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17th January 2013 Archive

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  • VMware CTO Steve Herrod jumps to venture capitalist

    Will remain as advisor after taking up post at General Catalyst

    VMware’s chief technology officer Steve Herrod has left the company to take up a position with venture capitalist General Catalyst Partners. Herrod blogged the news and says he will remain a technical advisor to the company. Herrod joined VMware in 2001 and was a critical figure in the development of its first products. For …

    Virtualization 17 Jan 00:19

  • Applied Micro ARM servers all over Open Compute Project

    Open Compute 2013 Facebook friends, including Dell, spec out X-Gene microservers

    ARM server chip upstart Applied Micro Circuits was all over the Open Compute Summit hosted by Facebook and its server and data center designing friends in Santa Clara, with several partners flashing devices based on Applied Micro's forthcoming 64-bit X-Gene ARM-based processor. Company president and CEO Paramesh Gopi also gave a …

    Servers 17 Jan 00:41

  • Former CEO John Sculley: Apple must adapt or die

    Prices 'dramatically different' in emerging markets

    John Sculley, the former PepsiCo president who served as CEO of Apple during most of the 1980s and early 1990s, says that while Apple is "an extraordinary company," it has not done enough to adapt its products to suit emerging markets. In a video interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Scully – who is perhaps best known for a 1985 …

    Business 17 Jan 01:34

  • White House raises the signature threshold for petitions to 100,000

    Calm down, you're being silly

    The last two months have seen a dramatic spike in use of the "We the People" online petition system set up by the White House, and with President Obama about to start a second term, the rules are being changed. The petitioning system was set up by the Obama administration in September 2011, and initially it required the White …

    Government 17 Jan 01:43

  • ESA, NASA agree on Orion module supply

    Your ultimate European driving experience

    NASA’s proposed Orion spacecraft has taken another step closer to its planned 2017 launch with NASA announcing an agreement with the European Space Agency covering the craft’s service module. The service module, which would provide power, propulsion and thermal control to Orion, will be based on the ESA’s existing ATV platform …

    Science 17 Jan 02:02

  • North Korean crackers hit South Korean hacks

    Presidential transition team targeted by Pyongyang

    Tensions on the Korean peninsula flared again this week after Seoul accused its northern neighbour of two separate hacking attacks targeting the press. South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Thursday that a web server in the office of the presidential transition team had been attacked by suspected state-sponsored villains …

    Government 17 Jan 04:20

  • Obama calls for study into games ‘n’ guns link

    The only way you’ll get this joystick is to pry it from my cold, dead fingers

    US President Barack Obama has called for a study into whether computer games are a cause of gun violence. Obama yesterday (UK time) announced a set of measures to control guns, among them regulations to more promptly trace firearms used in crimes that will probably mean DBAs in the US public sector get a hurry-up. The main …

    Games 17 Jan 05:29

  • Iron Man to fly Chinese mobe-maker TCL around the world

    China taps celebrity power

    Little-known Chinese smartphone maker TCL has enlisted a powerful ally to help its nascent push into global markets: Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. The firm said that its mobile handsets, cloud technology and smart TVs will feature in the forthcoming Iron Man 3, the first co-production between Hollywood and a Chinese studio. …

    Business 17 Jan 06:43

  • Capgemini staffers evacuated by cops after London helicopter crash

    Chopper prang - the test of a proper contingency plan

    Capgemini was forced to evacuate its building on Wandsworth Road and invoke its business continuity plans after a helicopter crashed 200 yards from the offices. Around 600 sales, marketing and engineers work from the premises in Vauxhall but only security and facilities management staff had already clocked in before the copter …

    The Channel 17 Jan 06:59

  • EMC anoints ‘Elect’ group of IT pros

    75 members see career upside helping EMC 'span brand loyalty and advocacy’

    EMC has named the first 75 members of the “Elect”, a group it says will “span the gap between brand loyalty and brand advocacy.” Announced last November and pitched as a “community-driven, peer-nominated recognition program that acknowledges distinguished contributions to the EMC community by employees, customers, and partners …

    Storage 17 Jan 07:29

  • 2012 in supercomputing: Ceepie-geepies, a weak ARM and the need for speed

    HPC blog Plus: How are algorithms like your ex?

