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30th January 2013 Archive

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  • City heat leak can disrupt high-altitude winds

    ‘Heat islands’ have warmed winters – in some places

    Urban heat islands are a contentious phenomenon in the study of global climate change, but a new University of California-led study suggests that city heat can reach far enough into the upper atmosphere to alter high-altitude winds, impacting climate thousands of kilometres away from where energy is consumed. The study, …

    Science 30 Jan 00:33

  • Unisys watches ClearPath mainframe sales climb

    Plans to build a channel, push Windows and Linux

    The latest line of ClearPath mainframes from Unisys, launched in October and based on Intel's latest Xeon E5 processors, sold a bit better than expected in the final quarter of last year. A mainframe selling better than expected is news by definition, and good news for Unisys in particular since the company's top brass has …

    Servers 30 Jan 00:53

  • Intel releases source code for NAS test app

    Support ends, hacking begins!

    Intel has discontinued development of, and support for, its NAS Performance Toolkit, an application that measures the performance of small network-attached storage systems. But the software will live on, as Chipzilla has released the source code for the tool. The NASPT, as Intel liked to call it, was not the kind of tool one …

    Storage 30 Jan 01:02

  • Mozilla blocks auto-loading of plug-ins by Firefox

    Apart from the latest Flash that is

    Firefox users should experience faster, safer browsing thanks to Mozilla's decision to block browser plug-ins from automatically loading – albeit with one exception. "Poorly designed third party plugins are the number one cause of crashes in Firefox and can severely degrade a user's experience on the Web," said Michael Coates …

    Applications 30 Jan 01:04

  • Apple, Google tumble off top 20 trusted companies list

    Facebook, Yahoo! also not well-trusted to protect personal information

    Once ranked as high as number eight among companies most trusted for protecting their customers' privacy and personal information, Apple has fallen out of the top 20 entirely. Google didn't make this year's list, either, but it fell only from its previous high of 13th place. The list in question was compiled by the Ponemon …

    Security 30 Jan 02:00

  • Always wanted a robot: why not DIY?

    French sculptor open-sources 3D printed robot design

    If you have access to a basic 3D printer, around $US800 in spare cash and like fooling around with Arduino, why not make a robot? We're not tilting at windmills here, because designs for the body parts are available thanks to an open source project from French sculptor Gael Langevin. His year-long project, which he calls …

    Science 30 Jan 02:07

  • WTO ruling emboldens pirates of the Caribbean

    Antigua and Barbuda win suspension of IP obligations, may set up download hub

    Antigua and Barbuda, the small Caribbean nation perhaps best-known as the birthplace of cricketer Sir Vivian Richards, has won concessions from the World Trade Organisation that will allow it to suspend some of its intellectual property obligations. The island nation has arrived in this position after fighting against the USA’ …

    Law 30 Jan 02:58

  • Indonesian hackers protest hacker's arrest ... by hacking

    Hacker accused of defacing President's website faces 12 years inside

    Hackers have been hard at work in Indonesia, defacing web sites left right and center in protest at the treatment of a local hacker who defaced the president’s web site earlier this month and could now face a 12 year jail term. Internet café worker Wildan Yani Ashari, 22, was cuffed by police last Friday just over a fortnight …

    Government 30 Jan 05:10

  • Fujitsu reveals data transfer protocol 30 times faster than TCP

    Japanese tech giant says UDP-derived tech reduces latency to a sixth of current levels

    Fujitsu has taken the wraps of a new data transfer protocol which it claims is 30 times faster than TCP and will help speed up mobile web browsing and file downloads and reduce virtual desktop latency. The new proprietary tech is based on the user datagram protocol (UDP) employed for streaming media. As such, it can …

    Networks 30 Jan 05:32

  • The Death of Voice: Mobile phone calls now 50 per cent shorter

    'Did you get my email?' 'Yes' 'Oh'

    Vodafone reckons the average duration of phone calls on its network has halved in five years. People now talk for around one minute and forty seconds, rather than over three minutes. The figure was calculated from both business and consumer customer data in fifteen main Vodafone markets, the network's business services director …

    Mobile 30 Jan 06:02

  • Google donates 15,000 Raspberry Pis to UK schools

    Pi Foundation says gift will help to bake future boffins

    Google has donated of 15,000 Raspberry Pi Model Bs to the Raspberry Pi Foundation. At list price of £25.92, that’s a £ 388,800 gift and one that the Foundation says, in a blog post, represents a “… really good sign … that industry has a visible commitment now to trying to solve the problem of CS education in the UK.” “Grants …

