28th January 2013 Archive

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Naked intruder cracks one off in Florida rampage drama

Homeowner whips out .38, perp whips out his piece

Doctors have attempted to determine just what mind-altering substance may have provoked a carnival worker to allegedly jump naked onto a Florida couple's roof, charge into the house, smash a TV, masturbate on the living room floor, defecate on the premises and drink the contents of a wet-dry vacuum cleaner before he finally …

Bootnotes 28 Jan 06:05
Patch often: Cyber-crim toolkits love stinky old gaping holes

Updating software is better than relying on AV - shock finding

More than two in three exploits kits that attempt to inject malware into web surfers' computers were developed in Russia - and at least one in two exploit rather old vulnerabilities. Blackhole 2.0 is the most often used hacking toolkit - installed on websites to attack and take over visitors' computers - but it targets fewer …

Security 28 Jan 07:04
SGI slips on Scality's RING, awaits flood of Big Data

InfiniteStorage hardware gets infinite storage software

Scality's object storage software is being OEMed by SGI so that it can gulp down galactic amounts of unstructured data into its storage arrays. SGI has a Modular InfiniteStorage (MIS) array that was kicked into life a year ago and offered as a JBON or a NAS server supporting NFS and CIFS. Back then we wrote: "An SGI D-Rack can …

Storage 28 Jan 08:03
YouTube and Netflix take on AirPlay, DIAL up the big-screen goodness

The great thing about standards...

Netflix and YouTube have launched a new standard for getting content onto the living-room TV, taking on AirPlay, DLNA, Miracast and WHDi to name just a few. DIAL is slightly different from DLNA and pals, in that it discovers and launches an equivalent application with a wired connection rather than trying to wirelessly stream …

Media 28 Jan 09:01
Pop tix touts slung in the cooler for 4 years after £3m web scam

Fans tricked into buying tickets that never existed

Two crooks posing as online ticket touts have been jailed for swindling nearly £3m out of pop fans' pockets. Andrew Lagan, 44, from Middlesborough, and Gary Agar, 44, from Welling, have started a four-year stretch after they were found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of money laundering. The duo …

Security 28 Jan 09:28
Helium: Can it prevent the onset of Shingles?

Blocks and Files Blimp gas is the write stuff

Filling disk drives with helium gas delays the time when shingled magnetic recording has to be adopted. That's because helium gas-filled drives can cram more platters into a disk drive enclosure, thus increasing capacity without having to alter the data recording method. The current PMR (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording) …

Storage 28 Jan 09:58
Compuware to hedge fund: Take your cheque for $2.3bn and get outta here

Software biz is not for sale... at that price

After a little more than a month of careful consideration, systems and application performance management software maker Compuware has told Paul Singer, who runs the Elliott Management hedge fund, that he can keep his $2.3bn and that Compuware is not for sale. Well, not at that price, anyway. Every public company is always for …

Business 28 Jan 10:22
Dead Steve Jobs tried to KILL Ashton Kutcher from beyond the grave

Method acting lands hunk in hospital, cracking whip at real startups

Hollywood heartthrob Ashton Kutcher was "terrified" and spent time in hospital after trying too hard to achieve authenticity in his depiction of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in a new film. The actor - who stars as Jobs in the new movie jOBS - used method acting to get inside the head of the great entrepreneur who built …

Media 28 Jan 10:42
Filter Great Firewall of China's architects at US borders - petition

Dear web censors, wish you weren't here, lots of love, 7,000 Americans

A petition hosted by the White House calls for the computer scientists who built the "Great Firewall" of China to be denied entry to the US. The petition was submitted to the Obama administration on Friday, and has already garnered almost 7,000 signatures from American citizens who oppose China's extensive web censoring " …

Government 28 Jan 11:02
Star Trek saviour JJ Abrams joins the dark side: Star Wars VII

Fear is the path to Disney. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to internet flamewars

Star Wars creator George Lucas has given the thumbs-up to the appointment of JJ Abrams as director of the seventh outing for the sci-fi franchise. Lucas said the Star Trek helmsman is the "ideal choice" to take the reins of the movie, which will be the first Walt Disney Co foray into the Star Wars universe since it swallowed …

