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6th March 2013 Archive

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  • ZTE to build smartphones with Intel's new 'Clover Trail+' Atom

    'First we conquer Austria, then the world'

    Chinese handset-maker ZTE has announced a "strategic collaboration" with Intel with the goal of creating a phone built around Chipzilla's new Atom Z2580 processor. "The collaboration with Intel is an important part of ZTE's strategy for product development," the company wrote in its announcement, "both in terms of time-to- …

    Phones 6 Mar 00:57

  • Facebook builds 'McDipper' – memcached for flash

    Sizzles flash like memcached made DRAM dance

    For some things you need DRAM, but for everything else there's flash. At least that's the message Facebook gave on Tuesday when it took the wraps off 'McDipper', a technology the social network has developed to let it save on memory and get more out of its flash. In a post to the Facebook engineering blog that is sure to get …

    Cloud Infrastructure 6 Mar 01:19

  • Oracle revs Database Appliance to X3-2 – and nearly to Exadata

    More CPU, memory, storage – and a virtualization option

    If you are looking for a server appliance that is pretuned to load an Oracle database on, then Ellison & Co have a new Database Appliance X3-2 they want to introduce you to. Not everyone needs an Exadata database cluster that can scale to petabytes of capacity, and that's why Oracle engineered the Database Appliance for small …

    Servers 6 Mar 01:30

  • New evidence: Comets seeded life on Earth

    Simulated cosmic snowball breeds complex organics

    Ever since its formation, the Earth has been bombarded by comets, and scientists think they now have evidence that these cosmic missiles could have carried the building blocks for life along with them when they impacted. In 2009, NASA's Stardust mission rendezvoused with the comet Wild-2 and returned to Earth with a sample of …

    Science 6 Mar 01:45

  • Gnome cofounder: Desktop Linux is a CHERNOBYL of FAIL

    Has been chugging Mac Kool-Aid for months

    Gnome project cofounder and current Xamarin CTO Miguel de Icaza says he's done wrestling with Linux on the desktop, and that he now uses Apple kit exclusively for all of his workstation needs. De Icaza is well known in the open source community for developing a number of client-side technologies for Linux, including the …

    Operating Systems 6 Mar 01:47

  • Google in the dock over elephant ivory ads

    Environmentalists stampede as Chocolate Factory breaks own AdWords policy

    Google has been accused of inadvertently promoting the slaughter of endangered whale and elephant species after environmentalists found tens of thousands of ads for ivory and other products on its Japanese shopping site. Non-profit campaigning group the Environmental Investigation Agency said that despite Google’s own “ …

    Networks 6 Mar 05:31

  • Indian atomic boffins draw up plans for 50,000 TONNE magnet

    World's biggest will dwarf CERN's tiddler...

    Indian engineers are drawing up plans to build the world’s biggest magnet, four times the size of the one used at CERN, as part of a massive particle physics project to be housed in a 1,300 metre deep cave. The 50,000 tonne magnet is being designed at the country’s Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and will eventually be used in …

    Science 6 Mar 05:48

  • EMC loses half a BEEELLION on VCE ... but it's NOT what it seems

    Comment #consolidatedgrossmargins - 'nuf said

    EMC has lost a cool half billion dollars on VCE, the converged server-storage-networking biz it founded with Cisco, VMware and Intel. VCE makes vBlocks, bundled Cisco servers and switches, EMC storage and VMware's hypervisor, which are packaged as single systems instead of four separate components: thus being much easier to …

    Storage 6 Mar 06:02

  • Pirate Bay to world: We're not really off to NORKS

    TPB slams those who cheered its non-move (in NSWFW language)

    The Pirate Bay has admitted that its claim to have relocated its servers to North Korea was a hoax, and then had a pop at those who believed the file-sharing site the first time around. TPB surprised many when it claimed in a statement released earlier this week that it had been granted “virtual asylum” in the secretive Asian …

    Networks 6 Mar 06:03

  • First C compiler pops up on Github

    Nostalgic value only unless you have a PDP-11 handy

    If you have a nostalgic turn of mind, there's a new posting over on Github that you'll just love: the earliest known C compiler by the legendary Dennis Ritchie has been published on the repository. It's not new: long before his death in 2011, Ritchie wrote about the effort to find, recover and preserve the early work on C here …

    Developer 6 Mar 06:28

  • Want a promotion? Study economics, says HDS economist

    Someone needs to know how to measure IT costs and it might as well be you

    Want to get noticed by the higher-ups in your workplace? Forget about a new certification or home lab, an appreciation of economics and its application as a tool to define precise metrics about just what it costs to operate your employer's IT kit will see you get ahead. That's the opinion of Hitachi Data Systems' (HDS') chief …

    Jobs 6 Mar 06:53

  • No.10 guru: UK tech scene is AN EXPLODING CHEESE

    And we've got exotic offices for you too, in Bangalore

    Rohan Silva - Downing Street's backroom adviser credited with hyping east London's Silicon Roundabout of tech startups - has given a rare interview. Speaking to WiReD UK, the "senior policy adviser" to the Prime Minister attempted to find a metaphor for the phenomenon. This is what he came up with. I think a tech scene is …

    Government 6 Mar 07:02

  • Germans Joyn in the operator-backed rival to Skype

    What? I have to know a number, instead of a handle?