    A lot has happened in HPC over the past year. I would say that the speeding up of development of accelerators and the rising number of hybrid CPU+GPU systems are probably the most noteworthy trends we saw in 2012. Over the next year we’re going to see even more use cases for hybrid systems, and I expect to see much wider use in …

    HPC 17 Jan 08:01

  • China visa changes could attract job-hunting IT pros

    Must speak the language, endure nasty pollution, censored internet ... what's not to like?

    A change to China’s visa laws due to come into force this (northern) summer could make the People’s Republic a more attractive destination for ex-pat IT professionals up for the challenge, but the vital details on exactly which skills are needed are still being worked out. The Exit and Entry Administration Law comes into force …

    Jobs 17 Jan 08:20

  • US taxman joins UK politicoes on hunt for Amazon cash

    Who would you be more scared of?

    Amazon is fighting the US taxmen over a $234m unpaid bill. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) told the online superstore in November that it owed taxes in 2005 and 2006, and also challenging its tax deductions, according to a court filing seen by Reuters. But Amazon has countered that the IRS is overestimating how much its " …

    Financial News 17 Jan 08:58

  • Top Brit Penguins spurn London Stock Exchange for NYSE

    Silicon Valley HQ to wag 50 per cent Blighty-based dog

    Blighty-based open sourcer Alfresco is going public on the New York stock markets under a new, US-based chief executive. The content management software vendor has named former SuccessFactors CEO Doug Dennerline its new chief with the goal of stewarding the company through a successful IPO and growth in the US, former CEO John …

    Financial News 17 Jan 09:24

  • The Spherical Cow lands, spits out Anaconda

    Review Fedora's Linux distro no slick alternative to Ubuntu - yet

    Fedora 18, Spherical Cow, is here. Finally. The Fedora Project has never been one for precision roadmaps, but previously it has managed to stay pretty close to its official May and October release schedule. Spherical Cow, however, proved to be a difficult beast - it is nearly three months late. The numerous delays can be …

    Developer 17 Jan 10:02

  • Dixons steps over Comet's bloodied body to nab bonus Xmas sales

    Four per cent growth? Yoink!

    Blighty's High Street is in meltdown, but Dixons Retail bucked the gloomy trend and reported relatively decent sales growth over Christmas. The chain reckons it successfully hoovered up trade from fallen rivals. According to figures filed for the 12 weeks to 5 January, sales by the parent of Currys and PC World were up four …

    The Channel 17 Jan 10:40

  • Spanish city renames square in Clash frontman's honour

    Granada remembers Joe Strummer

    The Spanish city of Granada will honour the late Joe Strummer by renaming a city square after The Clash frontman. The rebranding comes after 2,000 residents backed a Facebook campaign to celebrate the punk rocker's connection with Granada, where he fled as legendary British band The Clash fell apart in 1984. Granada City …

    Media 17 Jan 11:02

  • Tell Facebook who's the greatest: YOU are!

    Opinion Or you can just buy a mirror instead

    HMV called in the administrators on Tuesday, prompting wailing and mourning from thousands of people who hadn't set foot in one of its outlets for years. Sky News brought in Andrew Harrison, the tech-savvy editor of Q magazine, for what I suspect the editors wanted: a simple soundbite on an entire industry extrapolated from the …

    Applications 17 Jan 11:22

  • Cryptome escapes Thales' attack dogs in bank security row

    Global giant pulls DMCA nastygram, swears it wasn't stifling research

    Defence giant Thales has withdrawn its demand for the removal of banking security documents from whistle-blowing website Cryptome. The global corporation filed a DMCA* takedown notice last week citing copyright infringement: two of its manuals for cryptographic equipment have been available from Cryptome since 2003. Ross …

    Security 17 Jan 11:42

  • eBay's festive sales soar, but what's this? Profit DOWN 62%?

