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7th March 2013 Archive

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  • SGI gooses InfiniteStorage arrays with new NetApp controllers

    More oomph in the brains means less disk needed in the box

    Supercomputer and high-density server maker Silicon Graphics shipped over 600PB of disk capacity last year across its InfiniteStorage product line, and it is revving up its entry InfiniteStorage 5000 series to get a bigger bite of storage attachments for HPC and big data workloads that want cheap, fat, and fast disk arrays. …

    Storage 7 Mar 00:43

  • News Corp challenges iPad with $299 education tablet

    Failed at fondleslab content, so try for the kids

    News Corporation is getting into the fondleslab business via its educational arm, Amplify, with a cheap Android slab aimed at schools. "We want to transform the way teachers teach and students learn," said Amplify CEO Joel Klein in a statement. "Technology has revolutionized the world, but not the classroom. Our hope is that …

    Tablets 7 Mar 00:48

  • Next Windows 8 version can ditch bits of Metro

    Keep calm, Metro-haters, it's the embedded version and it's not a backdown

    The Interface Formerly Known as Metro (TIFKAM) is Windows 8's most controversial feature. Those using the OS with a touchscreen-equipped device generally report it's a decent touchy OS. Users of conventional PCs aren't always as happy: your correspondent personally knows one such user who has rigged his PC so he only needs to …

    Operating Systems 7 Mar 00:51

  • Storage upstart tells El Reg: Our software's NOT a VSA

    Brouhaha It's an accelerator. So there

    Satyam Vaghani, the co-founder and chief technology officer of PernixData took exception to El Reg's characterisation of the startup's FVP software, which virtualises flash storage attached to virtualised servers and creates a single pool of block-addressable flash capacity across those servers. From the small amount of …

    Storage 7 Mar 02:04

  • Facebook rides Unicorn to graph search nirvana

    Data-guzzling index tech unfazed by billions of likes

    Facebook has given details on "Unicorn," the technology that makes its needle-in-a-haystack query engine Graph Search possible. The company revealed Unicorn in a post to its Facebook engineering blog on Wednesday. Unicorn is an inverted index that can theoretically handle queries with "hundreds" of operands (aka, the things …

    Cloud 7 Mar 02:16

  • Carl Icahn may be planning to block Dell buyout

    Has gobbled up 100 million shares in two weeks

    A new potential opponent to the proposed leveraged buyout of Dell by founder Michael Dell has emerged, in the form of none other than corporate raider activist investor Carl Icahn. On Wednesday, the special committee of Dell's board appointed to investigate the deal declared that selling the company would be the best option …

    Business 7 Mar 03:14

  • Oz Senator says Google Glass could 'end privacy as we know it'

    Right-winger also once said gay marriage could lead to bestiality

    Australian Senator Cory Bernardi has declared Google Glass might just be the end of privacy as we know it, because Google could use the device to conduct enable mass surveillance. Bernardi is a Liberal Senator for South Australia. Australia's Liberals are the nation's dominant right wing party and claim kinship with the UK's …

    Government 7 Mar 04:03

  • Gone in 30 minutes: Chinese tweets purged by army of censors

    New report claims thousands of censors could be working for Sina Weibo

    The murky world of online self-censorship in China has come under the spotlight again in a new report which estimates that most post deletions on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo occur within the first 30 minutes of appearing. The Velocity of Censorship: High-Fidelity Detection of Microblog Post Deletions, was researched by …

    Policy 7 Mar 04:52

  • Japanese password protector floods screen with hoax cursors

    Password peepers foiled by camouflaged cursor

    Japanese boffins have demonstrated a rather nifty way of preventing online password theft by screen capture and shoulder surfing – flood the screen with a barrage of dummy cursors. Researchers at the government backed Japan Science and Technology (JST) Agency showed off the rather unusual approach to preventing fraud to local …

    Security 7 Mar 05:05

  • New UK.gov cyber-security standard puts MANAGERS in firing line

    Gov seeks views on private sector rules

    The UK government is seeking to hear from businesses that would be interested in submitting evidence to help form a new "organisational standard" for cyber security. The Cyber Security and Resilience Team within the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS) has asked businesses to detail initial interest in …

    Management 7 Mar 06:02

  • 'Quantum fridge' gets close to absolute zero

    But will it cool a beer?

