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29th January 2013 Archive

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  • VMware's growth stalls – layoffs coming, but so are new hires

    Gelsinger & Co. to focus on core virtualization opportunity

    VMware will lay off a little less than 7 per cent of its workforce and perform a bit of a restructuring in light of the fact that it expects some headwinds in the first half of 2013. Pat Gelsinger, the new sheriff in VMware town, wants to slim the company down and get it focused on its core server virtualization and cloud …

    Virtualization 29 Jan 00:19

  • Pentagon plans massive surge in Cyber Command staff

    Boosting online warrior numbers from 900 to 4,900

    The US military is planning a massive increase in the capabilities of its Cyber Command online-warfare department as it seeks to exert dominance over the digital battlefield. "Given the malicious actors that are out there and the development of the technology, in my mind, there's little doubt that some adversary is going to …

    Security 29 Jan 00:26

  • UK's 2e2 goes titsup

    Debt-laden Berkshire big boy calls in administrators

    Troubled integrator 2e2 Group has left a potentially devastating trail of debts in its wake after calling in the administrators to its UK ops. The financial backers of the Berkshire-based business hauled in FTI Consulting on Monday afternoon, putting nearly 2,000 jobs at risk of redundancy. "We are working closely with …

    The Channel 29 Jan 00:36

  • Bipartisan Senate group proposes green cards for tech grads

    Current educate 'em then kick 'em out policy 'makes no sense,' say solons

    Pigs were sighted flying over Washington DC on Sunday when a bipartisan group of eight US senators released an immigration reform plan that would, among other things, grant permanent-resident status to foreign nationals who receive advanced tech degrees from US universities. "It makes no sense to educate the world's future …

    Policy 29 Jan 01:49

  • Google offers $3.14159 MILLION in prizes for hacking Chrome OS

    Third Pwnium contest offers hackers a piece of the pie

    Google has announced the target for its third Pwnium hacking contest, to be held at this year's CanSecWest security conference, with $3.14159m in prize money for the researchers who can successfully crack its Chrome OS operating system. And yes, that figure is derived from the first six digits of π. The contest, to be held on …

    Security 29 Jan 01:51

  • ITU signs off on H.265 video standard

    High Efficiency Video Coding said to need half the bit rate of H.264

    The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has signed off on High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), a video compression standard expected to succeed the wildly popular H.264. ITU-T H.265 / ISO/IEC 23008-2 HEVC, to give the new standard its full name, is seen by the ITU as “designed to take account of advancing screen …

    Software 29 Jan 02:23

  • PayPal crawls after messaging glitches

    Some punters pay double, PayPal promises to 'make you whole' in recompense

    PayPal has been hit by glitches that have in some cases confused users of the service so much they paid for the same item twice. The most severe issue has hit the service's instant payment notifications (IPNs), the messaging system that sellers rely on to learn of transactions conducted using the payment service. IPNs have …

    Networks 29 Jan 03:25

  • Iran develops working ICBM: Intercontinental Ballistic Monkey

    Simian shoots off to heaven … and back again

    Iran’s first monkey astronaut successfully completed its debut mission into space on Monday in what the Islamic republic said is a prelude to manned expeditions within the next few years. The courageous simian travelled in a bio-capsule aboard the Pishgam (Pioneer) explorer rocket and orbited the planet at an altitude of 120km …

    Science 29 Jan 05:16

  • Berners-Lee says snoop law could see spies blackmail soldiers

    We know what you browsed, now hand over state secrets or we tell

    World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has declared government collection of data on citizens web surfing and telephony activities “a very bad idea” after outlining a scenario in which he feels national security could be compromised by caches of armed forces' members online activities. Speaking in Sydney at the launch of …

    Government 29 Jan 05:55

  • Huddled immigrant masses face 'British values' quiz

    Never mind the bo**ocks, here's the new UK citizenship test

    Foreigners wishing to obtain a British passport will henceforth face a revamped citizenship test which "focuses on values and principles at the heart of being British". According the BBC, the Home Office has dispensed with nonsense such as "information about water meters, how to find train timetables and using the internet". …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 06:03

  • Chinese Apple pirate Kuaiyong sets sail for rest of WORLD

    iTunes rip off to launch English version in blow to developers

    Bad news for iOS application developers – Chinese language service Kuaiyong, which allows users to install pirated apps on their iDevices without jailbreaking them, is set to expand overseas with the launch of an English language version. Kuaiyong arrived earlier this year to ]]fill the void left by equally-dubious service …