    Skype selloff aftermath and millions more mobe strokers

    eBay not only made a wad of dosh over the festive period but it also scooped up loads more mobe-toting shoppers to boot. The online tat bazaar today boasted that 4,300,000 people signed up for new accounts using their smartphones during 2012. The website's CEO John Donahoe said these mobile shoppers are driving his firm's …

    Financial News 17 Jan 12:03

  • Hey HP: You may not rate Autonomy, EDS, but buyers do

    VCs are circling, true, but so are tech firms - reports

    Potential buyers are probing Hewlett-Packard over EDS and Autonomy, according to reports. Bloomberg reports that HP has received an “increase in enquiries” following a recent regulatory filing saying it would dispose of businesses that don’t meet goals. The Wall St Journal says overtures have come mainly from other US tech …

    Management 17 Jan 12:17

  • Phone hacking saga: 3 men cuffed over alleged plod bungs

    Murdoch's News Corp accuses two cops, one journo

    Three men were cuffed early this morning by Scotland Yard officers probing alleged inappropriate payments to cops and public officials. The investigation is related to the ongoing high-profile phone hacking inquiry. The suspects, each manacled at separate addresses, were taken to three different cop shops in the south east of …

    Law 17 Jan 12:33

  • VIA bakes a fruitier Rock cake to rival the Brit Raspberry Pi

    Updated ARM-powered micro also brought to book

    Computer electronics biz VIA has updated its Raspberry Pi rival APC - a micro-motherboard its maker calls a “bicycle for your mind” - which it brought to market last May. The new board sports a new processor, more flash memory, better video output and, VIA said, more expansion options. Rock'n'ruler: The new VIA APC computer …

    Hardware 17 Jan 12:44

  • Pubic louse falls victim to eager Brazilian strippers

    Waxes wax, crabs wane

    A dramatic decline in cases of pubic lice has been linked to growing enthusiasm for the Brazilian bikini wax, and trimmed shrubbery in general. Phthirus pubis is estimated to infest between 2 and 10 per cent of people worldwide, according to this report, but the species could be heading for "disaster" if humans persist in …

    Bootnotes 17 Jan 13:03

  • Nokia axes 300 IT bods, outsources 820 to Tata, HCL

    Former mobe king downsizes ahead of financial results

    Nokia will outsource 820 IT staff and make 300 more redundant, leaving a skeleton IT operation at the troubled phone maker. Up to 560 staff will transfer to Tata Consultancy Services and 260 to HCL Technologies, both of which are headquartered in India. Nokia says it has a relationship with the pair. Only small teams will …

    Mobile 17 Jan 13:17

  • Computacenter UK beats its German biz to the pool for 2013

    Blighty in 'good shape', Euro teams woken by room service

    Services-based reseller Computacenter (CC) says it exited 2012 in "good shape": its UK operation is firing all cylinders again, although some work lies ahead in resolving service contract challenges in Germany. During the final three months of the year, the London Stock Exchange-listed firm's turnover from IT services rose 6 …

    The Channel 17 Jan 13:27

  • What ereader decline? Kobo pumps up the volumes despite grim forecasts

    Big gains in 2012 even though world+dog in a fondleslab frenzy

    A chirpy Kobo has claimed it now has more than 12 million registered users, four million of them creating ebook buyer accounts with the company during 2012. It lauded its device sales too - well, its e-ink kit, not its Android-based tablet offerings - insisting it had captured 20 per cent of the world ereader market in 2012. …

    Tablets 17 Jan 13:42

  • Swartz prosecutor: We only pushed for 'six months' in the cooler

    'There is little I can say to abate the anger', says Ortiz

    US attorney Carmen Ortiz, who led the fraud case against Aaron Swartz until his suicide last week, has defended her prosecution of the internet prodigy. Swartz, 26, took his life on Friday at his home in New York in the midst of a lengthy court battle that could have put him behind bars for decades. He was charged with …

    Government 17 Jan 13:58

  • Orange boasts: We made Google PAY US for traffic

    Some packets are more neutral than others ...

    France Telecom-Orange is making a wad of cash from Google, the company's CEO boasted in an interview with French media yesterday. Talking to BFM Business TV, CEO Stephane Richard didn't give an exact figure on the payments made to France Telecom-Orange by the search giant for delivery of its content, beyond admitting that its …

    Mobile 17 Jan 14:29

  • New slicker Shylock Trojan hooks into Skype

    Another way to extract a pound of flesh

    The Shylock banking Trojan has been revamped with extra features that allow the malware to spread using the chat function of Skype, the popular Voice over IP application. Shylock can now roam the Skype network thanks to a new propagating plugin called "msg.gsm". This component also adds functionality including the ability to …

    Security 17 Jan 15:04

  • RIM gets thumbs up from Visa for pay-by-bonk security tech

    Trust us, we're Canadian

    RIM is hoping its reputation for superior security will smooth its path into wallet management as it gains Visa approval for the TSM platform that it is pushing to network operators. Everyone planning secure NFC apps needs a Trusted Service Management (TSM) platform, but the four big SIM providers already have approved TSM …