    NIST scientists have demonstrated a solid state refrigerator that sucks energy out of objects using a trick of quantum physics in which hot electrons tunnel through a one-way junction, carrying heat with them. It's been a long project: NIST first demonstrated the use of NIS (normal metal / insulator / superconductor) junctions …

    Science 7 Mar 06:30

  • The supercomputers LIED: UK rainfall is rising, but won't drown our phones

    Ofcom counts jam jars above ITU's models

    UK rainfall fell well short of the ITU's apocalyptic predictions in 2010, and isn't rising as fast as models predicted, according to Ofcom which has been measuring the levels in jam-jars. Ofcom's numbers come from rainfall gauges - jam jars with rulers stuck to the side - and cover 1990 to 2010 (1991-2011 in Scotland and NI), …

    Science 7 Mar 07:02

  • Malware-flingers can pwn your mobile with OVER-THE-AIR updates

    German Fed-sponsored boffins: They have ways of hearing you talk

    Vulnerabilities in the baseband processors of a wide range of mobile phones may allow attackers to inject malicious code, monitor calls, and extract confidential data stored on the device, according to recent research from mobile security experts. However, according to El Reg's mobile correspondent, Bill Ray, this would be …

    Security 7 Mar 08:03

  • Android 'splits' into the Good and the lovechild of Bad and Ugly

    Top-end kit world away from crippled cheap cousins, warns analyst

    Android was everywhere at Mobile World Congress last week - there seems to be no stopping Google's mobile operating system that's now almost as ubiquitous as a colour display. But the success hides the platform's problems, insists one analyst. Former Nomura analyst Richard Windsor paints a picture of increasing fragmentation …

    Phones 7 Mar 08:29

  • Flash, bang, wallop: LSI stumbles in quest for PCIe card crown

    Analysis Lost its EMC contract? Bah, only a flesh wound

    LSI claimed at the end of August that it was going to be number two in the PCIe server flash business - then its revenues declined in the final three months of 2012. What's going on? The semiconductor biz's sales from the fourth quarter of 2012 were $600m, down four per cent on Q3 that year. Net income fell 27 per cent on Q3 …

    Storage 7 Mar 09:04

  • Brit firm flogs bit-crushing app so you can throttle your OWN data

    User-side compression settings let you comb through stats too

    The networks - both mobile and fixed - have been squashing your data for years. But now a London company has launched a product allowing you to control it yourself. The latest company to launch a consumer-side compression product is UK firm Millenoki, which allows users to throttle back their data usage or cut out the …

    Phones 7 Mar 09:32

  • Speaking in Tech: Ya-boo! Marissa! Mayer! how! COULD! you!?

    Podcast Mobile workers? Cubicle workers more likely to be dead weight

    It's another live one. Podcast fans, here it is: another enterprise tech cast with your host Ed Saipetch. Regular co-hosts Greg Knieriemen and Sarah Vela are MIA this week as Ed podcasts live from Las Vegas at VMware's Partner Exchange. Special guests this week include Amy Lewis, social and community engagement at Cisco; …

    Virtualization 7 Mar 09:56

  • Dixons Retail flogs Equanet to serial swallower Kelway

    IT supplier downs mid-market & public sector firm after one-year fast

    Dixons Retail has offloaded mid-market and public sector reselling outfit Equanet to hungry channel player Kelway. It is nearly eight years since Dixons acquired the company, considered to be one of the stronger mid-market players in the UK, but its reputation has since waned. It was the subject of serious cost-cutting by its …

    The Channel 7 Mar 10:09

  • Biz data botherer CommVault hangs on to virtual crown

    Simpana product top of the virty server backup pops

    It looks like one-trick pony CommVault is top of the heap again with its virtualised server backup product, Simpana, at least according to DCIG's latest buyer's guide. The guide is an update on a 2010 version and ranks 22 virtual server backup products.* DCIG says its guide "provides a powerful yet concise method to evaluate …

    Storage 7 Mar 10:36

  • BT to slap overalls on 1,000 new bods in fibre broadband boost

    Here's your badge, screwdriver and hard hat - now get on with it

    BT hopes to hire 1,000 engineers to pump high-speed fibre internet connections to street-side junction boxes, homes and businesses in Britain. The recruitment drive is part of the national telco's £2.5bn investment in its broadband network. BT said that once the jobs are filled, it will have 6,000 engineers working on the …

    Broadband 7 Mar 11:04

  • Reg readers brew up the ultimate cuppa

    The people's vote takes us one step closer to tea nirvana

    We're one step closer today to defining just what constitutes the ultimate cuppa as our reader poll results show a definite leaning towards broadly classic tea-brewing methodology. For those of you who missed the last installment of our probe into the perfect cha experience - presumably because you were on your tea-break - you …

    SPB 7 Mar 11:19

  • Samsung grabs Sharp shard, brings pain to Apple supply chain

    Hey Cupertino... gonna miss your screen time?