    Law 29 Jan 06:30

  • Google fills in the blanks on North Korea map data

    Crowdsourcing helps map the unmappable

    Google has announced comprehensive new mapping data on North Korea, enlisting a team of citizen cartographers to chart the country's gulags, nuclear facilities and golf courses. The reclusive dictatorship has been one of the few areas of the world where the Chocolate Factory has not managed to poke its beak in, but thanks to …

    Networks 29 Jan 06:44

  • Why did your outsourced IT fall over? Cos you weren't on Twitter

    Gartner: Get on social networks to monitor contractors

    The days of signing off an IT contract then kicking back and scoffing peanuts for the next three years are over. Executives will have to constantly monitor their outsourcers - even if it means using social networks - if they want to get value for money, according to Gartner analysts in a startling report for 2013. Companies …

    CIO 29 Jan 07:04

  • RIM PlayBook trumps new iPad in UK channel sales - analyst

    'As good as Apple's tab but half the price' Oh, BURN

    RIM's once little-loved BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has outsold the latest iPad in Blighty's IT distribution channel, according to an analyst. More than 802,000 touchscreen tablets were sold in November and December compared to nearly 118,000 units in the same period of 2011 - and Apple accounted for just a quarter of this …

    The Channel 29 Jan 08:03

  • Ofcom anoints broadcaster: Local TV is nearly here

    They will build it, but will you come?

    New local TV services will be launching later this year, and Comux - the non-profit cooperative which promised to plough profits back into local TV - will manage the broadcasting. That puts Comux in line for £25m in BBC cash, beating bids from Avanti, the Community Media Association and the BBC itself for the right to run the …

    Media 29 Jan 09:01

  • Oracle partners drool over juicy £750m ERP framework

    Who said days of mega tenders are over? Not the FCO!

    Oracle channel partners are gearing up for a mega software and shared services framework worth up to £750m over three years via the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. A Prior Information Notice was released last week and covers the upgrade of ERP platforms including business intelligence and enterprise data warehousing, as well as …

    The Channel 29 Jan 09:35

  • Just too damn lazy to reach your phone? Pick up the remote

    Vid Every phat phablet person's pipe-dream

    HTC's latest handset has a truly innovative feature, a remote control for those too lazy to reach out and pick up their increasingly oversized handset. The remote is called the HTC Mini and once paired (using NFC) with the Chinese-only HTC Butterfly it can make and receive calls as well as controlling media playback and …

    Applications 29 Jan 10:02

  • Navigating towards software defined networking

    Capability management for clouds

    If you're implementing a private or a hybrid cloud, then your network fabric needs a refit. You've virtualised your servers - but even in a mostly static environment, traffic patterns have changed. Add the flexibility of a dynamic IT infrastructure, and you need a network that can reconfigure instantly as loads move. In this …

    Networks 29 Jan 10:02

  • Researchers break records with MILLION-CORE calculation

    HPC blog One app, million cores – but it wasn't Crysis...

    Stanford’s Engineering Center for Turbulence Research (SECTR) has claimed a new record in computer science by running a fluid dynamics problem using a code named CharLES that utilised more than one million cores in the hulking great IBM Sequoia at once. According to the Stanford researchers, it’s the first time this many cores …

    HPC 29 Jan 10:18

  • STEC this out: Flash biz bakes 2TB solid-state drives

    Enterprise-ready kit with enterprise-ready price tags

    Enterprise-grade flash maker STEC is bringing out two 2TB whoppers: an SAS SSD and a PCIe flash card. The 2TB s840 is a refresh of an existing enterprise-grade SAS SSD which uses 2-bit MLC flash and has 200GB, 400GB and 800GB capacities. The 2TB model will arrive in February. This s840 delivers up to 75,000 random read IOPS, …

    Storage 29 Jan 10:54

  • Worst broadband notspots in the UK named and shamed

    Web too slow? Pro-tip: Try it at 4am

    Do you want your home broadband to work at the speed advertised by your ISP? Then set your alarm and log on at 4am, according to a new survey that tested connections speeds across the UK at different times. The worst time to start streaming TV programmes is 9pm as demand for data across the country peaked - and download speeds …

    Broadband 29 Jan 11:12

  • Nokia chucks another $250m at its mobile VC biz

    Maybe we can FUND a winner

    Nokia is setting up a third investment fund, putting $250m on the table for its VC business to invest in mobile-related ventures. It has also announced the appointment of a new MD and principal in its brand-new offices in China, where it is looking to expand operations. Not that David Tang, the new Beijing-based managing …

    Financial News 29 Jan 11:32

  • Who ate all the Pis?