    Mobile 17 Jan 15:33

  • Web firms drool as ballgazer spies $11bn mobile ad spend in 2013

    Gartner forecasts cash bonanza

    Web giants, telcos, media companies and a host of mobile start-ups will be salivating over today's Gartner forecast that predicts a heady doubling of global mobile advertising spend in the next three years. Mobile advertising revenue worldwide will rise 16 per cent in 2013, from $9.6bn in 2012 to $11.2bn in 2013, predicts the …

    Mobile 17 Jan 16:02

  • Northgate Managed Services boss to exit

    Andy Ross leaving in wake of attempts to sell biz

    Northgate Managed Services (NMS) is parting with long serving UK boss Andy Ross, sources have claimed. His exit follows the unsuccessful efforts to find a buyer for the business, as revealed last September, with company insiders saying the asking price was simply too high. The firm was hawked about by investment banker …

    The Channel 17 Jan 16:24

  • Big spike in Euro patents - but 63% were filed from outside Europe

    UK a measly 8th in filings at European Patent Office

    More patents were filed to the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2012 than ever before, said the EPO today. The 258,000 applications filed represent a third record year in a row for the Patent Office and reflect the worldwide push to patent driven by the tech industry. But the 5.7 perc ent increase in patent applications from …

    Management 17 Jan 16:32

  • Storage for 'Enterprise': What does that even MEAN?

    Storagebod For biz, for large deployments, backup memory for the Star Trek starship?

    I love it when storage vendors invent new market segments: "Entry-Level Enterprise Storage Arrays" appears to be the latest one, from the brilliant marketing team at EMC. And it is always a "new" space that only the company occupies. But are these new spaces real segments or just marketing? Actually, the whole Enterprise …

    Storage 17 Jan 17:02

  • AV-Test boss dismisses Microsoft criticism of malware test results

    Says Redmond's not picking up the fresh threats

    A war of words has broken out over security testing, with Microsoft and the AV-Test Institute going head-to-head over Redmond's failure to qualify for the last round of certification from the German testers. On Tuesday, AV-Test announced its December round of security software evaluations, and both Microsoft's Security …

    Security 17 Jan 21:16

  • Facebook rolls out new web and database server designs

    Open Compute 2013 Old photos, like revenge, are best served cold

    Facebook, the company behind the founding of the Open Compute Project that is opening server, storage, rack, and data center designs, gave a sneak peek this week at some new models that it is working on and could donate to the OCP cause. At the Open Compute Summit in Santa Clara this week, Frank Frankovsky,vice president of …

    Servers 17 Jan 21:41

  • NBN contracts reveal the state of Telstra’s ducts

    $AU300 million going down the tube

    Earlier this week, Telstra wrapped up its contracts for the duct remediation the carrier committed to under its National Broadband Network agreements. The telco contracted Visionstream to carry out remediation work in Victoria and Tasmania, at a cost of $AU90 million. Industry newsletter Communications Day has tallied up the …

    Networks 17 Jan 21:59

  • Intel's fourth quarter a bummer, as expected

    Profits fall a lot faster than revenues

    Intel helps kick off the high tech earnings season by reporting its financial results for the fourth quarter and full 2012 year, and as Wall Street and Intel top brass had been anticipating, it was not a killer quarter. It was, perhaps, not as bad as many had expected given the challenges in the PC and server rackets and Intel …

    Financial News 17 Jan 22:16

  • Linksys vuln: Cisco responds

    Working on fix for WRT54GL router

    Cisco has identified the Linksys router affected by the vulnerability published by DefenseCode on January 14. In an e-mail to The Register, the vendor says its review shows the vulnerability only exists in the WRT54GL home router. “Following our assessment of information recently released by DefenseCode, we have confirmed a …

    Security 17 Jan 22:42

  • FAA grounds Boeing's 787 after battery fires on plastic planes

    Not just for iPods and laptops but Dreamliners, too

    The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded all Boeing 787 Dreamliners over fears that its lithium-ion batteries are unsafe, after they were linked to two aircraft fires in the space of ten days. "The battery failures resulted in release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke on two Model 787 airplanes …

    Hardware 17 Jan 23:05