    Samsung has shipped up in Apple's pitch by taking a three per cent stake in cash-strapped component supplier Sharp for ¥10.4bn ($111m). Instead of top iDevice manufacturer Foxconn nabbing a bit of Sharp, an idea that had previously been floated, the fruity firm will see Sammy screens being made side by side with its own …

    Financial News 7 Mar 11:37

  • SimCity 3000

    Antique Code Show The massive first-person 3D city sim that never was

    I don’t know if my gaming habits had started to become dominated by RTS and FPS games by the time SimCity 3000 made its delayed debut in 1999, but for some reason I don’t recall it registering on my radar. Strange, for not only was SimCity 2000 one of my favourite games - as it remains to this day - but its sequel was also a …

    Games 7 Mar 12:00

  • BRITAIN MUST DECLARE WAR on Cervinaean menace

    Doe! Citizenry urged to eat corpses of enemy

    Brits need to take up arms and shoot* half of Blighty's deer population in a war to save the countryside from destruction. There are more Bambi-like creatures in need of shooting than ever before in the UK, we're told, and their numbers have reached heights not scaled since the last Ice Age. With no natural predators, the deer …

    Science 7 Mar 12:27

  • LinkedIn password hack sueball kicked to the kerb by judge

    Leaked hashes not an automatic threat of identity theft

    A class-action lawsuit launched against LinkedIn after hackers leaked the website's user passwords has been dismissed before reaching trial. Northern California US District Judge Edward Davila ruled that two premium-account holders had been unable to demonstrate they suffered any actual harm as a result of the 2012 hack, which …

    Security 7 Mar 12:38

  • USA is the best country in the WORLD... for sending spam

    Floats to top of Dirty Dozen - the junkmail conduit sh*t list

    The US has reclaimed its position as the world's leading spam-relaying country, but you'd be wasting your time looking for junkmail crimelords... In the last three months, almost one-fifth (18.3 per cent) of all global spam has been pushed through computers in the US, according to figures from anti-virus firm Sophos. However …

    Security 7 Mar 13:04

  • Throttled customers rage over Virgin Mobile UK's tight cap

    EE wasn't supposed to choke them

    Virgin Mobile UK's experiment with throttling is turning into nightmare as customers across the network complain of fragmented data services barely suitable for email let alone the promised 2Mb/sec. The wireless mobile comms brand, which is run by Virgin Media in the UK, only recently started capping mobile data speed at 2Mb/ …

    Mobile 7 Mar 13:18

  • DWP denies major IT problems with One Dole To Rule Them All system

    'Contractors in place, project on schedule', minister thunders

    The government's £500m plan to overhaul the benefits system is being hampered by IT problems that could yet lead to another spectacular public sector disaster at the expense of taxpayer money, Labour MPs have claimed. The Department for Work and Pensions denied that anything had gone wrong after allegations emerged suggesting …

    Government 7 Mar 13:37

  • 'Mainframe blowout' knackered millions of RBS, NatWest accounts

    Bankers blame hardware fault, sources point to IBM big iron

    A hardware fault in one of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group's mainframes prevented millions of customers from accessing their accounts last night. A spokesman said an unspecified system failure was to blame after folks were unable to log into online banking, use cash machines or make payments at the tills for three hours on …

    Management 7 Mar 14:08

  • Mmmm, TOE jam: Trev shoves Intel's NICs in his bonkers test lab

    Review If you want to impress me, make kit that 'just works'

    Tech offerings are rarely "good" to me, merely "less awful than others." In this case, however, I'll be looking at the complete package of Intel networking's efforts - the hardware, software and ongoing support - and might even attribute that word to its efforts. This isn't to say that everything in the Intel networking universe …

    Datacenter 7 Mar 14:27

  • No M&S vouchers for CSC staff as awards scrapped to save costs

    'No financial comp, mention in employee e-card is best can do'