    Stob Verity Xmas wish comes true

    10/11/2012 I want a Raspberry Pi. I must have a Raspberry Pi. My home PC is drab. My Mac Mini is dusty. My iPad, which in my case I have not got, is a fatuous slab of plastic. Let me see the glimmer of the surface-mounted LED, and smell the green, green circuit board of 'Made in China'. But a Raspberry Pi is an example of …

    Verity Stob 29 Jan 11:44

  • Review: Intel 335 240GB SSD

    New NAND tech tweak treat

    Intel’s 520 and 330 range of 2.5in consumer SSDs are the product of its relationship with LSI SandForce. It's practically unheard of for Intel not to have a controller of its own but its reliance on SandForce has left it in the same boat as every other drive manufacturer using these controllers. Namely, they are all eagerly …

    Hardware 29 Jan 12:02

  • Integrator 2e2 axes 319 UK staff, halts pay cheques - insiders

    Tough times revealed at troubled IT channel biz

    Troubled integrator 2e2 Group has let go 319 UK sales and admin staff and, to add insult to injury, their pay for last month is being withheld, sources claim. After weeks of negotiations by investors and bosses to keep the debt-laden business afloat, the decision was taken yesterday to call in administrators FTI Consulting for …

    The Channel 29 Jan 12:11

  • Big biz, expensive beancounters write UK tax law, says senior MP

    Alarm raised as corps get cosy with taxmen

    Corporate giants and accountancy firms hold too much sway over UK's tax law, according to the chairwoman of an influential parliamentary panel. Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who heads up the Public Accounts Select Committee, said the Tory-led coalition government "only talks to those who have a self interest in reducing their tax …

    Government 29 Jan 12:28

  • Hackers squeeze through DVR hole, break into CCTV cameras

    Miscreants can copy, delete streams and even control the device

    The digital video recorders of several CCTV video cameras are vulnerable to attacks that create a means for hackers to watch, copy or delete video streams, according to security researchers. The researchers added that unless systems are properly firewalled, security flaws in the the firmware of the DVR platform also create a …

    Security 29 Jan 12:43

  • Seagate stuffs $40m into flash card shuffler Virident

    Watch out, Fusion-io... we're coming to get you

    Number two disk drive manufacturer Seagate reported adequate results for its second quarter and also 'fessed up to making a $40m investment in PCIe flash card maker Virident. Revenues for its second fiscal 2013 quarter were $3.67bn, a nice 14.7 per cent increase on the same quarter a year ago but down 1.7 per cent or $62m on …

    Storage 29 Jan 13:03

  • Microsoft builds observatory to spy on Earthlings' spectrum

    Mapping the unseen as a prelude to invasion

    Microsoft has launched its first European Spectrum Observatory, joining research efforts in Redmond, Seattle and Washington to work out which airwaves might be empty enough to exploit better. The observatory is in Microsoft's Cloud and Interoperability Centre and logs radio use across the spectrum. The logs can then be …

    Broadband 29 Jan 13:25

  • Feds slurping your private data? But that's OUR job, says Google

    Ad giant wants strict privacy laws to fight 'overly broad' info grabs

    Google has renewed calls for tougher safeguards to protect people's privacy online as the Feds come knocking for more emails and cloud-hosted files. The search giant is part of the Digital Due Process - a coalition including Facebook, Amazon, eBay and HP - that is trying to change the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to …

    Applications 29 Jan 13:55

  • Yay for iOS 6.1, grey Wi-Fi iPhone bug is fix- AWW, SNAP

    Fanbois resort to using hairdryer, freezer on iPhones

    When Apple rolled out iOS 6.1, its first major update to iOS 6, yesterday, it introduced a series of bug fixes, software tweaks for iTunes and Siri and also added LTE support - but none of that was any use to the disconnected and discontented sufferers of a particular iPhone software flaw: greyed-out Wi-Fi. iPhone owners have …

    Applications 29 Jan 14:34

  • Zuck on it, Google: 'Public' Facebook events are dead to you

    Exclusive No more free rides, you gotta sign up to see... bitch

    Facebook is squirrelling away search results about its users' public events that could once be easily found through Google, The Register has learned. The move appears to have followed the unveiling of the social network's Graph Search, a beta version of which has been deployed to its one-billion-strong active userbase. …

    Applications 29 Jan 14:59

  • Cisco unwraps Unified Access boxes in East London

    Now you can get plugged in to the wireless revolution

    Cisco took its life in its hands today by choosing the heart of East London to take the wraps off two shiny boxes to be sold under its Unified Access architecture banner. Senior vice president for enterprise, Rob Soderberry unveiled the Catalyst 3850 unified access switch at the opening of CiscoLive, saying it combined the …