    Hardware 30 Jan 06:06

  • Hard Glass Spinner Technology: HGST's new 2.5-incher

    No need to fear Flash bullies in the laptop locker room

    Hitachi GST has announced the Charles Atlas of small format disk drives, a 1.2TB drive spinning at 10,000rpm. Aren't such drives supposed to be getting driven off the beach by SSD bullies? No they are not. It's the 15,000rpm drives that are suffering from the flash raiders, up in 3.5-inch format land. Down here among the …

    Storage 30 Jan 07:03

  • Startup decloaks, rolls out cloudy security 'conductor'

    Let all make sure we're on the same hymn sheet here

    Security startup NetCitadel is tackling the problem of automatically applying security policies across physical and virtual environments with a cloud-based approach. NetCitadel's OneControl Security Orchestration Platform enables the application of network security policy changes across cloud, virtual and physical environments …

    Cloud 30 Jan 07:54

  • So: 6,500 Win 8 laptops later, how are BT's field engineers coping?

    Feature Life on the go with Redmond's fondle-tech

    An unheard-of decline in PC sales figures since launch, a grumbling press and a user base that struggles without a touchscreen: Windows 8 is easy to take a swipe at. Yet BT announced in November last year it was deploying 5,900 Win 8 Panasonic Toughbooks for its "last mile" Openreach division – the engineers who walk the line …

    Windows 8 30 Jan 09:00

  • Truly these are the GOLDEN YEARS of Storage

    Blocks and Files Hey stagecoach driver - the Iron Horse is coming

    Listen and prepare to behold this vision. Storage arrays will become nearline vaults because storage memory will steal their primary data storage role. There is a thundering great divide, a Grand Canyon, between server memory in the single digit terabyte area and "storage": double digit terabytes and up to multi-petabytes of …

    Storage 30 Jan 09:26

  • Microsoft's Dell billions have Windows 8 strings attached

    If you can't convince them, buy them...

    If you can't beat them, join them, or - if you're Microsoft - infiltrate them. Just be careful not to go in too deep. Microsoft has recently developed a clever approach to launching into markets where it has previously failed or is currently failing: rather than buy an existing name, Microsoft has become its partner. To boost …

    Applications 30 Jan 10:02

  • YouTube's hilarious cat videos could soon cost you $5 a month

    Ad giant Google 'experiments' with paid-for subscriptions

    YouTube is reportedly "experimenting" with the idea of charging people to watch some of the videos on its website. Google, which operates the vast library of funny cat footage, has asked 25 or so producers to put forward applications to create channels of videos that would cost viewers $1 to $5 a month to access. This is …

    Media 30 Jan 10:19

  • Oracle 'fesses up: Java security flaws more than storm in teacup

    Remains silent on shifting crapware with its patches

    Oracle has broken its silence to admit there are security issues with Java in web browsers - but it insists the tech is solid on servers and within mobile and desktop apps. In a blog post published on Friday, Oracle noted the "media firestorm" around the recent Java vulnerability, admitting users may have been left "frustrated …

    Security 30 Jan 10:43

  • Revealing new pics of galactic princess Andromeda

    Really big lens lets astro-paps get nice new snaps

    New, nifty pictures have been released by astro-boffins which reveal further glories of "the elegant spiral galaxy Andromeda, named after the mythical Greek princess known for her beauty". Without further ado: That's a proper long-distance princess snap A bit blurry maybe, but this kind of pic often is We're indebted …

    Science 30 Jan 10:57

  • Wii-U boat torpedoes Nintendo's '¥20bn profit' into ¥20bn loss

    Time to get off that go-cart, Mario, and get a real job

    Facing a looming $219m loss, Nintendo today restated its mission “to pursue its basic strategy of compelling products that anyone can enjoy, regardless of age, gender or gaming experience”. This is marketing speak for targeting occasional players, in particular the very young and the old, folk who might not normally be …

    Financial News 30 Jan 11:27

  • Vultures circle crash-landed UK giant 2e2 after top brass axed

    Lay-offs signal break up, insiders claim

    The vultures are circling fallen channel giant 2e2 with an asset sale expected for the UK biz in light of the hefty redundancies made yesterday. As reported yesterday, debt-saddled 2e2 Group laid off 22 per cent, or 319, of its 1,442 workers in Blighty, and placed ten UK subsidiaries into administration. The Channel can today …