    Deutsche Telekom has jumped aboard the Joyn bandwagon, joining Telefonica to extend interoperable VoIP and other IP services to eighty per cent of Germans - and pushing security alongside functionality. The service is live now, for those who want to download the Joyn Android client from Google Play. An iOS version us promised …

    Mobile 6 Mar 07:33

  • Boffins implant almost-cellphone in the BRAIN

    Tinfoil hats won't help you here, but implants have helped pigs and monkeys

    It's not really a cellular phone, but a wireless sensor that Brown University researchers developed to help capture brain-waves. But since nobody else can resist the link-bait headline, why should The Register? It's pretty cool, actually: the research is designed to provide better recording of brain activity, so as to help …

    Science 6 Mar 07:45

  • O2 flogs new GPS mobile-based telecare to sick and elderly

    'Help at hand' aimed at 7 million carers in UK

    O2 has launched the first of its mobile-based telecare services in the UK. Most of the services currently provided by pendant alarms are attached to landlines and their reach extends to the user's garden. But research shows that people feel trapped in their homes by alarms which connect to a landline, and as a consequence …

    Mobile 6 Mar 08:03

  • Storage management tools: Why won't it let me... GRRRR

    Comment Big picture vs detail - you can't have it both ways

    Is it important to manage an individual device very well, or the entire estate at a much higher level? The nature of management tools available at the moment means that currently we have to make a choice. I’m going to focus on the storage world, but from what I’ve seen the problem affects most disciplines in IT. The problem …

    Storage 6 Mar 08:27

  • So everyone's piling into PCIe flash: Here's a who's who guide

    Blocks and Files Big names wave their cache cards like a banker at a cocktail bar

    The PCIe flash card suppliers are heading towards a battle royale: there's too many of them for a commoditising hardware business. There are at least 15 suppliers of PCIe flash cards, gear that tightly couples a wad of non-volatile NAND storage to a computer's backbone: EMC, Fusion-io, IBM-TMS, Intel, LSI, Micron, OCZ, OWC, …

    Storage 6 Mar 09:03

  • Bank whips out palm-recognition kit - and a severed hand won't work

    New payment system to tackle identity fraud

    Italian banking group UniCredit has developed a commercial biometric payment system based on Fujitsu PalmSecure palm vein reader technology. UniCredit selected palm vein reader technology instead of more widely touted biometric technologies, such as fingerprint readers and retina scanners, to underpin a prototype mobile …

    Security 6 Mar 09:37

  • Farewell, Reg: This hack is hanging up her Apple jacket

    Leach flees for land of pinstripe suits and upstarts

    It's a fond KTHNXBAI to Register readers as your humble hack heads for the door after 18 months as a Vulture, leaving behind some stale doughnuts, a promotional frisbee and taking with me some memories - great ones. Writing stories for the bumper 7.3 million Reg readers has been a privilege, and I've enjoyed reading your …

    Bootnotes 6 Mar 10:03

  • HP pulls its Koeck out of Germany, slides him into European PCs

    Sounds a bit like...

    Eric Cador - the boss of HP's PC and printer biz in Europe, the Middle East and Africa - is hanging up his boots after 28 years service. The senior veep will be replaced by fellow Hewlett-Packard exec Herbert Koeck, insiders told The Channel. Cador joined the US tech monster in 1985 as a product manager for the Personal …

    The Channel 6 Mar 10:29

  • Proto Steam box may feel your arousal, hints Valve daddy

    'Noise, heat issues' challenge for gaming console - Gabe Newell

    Game developer Valve will be pushing out prototypes of its living room download-and-play games box sometime in the next “three to four months”, company chief Gabe Newell has revealed. The machine, dubbed the Steam Box, is essentially a Linux PC linked to Valve’s online games shop, Steam. Being a PC, it’s easy to build, but …