    Data Networking 29 Jan 15:32

  • United States of Dell: Biz follows HP's lead, parcels out power to regions

    EMEA channel boss moving to head up France

    Dell has made a number of senior management changes as it devolves power from the centre of the European organisation back to country level, insiders have told The Channel. As a result, one of the major changes will see Emmanuel Mouquet, veep and GM for Dell's PartnerDirect programme EMEA become the boss of Dell France. Rival …

    The Channel 29 Jan 16:02

  • Tablets BEAT DOWN laptops in 4-to-1 Xmas bloodbath - analyst

    Jingle bells, notebook hells

    Bow down before the might of the tablet. If you were unsure who is the master now, look no further than numbers from the UK wing of GfK, a market watcher which tracks over-the-counter sales. According to its data, more tablets were sold in December 2012 - no doubt as Christmas prezzies - than notebooks purchased in October, …

    Hardware 29 Jan 16:32

  • They didn't predict that: Astrologers! blamed! after! Yahoo! hack!

    When Jupiter aligns, your web app will meet a mysterious SQL stranger

    Weaknesses in cloud security and third-party code allowed a hacker to compromise Yahoo! systems last month, according to an analysis of the purported breach. In December, an Egyptian nicknamed ViruS_HimA claimed he cracked the web giant's security systems, acquired full access to 12 databases and broke into an unspecified …

    Security 29 Jan 17:03

  • Microsoft tries to sell home Office users on subscription pricing

    Updated C'mon... We'll give you storage 'n' Skype minutes

    Microsoft has unveiled its first attempt to seduce consumers into paying subscription pricing for its Office 365 package. For $99.99 a year, buyers get the Office 365 Home Premium, which gives them a license to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access applications on five computers in the home. …

    Applications 29 Jan 17:07

  • Apple confirms 128GB iPad. A hundred bucks for an extra 64GB

    The Cupertino hipster-tax operation targets biz bosses

    Apple has slapped an extra 64GB - and a $100 price increase - on its fondleslab range to create the 128GB iPad. An announcement today from Cupertino confirms the device's existence after references to the hardware were found in the newly released iOS 6.1. The new iPad will be available from US Apple stores, the company's …

    Hardware 29 Jan 17:38

  • NEC uncloaks freebie virtual switch for Hyper-V

    The OpenFlow bait gets a Windows Server 2012 switch

    Japanese server and switch provider NEC jumped out in front of other players in the market with an OpenFlow controller for managing forwarding tables and network workflow in virtualized switches, and now it has coded up its own virtual switch that runs inside of Microsoft's Hyper-V hypervisor. Like server virtualization rival …

    Data Networking 29 Jan 19:02

  • Apple regains 'el numero uno' market-value crown

    iPad reveal steals Microsoftian thunder on Office 365 day

    Just a few short days ago, Apple slipped from its position as the world's most valuable company when oil giant ExxonMobil passed it in market capitalization. Well, it's back on top. Apple and Exxon have been tossing the title back and forth for the past few days, but when the market closed on Tuesday, Apple was comfortably …

    Financial News 29 Jan 22:16

  • UPnP scan shows 50 million network devices open to packet attack

    Lock down now to avoid getting Plug and Pwned

    Exploit research has found over 6,900 networked devices from 1,500 manufacturers that are open to attack because of a flawed use of the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol, and IT managers and home users are being warned to check their networks for three major holes. "The results were shocking to the say the least. Over 80 …

    Security 29 Jan 22:33

  • Three years since his Sun gobble, what hath Ellison wrought?

    Analysis Can li'l Larry build a better Big Blue than Big Tom Watson?

    It is hard to believe that three whole years have passed since software giant Oracle instantly became a systems player by snapping up beleaguered Sun Microsystems for a cool $7.4bn – about $5.6bn net of Sun's cash hoard. No one took El Reg up on our suggestion to start up a Sun clone we called Moon Macrosystems by grabbing all …

    Servers 29 Jan 22:37

  • Dell buyout stalled by Microsoft, low takeover price?

    Time to sell the PC business to Lenovo and cut out all the middlemen

    The word making its way around Wall Street is that Michael Dell's plan to take the company that bears his name private through a leveraged buyout has stalled because of the competing interests of private equity firm Silver Lake, which is ponying up a big piece of the cash to do the deal, and current Dell shareholders who want …

    Business 29 Jan 22:59