    The Channel 30 Jan 11:39

  • Amazon: We have great cash flow - it flows straight out of our hands

    Web bazaar splurges profits, investors snap up shares anyway

    Amazon's shares hit a record yesterday, despite well-disguised but nonetheless concerning full year financial results and fourth quarter profits. Investors were lapping up the giant etailer's shares after hours, pushing the stock up 8.7 per cent to $260.35. But their enthusiasm was somewhat confusing, as Amazon's yearly …

    Financial News 30 Jan 11:59

  • Greedy Apple told it can't triple Samsung's $1bn patent payout

    Judge snubs 'inappropriate damages enhancement' bid

    Apple will not get triple damages in its epic US mobile phone patent infringement trial against Samsung, sparing the South Koreans from writing a $3bn cheque. US Judge Lucy Koh has had enough of the warring rivals, and published a raft of rulings halting the companies' attempts to alter the trial jury's findings. Samsung was …

    Business 30 Jan 12:28

  • Is your Surface Pro a bit full? Slot in an SD card, it's not from Apple

    Comment iPad a bit full? Bad luck, buy a new one

    There's massive internet coverage today of a major "issue" with the forthcoming Microsoft Surface Pro slab, the latest attempt by Redmond to unseat Apple's iPad line from its global tablet throne. It's being widely reported that the Surface Pro arrives with a lot of its onboard storage already full up: but this is a foolish …

    Tablets 30 Jan 12:42

  • PC sales in the toilet? Excuse Lenovo while it gut laughs at you

    Our profits are up 34%, says tech titan, how's your biz?

    Chinese PC sales juggernaut Lenovo rolled into town with another set of double-digit growth numbers for its fiscal Q3 as rivals continue to scratch around for what they can get. The firm hasn't yet toppled HP from the top of the global PC market but sales were up 12 per cent to $9.4bn and profit rose 34 per cent to $205m for …

    The Channel 30 Jan 12:57

  • Help us out here: What's the POINT of Microsoft Office 2013?

    Analysis From Clippy to touch, Reg man Tim drills into Redmond's crown jewels

    It was Verity Stob who identified the key challenge for Microsoft Office upgrades: "Name just ONE feature introduced into Word in the 21st century that the weak-willed upgrader regularly uses," asked the antiquarian. Fourteen revisions since the first Office that it may not be easy, because spell checking, grammar checking, …

    Applications 30 Jan 13:17

  • RIM blows on the dice, gets ready for its FINAL THROW

    Desperate to get out of Last Chance Saloon crapgame

    In a matter of hours RIM will reveal the pricing, specification and launch date for the new BlackBerry OS 10 device on which the future of the whole company depends. The phone needs to be perfect but will live or die on RIM's ability to exceed, not merely match, the offerings of the competition. The launch is scheduled for …

    Mobile 30 Jan 13:19

  • Harry Potter's Filch conjures Doctor Who's dead first time-lord

    Beeb reenactment of telly history bags David Bradley

    The BBC drama detailing how Doctor Who came to be made by the broadcaster, which will be screened on BBC Two as part of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, has bagged David Bradley to play the man who played the first Doctor. The first Doctor, played by William Hartnell Bradley, well-known for his role as Filch in the Harry …

    Media 30 Jan 13:39

  • You thought watching cat videos was harmless fun? Think AGAIN

    Main purpose of internet = 23 BILLION DEATHS per year

    It's well known that if all the cat videos and porn disappeared from the internet there would be only one site left and it would be called whereareallthecatvideosandporn.com. All the huge data centres, all the fat pipes, all the amazing new digital technologies of the global information infrastructure are only there, really, so …

    Science 30 Jan 14:03

  • Bags are packed: A Symantec boss is coming to town near you

    Shake-up sees EMEA boss Bridgen leave chair, new UK chief en route

    The shake-up at Symantec will see EMEA boss John Brigden move back to the US to be replaced by veep for Northern Europe Matt Ellard, The Channel can reveal. Brigden was senior veep at Veritas and retained the same position when it was acquired by Symantec back in 2005. A year later he was made senior veep for EMEA. Sources …

    The Channel 30 Jan 14:26

  • PayPal plugs SQL injection hole, tosses $3k to bug-hunter

    Flaw threatened exposure of financial privates

    PayPal has fixed a security bug that could have allowed hackers to compromise the payment website's databases using an SQL injection attack. Researchers at Vulnerability Laboratory earned a $3,000 reward for discovering and reporting the critical bug to PayPal in August. An advisory sent to the Full Disclosure security mailing …

    Security 30 Jan 14:39

  • Muslim vid protest hackers turn web-flood hosepipe away from US banks

    But Iran not behind DDoS attacks, say security bods

    Islamist hackers busy blasting bank websites with network traffic have suspended their assault after a controversial anti-Muslim video ceased to be available through YouTube. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters crew launched a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in September and December, with the stated …

    Security 30 Jan 15:03

  • Speaking in Tech: 'ARM makes enterprise chips? Over my dead body!'