    Games 6 Mar 11:03

  • HP shareholders advised to give chairman Ray Lane the boot

    Lane should have poked around a bit in the Autonomy deal

    Two leading proxy advisors are trying to convince HP shareholders to boot out several directors over the ill-fated acquisition of Autonomy, including chairman Ray Lane. ISS, the world's top proxy advisor - a firm hired by shareholders to make recommendations and sometimes cast votes on their behalf - has told HP stockholders …

    Business 6 Mar 11:19

  • Misco does well but parent globocorp suffers full year losses

    'My work here is not yet done,' confides CEO

    Giant reseller Systemax, better known in the UK as the parent of Misco, continues to review the operations after swinging to losses caused by the collapsing US consumer market and charges incurred by major restructuring on both sides of the pond. It was a particularly nasty outing for the mighty firm in calendar Q4 - group …

    The Channel 6 Mar 11:47

  • Honk if the car in front is connected

    Feature The networked car is coming sooner than you think

    Connecting cars to the internet and to each other seems to be inevitable, whether or not you approve - and plenty don’t. Let’s face it, though, everything else is connecting to the internet, so why not your favourite drive? By 2017, according to ABI Research, a market watcher, some 50 million connected cars will be sold every …

    Hardware 6 Mar 12:00

  • Europe tickles Microsoft with €561m fine for browser choice gaffe

    Updated Redmond told to pay less than 1% of annual revenue

    Microsoft has been fined €561m ($731m, £484m) by the European Commission for breaking an agreement to offer Windows users alternative web browsers to Internet Explorer. A fresh investigation was launched against Microsoft by Brussels' competition officials in mid-2012 following complaints that the company was still using its …

    Applications 6 Mar 12:18

  • Open Garden releases v2.0 of 'crowd-sourced' mobile wireless app

    But what's this - you can't turn it OFF?

    Startup Open Garden has a new Android version out, allowing anyone to create a mesh network without rooting, and share that network with the world too. The idea of Open Garden is to use all available internet signals from various devices at the same time via a mesh network to deliver an efficient and consistent mobile internet …

    Mobile 6 Mar 12:39

  • Google to offer 'same-day delivery' Amazon Prime killer - report

    New shopping service at least $10 cheaper too, whisper sources

    Google is reportedly prepping a new shopping delivery service to compete with Amazon's Prime subscriber service, called "Google Shopping Express". Just for a bit of oneupmanship, Express will give folks same-day delivery instead of Prime's two-day promise, Reuters and TechCrunch reported a source "familiar with the test" as …

    Business 6 Mar 13:04

  • Carrie Fisher dusts off THAT bikini for Star Wars VII

    Princess Leia rescued from 'intergalactic old folks' home'

    Carrie Fisher has confirmed she'll be resurrecting Princess Leia for the forthcoming Star Wars VII, teasing that fans will once again be treated to 'the bagel buns and the bikini' which defined the character. This is the princess you're looking for Asked to describe Leia today, some 30 years after she appeared in Return of …

    Bootnotes 6 Mar 13:19

  • TalkTalk bigwig parks knighted-rear in cursed YouView chair

    Temporary move for Sir Charles after Lord Sugar legs it

    Retail genius Sir Charles Dunstone will chair the YouView consortium until a permanent appointment can be made. Sir Charlie co-founded The Carphone Warehouse and is chairman of budget ISP TalkTalk. TalkTalk has been a YouView member since 2009. The ISP offers a free YouView box and claims to be adding 10,000 punters a week - …

    Media 6 Mar 13:46

  • PC World ordered to rip up promo for next-day repair promise

    Watchdog bans blurb after bloke's PC troubles

    PC World has been ordered by the UK ads watchdog to pull claims it offers a next-day collection service for repairs under its Care Plan Premier warranty. Pcworld.co.uk boasted that the biz would pick up a customer's dicky gear the following day if the punter called before 3pm and had shelled out for the aforementioned warranty …

    Business 6 Mar 14:04

  • Penguins, only YOU can turn desktop disk IO into legacy tech

    Blocks and Files In-memory desktop computing could be a win for some sharp-eyed Linux firm

    With the advent of flash-based storage memory, the prospect of banishing disk IO waits forever from transaction-based or other IO-bound server applications is close to becoming a reality. But what about desktops? We have a pretty weak example with Apple's MacBook Air ultrathin laptops, but these are underpowered little …

    Storage 6 Mar 14:33

  • PC market to spend ANOTHER year soaked in blood, warns IDC

    Downed by tabs, economy and lack of Windows 8 demand

    The invasion of tablets, a lack of momentum for Windows 8 and tight household and business budgets will ensure the global PC market bleeds for another year. According to IDC estimates, as a result of falling demand, shipments into the technology distribution channel will decline in 2013 for the second consecutive year, falling …