Media 28 Jan 11:19
SanDisk revived by Apple juice after first half bloodbath

Embedded mobile products help boost revenues and profits

SanDisk is continuing its climb back to health after the first half horror show, with revenues and profits both recovering well. The numbers: revenues for the final 2012 quarter were $1.54bn, just 2.3 per cent down on the last 2011 quarter but a satisfying 21 per cent up on the third 2012 quarter - cue big sighs of relief. …

Storage 28 Jan 11:39
The Oric-1 is 30

Feature The colourful story of a would-be Spectrum killer

The Oric-1, which was formally launched 30 years ago this week, was produced with one thing in mind: to take on Sir Clive Sinclair at his own game. “The Oric is a competitor for the Spectrum,” one of Oric developer Tangerine Computer Systems’ software team, Paul Kaufman, emphatically told members of the press. “We are convinced …

Vintage 28 Jan 12:02
Reg Readers love their gadgets

Is that a phone in your pocket or...etc etc.

2013 is only just beginning and already there's a ton of news surrounding the consumer tech markets. Samsung is riding a wave of success with Android based Galaxy smartphones. Apple is starting to struggle to meet expectations while Nokia seems to be on the cusp of turning things around. Even Microsoft has taken a firm step …

Hardware 28 Jan 12:11
Chinese upstart smears Android's Ice Cream Sandwich over PCs

Mobe OS melted over Windows desktop

A Chinese startup has successfully ported Google's Android OS to Windows, perfect for those who want an Ice Cream Sandwich-shaped box in a Windows desktop. The application is suitably beta, with the usual caveats about crashing the host system, but the interest promptly took down the SocketeQ's sever so we're reliant on a …

Operating Systems 28 Jan 12:18
Spammers joyride Doctor Who's Twitter TARDIS, turn man into Shirley Temple

Won't someone please think of the ~~children~~ poor celebs?

Yet another Doctor Who star's Twitter account has been hijacked to tout dodgy diet pills: this time it's Colin Baker, who played the sixth incarnation of the hero time lord. Baker's @SawbonesHex account was taken for a joyride just a fortnight after the Twitter feed of actress Karen Gillan, who played Doctor Who companion Amy …

Security 28 Jan 12:42
My top tip for Microsoft: Stop charging for Windows Phone 8

Open ... and Shut Really guys, you're trying to SELL a mobile OS? C'mon

While Microsoft posted solid numbers for Windows 8, anyone paying attention to Intel's quarterly report can see that the writing is on the wall for desktop computing. Perhaps surprisingly, this is also true of the enterprise, generally not an early mover on technology trends. According to a new Appcelerator survey of enterprise …

Management 28 Jan 13:01
China may axe 13-year console ban, games OK for kids after all

Easter, Christmas and birthday come early for Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo

China may scrap a 13-year ban on the sale of games consoles in the country, according to a government source. Equipment from the Xbox to the PlayStation was outlawed in 2000 for supposedly wrecking the physical and mental development of the young - but consoles may be about to get the official green light in a change of heart …

Games 28 Jan 13:18
Lotus 1-2-3 rebooted: My trip back to the old (named) range

Analysis Not too 'hard to understand or inconvenient to use'

Lotus 1-2-3, released on 26 January 1983, was not the first spreadsheet. That achievement belongs to VisiCalc, invented by Dan Bricklin at Harvard, programmed mainly by Bob Frankston, and released for - surprise - the Apple II in 1979. But as I fired up 1-2-3 on its 30th anniversary, I was reminded that while it wasn't an …

Applications 28 Jan 13:42
IBM fuels up more Power7+ servers for impending launch

Where is the microserver array based on BlueGene/Q?

The details are a bit sketchy, but we can smell the hydrazine and it looks like IBM is getting ready to launch the next wave of Power7+ systems. Last week, in going over Big Blue's fourth quarter financial results, IBM CFO Mark Loughridge said that it planned to roll out more Power Systems servers based on the eight-core …

Servers 28 Jan 14:02
QLogic hops around, waits to hitch a ride on flash-boosted bus

If the server adapter biz won't come to the mountain ...

Server adapter biz QLogic is bouncing around like it often does in its third quarter, but revenues are down and it is hoping that the imminent arrival of Mount Rainier will boost to its business. QLogic is one of the two big-time server SAN host bus adapter (HBA) suppliers (Emulex is the other), and Mount Rainier is the …

Storage 28 Jan 14:33
Google reveals TAPE-TASTIC data centre in saucy vid

Video Say it loud: We've tape and we're proud

A new video from internet search giant Google shows off the tape libraries where all the "important stuff" is looked after in its new Lenoir data centre. And it looks like the tape it has chosen is the very same stuff it used to restore lost emails during The Great Gmail Out(r)age of 2011. The Chocolate Factory has released …

Storage 28 Jan 15:18
Japan promised Ultra HD TV broadcasts two years early

Brazil World Cup in glorious 4K x 2K, anyone?

