets web-hosting servers

    A malicious backdoor designed to infect web servers poses a severe threat, Trend Micro warns. The malware, dubbed BKDR_JAVAWAR.JG, poses as a Java Server page but actually creates a backdoor on compromised servers. "This malware may arrive as either a file downloaded from certain malicious sites or as a file dropped by other …

    Security 3 Jan 11:37

  • Ofcom looks at contract opt-outs as users rage over price hikes

    Operators: The 'fixed' bit was supposed to be for you, not for us...

    UK communications watchdog Ofcom is consulting on whether Brits should be allowed to pull out of any communications contract if the price changes, following widespread outrage at the practice. The consultation proposes that any change in price would let customers off the hook, letting them walk away from contracts without …

    Mobile 3 Jan 12:15

  • Newborn planets spotted slurping up gas from young parent star

    Baby giants eat cosmic dust for growth

    Astroboffins have seen a key stage in the birth of giant planets for the first time, as the streams of gas and dust guzzled by newly forming worlds are spotted around a young star. An artist’s impression of the disc of gas and cosmic dust around the young star HD 142527. Illustration by ALMA/M Kornmesser (ESO) The …

    Science 3 Jan 12:43

  • Windows Media Center EPG has SWITCHED OFF, wail Euro users

    Has MS shot itself in the foot, or dropped the ball on it?

    Europeans using Windows Media Center to watch TV have been upset to find that all TV programme guide data has disappeared from the service as of 1 January. For affected users, live and playback TV still works, but all programme guide information has been wiped as of 11am on 1 January, leaving users unable to plan recordings or …

    Media 3 Jan 13:12

  • Google WON'T ink consent decree with FTC on search - reports

    'Insiders' suggest US settlement deal will happen TODAY

    Google failed to reach a settlement deal with the US Federal Trade Commission before Christmas festivities kicked in, but reports are now suggesting that the lengthy regulatory Stateside investigation of the ad giant's business practices could be tied up by the end of this week. Bloomberg and All Things Digital reported …

    Government 3 Jan 14:06

  • Open-source attack dog enters Ballmer's inner ring

    Microsoft's Research chief steps aside before retirement

    The head of Microsoft’s research has quietly stepped aside ahead of his retirement next year to join CEO Steve Ballmer's inner circle. Craig Mundie, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, is now a senior advisor to Ballmer after six years as the company's chief research and strategy officer. Mundie took that role as Microsoft co-founder …

    Management 3 Jan 15:02

  • Microsoft snaps up Slingbox mastermind's home control biz for Xbox

    Lights, heating, video at push of a phone touchscreen

    Microsoft has slurped up small home-entertainment firm id8 Group R2 Studios to tie in with its Xbox business, according to sources. R2 Studios was set up by entrepreneur Blake Krikorian who started Sling Media, maker of the Slingbox, which takes TV signals and beams them to computers and smartphones. Krikorian will join the …

    Financial News 3 Jan 15:59

  • US military nails 'best ever' Microsoft deal, brags size does matter

    'No one comes close to our scale'

    US Department of Defense personnel will get their hands on Microsoft’s latest software in a deal officials claim is their best yet from Redmond. The government department has signed a three-year enterprise licence agreement with Microsoft worth $617m, giving its two-million-plus civilian and military staff access to Windows 8 …

    Government 3 Jan 17:03

  • Earth's anemic IT budgets to bounce back in 2013 - Gartner

    Enterprise software to sport biggest growth rates

    Now that the US Congress has avoided going over the fiscal cliff, at least for now, the prognosticators at Gartner are ready to talk about IT spending last year and make some projections for the next two years. Worldwide IT spending increases were pretty anemic as IT and telecom services spending were seriously curtailed last …

    Government 3 Jan 18:08

  • Traffic app Waze 'turned down Apple's $400m, wants $750m' - report

    Maybe THIS will fix Maps

    After asking users to fix it, its own retail staff to fix it, and finally deciding to fix it in-house, Apple is looking to buy its way into maps dominance and is rumoured to be sniffing around Waze, a Israeli maps company that specialises in car journeys and live traffic information. Apple has offered $400m for the start-up …

    Applications 3 Jan 18:34

  • Imation snaps up Nexsan for $120m

    Acquisition spree over, cash largely gone

    Struggling tape, disk, and optical media maker Imation has found its salvation: it's Nexsan, the maker of block-and-file storage systems based on flash storage that Imation is shelling out $120m to acquire. The acquisition of Nexsan – one of myriad storage startups competing in this hot part of the IT market – comes hot on the …

    Storage 3 Jan 18:49

  • Apple loses round to Amazon in 'App Store' name dispute

    False advertising? Nope. Trademark infringement? Maybe...

    A US judge has ruled in Amazon's favor in a case in which Apple accused the online retail giant of false advertising in its use of the term "app store" in its Amazon Appstore for Android. "The court finds no support for the proposition that Amazon has expressly or impliedly communicated that its Appstore for Android possesses …

    Law 3 Jan 19:13

  • FTC clears Google in anticompetitive probe

    No search bias found and FRAND patents for all

    The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is ending all investigations into Google, clearing the search giant of bias in its results and doing a deal that will see key mobile patents licensed out to the rest of the industry. "The changes Google has agreed to make will ensure that consumers continue to reap …

    Policy 3 Jan 20:02

  • Brit boffins build projectile-vomiting robot to kill norovirus

    Vid Artificial 3m spew offers infection insight

    Bioboffins at the Health and Safety Laboratory in Derbyshire, UK, have developed a robot that can projectile vomit on command as a tool for studying the spread of the highly infectious norovirus. Reuters reports that the hyperemetic droid has been dubbed "Vomiting Larry" by its creator, researcher Catherine Makison, who …

    Science 3 Jan 20:58

  • Ruby on Rails has SQL injection vuln

    Get patching

    The maintainers of Ruby on Rails are warning of an SQL injection vulnerability which affects all versions of the popular Web framework. They advise that users should immediately apply an upgrade available here. Designated CVE-2012-5664, the maintainers explain the bug this way: “Due to the way dynamic finders in Active Record …

    Security 3 Jan 22:00

  • Facebook continues to CONQUER THE WORLD

    Social-networking domino theory crushes global competition

    Facebook continues to extend its global social-networking hegemony, having established itself as the most-used such service in the vast majority of countries surveyed in a recent study. "Facebook with 1 billion active users has established its leadership position in 127 out of 137 countries analyzed," blogged Italian …

    Media 3 Jan 22:27

  • Samsung confirms Tizen-based mobes to debut this year

    Alternative OS to offset Android's dominance

    Samsung says it is pressing ahead with plans to release mobile phones running the Linux-based Tizen OS, with more than one model due to arrive in 2013. "We plan to release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year and will keep expanding the lineup depending on market conditions," the company told Bloomberg News in an …

    Phones 3 Jan 22:27

  • EMC backs Iomega up into Lenovo partnership

    Readies Lenovo|EMC arrays for launch in China this month

    The first fruits of a global technology partnership between storage giant EMC and server upstart Lenovo have ripened as the two companies have launched LenovoEMC Limited, which pairs EMC's Iomega entry-level network-attached storage (NAS) arrays with Lenovo's ThinkServer product lines. EMC acquired Iomega in early 2008 to …

    Storage 3 Jan 22:32

  • Graphene plus molybdenum oxides yields faster electronics

    Smaller nano semiconductors

    A group of materials scientists at Australia’s CSIRO and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology believe they have found a way to make graphene more usable in electronics applications. While it’s often touted as a wonder-stuff, graphene is still under development in electronics applications, and one of the issues is that …

    Science 3 Jan 23:01