    Podcast But we will design 'em for you, explains ARM veep in grilling by Reg panel

    It's another episode of El Reg's enterprise tech cast, with your hosts Greg Knieriemen, Ed Saipetch and Sarah Vela. Our special guest this week is Ian Ferguson, vice-president of Segment Marketing at ARM, who talks about the growth of the chip-design company from 12 people in a barn to mobile computing dominance - and the …

    Servers 30 Jan 15:38

  • Hungry investors sink $30m into cohabiting silo crew DataGravity

    VCs keen to muscle in on 'potentially enormous' Big Data market

    DataGravity, the data-furtling virtual-storage-tier startup led by EqualLogic execs co-founder Paula Long and John Joseph, has trousered another $30m in B-round venture funding. This comes just seven months after we learned of its existence and a $12m seed funding round. Not bad, not bad at all. The premise of DataGravity is …

    Small Biz 30 Jan 16:02

  • US retail kingpins swoon: Nobody bonks like Google does

    Ad giant will win the e-wallet war - survey

    US retailers reckon Google will end up dominating the pay-by-bonk/eWallet business, sidelining PayPal and bypassing operator-backed ISIS simply because the Google Wallet juggernaut is unstoppable. More than half of the 225 retailers surveyed at the National Retail Federation's annual shindig reckon Google will inevitably …

    Business 30 Jan 16:29

  • Web smut sites are SAFER than search engines, declares Cisco

    Network giant: Perimeters are porous, get used to it

    Cisco proclaimed that it is more dangerous to click on a web ad than a porn site these days as it unveiled the latest version of its security threat report. The vendor also expanded its security offering, pulling in mobile management support for its ISE platform and announcing it had hoovered up Czech-based real-time security …

    Security 30 Jan 17:03

  • RIM ends Reg headline pun filth (and launches two new phones)

    Pic They were all rimmed out. Plus: Specs for new BlackBerry OS 10 mobes

    As expected, RIM today unveiled its much-delayed QNX-powered smartphone operating system, BlackBerry OS 10, along with two new handsets. The Canadian company also changed its name from Research In Motion to BlackBerry along the way. (It's quite a drastic way of evading our double entendres, but needs must.) The first device …

    Mobile 30 Jan 17:22

  • Old-man EMC stirs from slumber, finds a pile 'o gold under its feet

    Whoever was buying storage arrays for Xmas, Big Joe says thanks

    As last summer drew to a close, EMC was fast asleep in terms of sales growth. But not any more. The tech giant awoke with a jolt during the Christmas quarter to teach a lesson in how storage companies should be run. Revenues in the fourth quarter of EMC's 2012 calendar year rose to a record high: $6.03bn. A year ago they were …

    Financial News 30 Jan 18:05

  • Hacker faces 105 years inside after FBI 'sexploitation' arrest

    Over 350 women blackmailed into baring all

    The FBI has announced the arrest of a 27-year-old man over charges that he hacked into the data of over 350 female victims and blackmailed them into providing him with nude photographs and video calls. Karen "Gary" Kazaryan, 27, was arrested in Glendale, California on Tuesday after being indicted on 15 counts of computer …

    Security 30 Jan 19:34

  • Company you never heard of builds 3.4 petaflops super for DOE

    The Wizards of Phi follow the yellow brick road to Pacific Northwest

    Nature abhors a vacuum as well as an oligopoly, which is why upstart supercomputer maker Atipa Technologies may find itself having an easier time getting its foot into the data center door now that Cray has eaten supercomputer-maker Appro International. The company you've never heard of is Atipa, a division of PC and server …

    HPC 30 Jan 21:22

  • Microsoft Office 2013 vs. Office 365: Is either right for you?

    Review Microsoft is dangling the bait. Should you bite?

    Now that Microsoft has kicked off its gradual, rolling launch of Office 2013 and the accompanying refresh of the subscription-based Office 365, the time has come to ask the hard questions: Do I upgrade? And if so, which version is right for me? All but lost in all the hype and hoopla over Office 365 Home Premium during Tuesday …

    Applications 30 Jan 23:19