Japanese telly addicts will get to see the 2014 FIFA World Cup in glorious Ultra HD. As a result, they’ll get 4K x 2K broadcast content beamed into their homes two years earlier than expected. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said the move had been prompted by a desire to stimulate demand for the 3840 × …

Media 28 Jan 15:39
UK tech biz QiComm's CEO fights money laundering charge

He tells The Channel: I'm innocent

The owner of UK tech integration biz QiComm, who is accused of money laundering, has told The Channel he has done nothing wrong. Pat Nabham, who founded the Middlesex-headquartered business, and the company's former senior sales manager Mayuran Kuhathasan, were both charged with conspiracy to conceal, disguise, convert, …

The Channel 28 Jan 15:59
Anons hack Asteroids into US DoJ website in Swartz death protest

And more than a gigabyte of 'state secrets' in leak threat

The Anonymous hacking collective attacked a US Justice Department website over the weekend to protest against the prosecution of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz. The hacktivists followed up the initial assault on Ussc.gov, the US Sentencing Commission's website, by planting an easter egg in the form of retro video game …

Security 28 Jan 16:31
Apple users: Only Apple can track us! Not Google

Brit Safari users fire off lawsuit against sneaky cookie

UK Apple fans are suing Google for tracking them online against their will over a five-month period. iThing owners who used the Safari browser between September 2011 and February 2012 allege that Google bypassed the web browser's security settings to plant a temporary cookie that skimmed information from them to personalise …

Law 28 Jan 17:11
AT&T spaffs $1.9bn on secondhand cell-phone spectrum

One previous owner, hardly used, to cover 39 more US areas

AT&T wants to give Verizon $1.9bn, and some lumps of regional radio spectrum, in exchange for a decent chunk of 700MHz to add to its growing portfolio of low-frequency cell-phone network goodness. Assuming the deal gets FCC approval, by the middle of 2013 AT&T will be able to cover another 39 regions with 700MHz LTE for high- …

Mobile 28 Jan 17:56
Apple releases iOS 6.1, adds LTE carriers, tweaks security

Also teaches Siri to spend US users' money on Fandango tix

Apple has released iOS 6.1, which adds LTE support for more carriers worldwide, but not much more in terms of features for a release that's graced with a full "dot-digit" numerical upgrade. "Apple today updated iOS to version 6.1, adding LTE capabilities to 36 additional iPhone carriers and 23 additional iPad carriers around …

Operating Systems 28 Jan 20:17
Microsoft teases possible Jan. 29 launch for Office 2013

Mystery event scheduled in New York City

An old adage holds that nobody on their deathbed ever said, "I wish I'd spent more time at the office." But more time is exactly what Microsoft is offering in a new ad campaign that appears to tease a January 29 launch date for Office 2013 and its accompanying refresh of Office 365. Few details have been revealed so far other …

Applications 28 Jan 20:22
HP launches security service for after the horse has bolted

Security is dead, get over it

HP is getting into the lucrative security remediation sector with a consultancy service designed to minimize the effects of a successful attack, collect evidence for prosecution, and help recover what has been stolen or corrupted. "It's nearly impossible for organizations to prevent a breach, but they can take control of how …

Security 28 Jan 21:18
NBN Co trials migration incentives

$AU108 to encourage customer adoption

Last week, NBN Co – the company building Australia’s National Broadband Network – announced trials of a $AU108 migration incentive for retailers. The payment is made to retail service providers in selected NBN-ready areas to encourage them to move customers off their own infrastructure (such as ADSL) to the NBN fibre. …

Government 28 Jan 22:06
Stanford super runs million-core calculation

'Sequoia' focuses its attention on fluid dynamics problem

Stanford University engineers are claiming a record for the year-old Sequoia supercomputer, after running up a calculation that used more than a million of the machine’s cores at once. The work was conducted by the university’s Centre for Turbulence Research, seeking to get a model for supersonic jet noise that’s more …

HPC 28 Jan 22:27