    The Channel 6 Mar 15:04

  • 'Million-strong' zombie army devours Raspberry Pi's crunchy base

    Brit charity joins banks, gambling dens targeted by DDoS barons

    The charity behind the tiny Brit computer Raspberry Pi apparently came under fire from a million-strong botnet army last night. Zombie machines were instructed by unknown assailants to launch a massive denial-of-service attack on the Raspberry Pi Foundation's website. The organisation warned the world that its online home was …

    Hosting 6 Mar 15:39

  • New IBM storage chief Ambuj Goyal: I like all-flash and I cannot lie

    We'll use mutant hybrids when it's not urgent, says new broom

    Just two months into the job and IBM's newest storage general manager Ambuj Goyal is putting his stamp on the business. He told El Reg that Big Blue plans to move all transaction data away from disk to all-flash arrays; that he's not that keen on object storage; and that he envisages an IBM that sells "less storage". He gave …

    Storage 6 Mar 16:04

  • Do you need to command an OpenStack cloud? Hello, Rackspace

    All you'll need is OpenCenter and a dozen boxes to get going

    Once you get a complex piece of software like OpenStack built, the next thing you have to do is make it easier for system administrators to use. Then you have to integrate it with the various management tools they already have deployed in their data centers. This is what Rackspace Hosting, one of the driving forces and …

    Cloud Infrastructure 6 Mar 16:32

  • Google house Ancoris swallows Google house Appogee

    Premier Enterprise bags Cloud Platform Service Partner

    Integrator Ancoris has hoovered up fellow Google specialist Appogee for an undisclosed sum to slurp its cloud app development skills. Former Microsoft business partner Ancoris placed its chips behind the ads giant chocolate factory a couple of years back and was the first accredited Premier Enterprise Partner in the UK. …

    The Channel 6 Mar 17:19

  • VPS.net cloud hoster has a hiccup

    Routine SAN upgrade goes awry

    Customers of cloud hoster VPS.net are having problems, after a routine SAN upgrade went wrong and forced a haphazard equipment migration in the company's Chicago data center. Several days ago, a SAN within the company's Chicago facility started to have intermittent iSCSI connectivity, so VPS.net replaced its networking stack. …

    Cloud 6 Mar 18:50

  • Microsoft about-face: Office 2013 license IS transferable now

    Updated No longer tied to outdated, broken PCs

    In a reversal of its previously announced policy, Microsoft says it is altering the terms of the retail Office 2013 license to remove the clause that permanently tied each installation of the suite to a single PC. "Based on customer feedback we have changed the Office 2013 retail license agreement to allow customers to …

    Management 6 Mar 19:23

  • DOJ gives T-Mobile - MetroPCS merger the nod

    Germans hit back at AT&T's network claims

    The proposed merger of Deutsche Telekom's US subsidiary T-Mobile and regional carrier MetroPCS looks likely to go ahead, after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) allowed its waiting period for objections to pass without making a comment. The deal isn't done yet, however. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can still …

    Business 6 Mar 20:07

  • Redmond slashing Win8, Office OEM rates for small devices

    'Build more Windows slabs and notebooks, pleeease!'

    Microsoft is reportedly offering its OEM partners discounted rates on its Windows 8 and Office 2013 software, in a move designed to encourage production of more Windows-powered tablets and ultraportables. As to just how low Redmond is willing to go, however, and what kinds of devices qualify for the discounts, reports vary. …

    Software 6 Mar 21:28

  • Fund manager says Dell board has no skin in the buyout game

    SAM wants a shareholder list, possibly for a proxy fight to kill the deal

    Southeastern Asset Management (SAM), the largest shareholder of Dell outside of the company's founder, Michael Dell, is complaining about the leveraged buyout deal that was announced a month ago. And the special committee of Dell's board members has fired back, saying that the deal is fair and so is the process that is being …

    Business 6 Mar 21:57

  • RBS and NatWest FAIL downs services across UK

    Updated Megabork takes down ATMs, cards, online banking, telebanking

    Thirsty NatWest and RBS customers across the UK are finding it difficult to get the last round in tonight, as the banks' systems have failed. The megabork, which began at around 9:30pm, has taken down cash machines, online banking and telephone banking for the majority of its customers across the UK. "We are aware of the …

    Management 6 Mar 23:03

  • Dotcom plans Mega IPO as case grinds on

    Updated: Kim can sue government, spies to own up

    As a New Zealand court takes evidence so secret even Kim Dotcom's lawyers are barred from attending, the Megaupload founder has taken to Twitter to tout plans to take his latest venture public. As Bloomberg reports, the company's apparent IPO plans first emerged via a job ad for a CFO. The ad, posted at New Zealand's TradeMe …

    Business 6 Mar 23:28