    Cash strapped CSC is scrapping the Recognising Excellence (RE) award for its top workers as it looks towards another year of austerity. The RE was based on a token system which awarded successful contenders £25, £50 or as much as £100 - those lucky staffers - which could be traded in for M&S, John Lewis and other store …

    The Channel 7 Mar 15:04

  • Bacon sarnies can kill: Official

    Doomwatching boffins issue deadly processed meat alert

    In devastating news for bacon sarnie lovers, boffins have warned of the potentially deadly effects of overdoing it on processed meat products. The chilling results of a Europe-wide survey conclude that those scoffing more than 20g of processed meat a day - equivalent to one meagre rasher of bacon - were at increased risk of …

    Bootnotes 7 Mar 15:24

  • Holy crap! EMC gives Vatican Library 2.8PB to store manuscripts

    NOT on the cloud, we note....

    The Vatican Library is losing its walls. Its 89,000 historic manuscripts are being made available online for access by scholars world-wide courtesy of EMC. The library, properly known as the Vatican Apostolic Library, is located in the Vatican City and is one of the oldest libraries in the world, established formally in 1475 …

    Storage 7 Mar 16:04

  • Viv Reding attacks 'scaremongers' opposing her draft Data Protection bill

    Growls at lobbyists for attempts to pour water on directive

    US technology companies who have being lobbying hard against Viviane Reding's proposed reform of the European Union's data protection law were criticised today by the Brussels' justice commissioner for deploying "scaremongering" tactics. Her bill, meanwhile, has been savaged by at least nine member states - according to the …

    Government 7 Mar 16:29

  • TalkTalk Biz cosies up to channel

    We use direct sales to keep 'em honest, says MD

    The man at the top of Talk Talk Business (TTB) says it uses the direct sales force to keep channel partners on their toes. This is a novel strategy for a company that wants to do more business with resellers and integrators, and to spread the word it is the third fourth largest ISP in the UK. Charles Bligh rocked up at TTB 15 …

    The Channel 7 Mar 17:06

  • Virgin Media keeps mum as punters fume at crippled web access

    Coders->struggle_to_access = StackOverflow.com;

    Some Virgin Media broadband customers have struggled for weeks to access a number of websites over the telco's network - but the company is keeping schtum on the exact cause. The Register has learned that a "sizeable" number of VM's subscribers are frustrated with the ISP for failing to offer a workaround to the ongoing …

    Broadband 7 Mar 17:07

  • You searched for 'japan tsunami' - well, there's one behind you

    Google extends emergency alerts - no sign of Godzilla warnings

    Google's public alert system - which splashes warnings across search, maps and Google Now pages - has been extended into Japan nearly a year after it debuted in America. The red flags aren't limited to just those living in the East Asian nation: anyone searching for things in Japan or looking at its maps on Google will see …

    Applications 7 Mar 18:03

  • LIVE BLOG: Facebook News Feed revamp press conference

    Catching eyeballs in the future

    So, another month, another Facebook press conference. After the sort-of launch of Graph Search just over a month ago, Facebook is about to revamp another facet of its network: the News Feed. El Reg is expecting some tough questions on this one. The News Feed is coming under increasing scrutiny at the moment, after Facebook …

    Media 7 Mar 18:27

  • Heavenly networker Pertino pockets $20m to take on Cisco Meraki

    Cloud Network Engine powers up for epic battle

    If you want to take on Cisco Systems in the nascent cloud networking-as-a-service market, you are going to need money. Lots of money. And so plucky upstart Pertino Networks, which just uncloaked from stealth mode last month, has gathered up some new investors and hit up its existing ones to fill up its war chest. Todd …

    Data Networking 7 Mar 19:08

  • Intel, Apple forging chip-baking deal?

    Analysis Will Intel eat ARM crow? Will Apple wound Samsung? Stay tuned...

    Rumors are again swirling that Apple and Intel are in discussions about Chipzilla baking the chips Cupertino uses to power its iDevices. "A source close to one of the companies says Intel and Apple executives have discussed the issue in the past year but no agreement has been reached," Reuters reported on Thursday. This isn't …

    Hardware 7 Mar 20:36

  • Mark Shuttleworth: Canonical leads Ubuntu, not 'your whims'

    'I have no interest in being 1337'

    After several months without posting, Mark Shuttleworth has returned to his official blog with some harsh words for those in the Ubuntu community who have been critical of Canonical's recent efforts to transform the OS into a multi-faceted platform for mobile devices and the cloud. "If you've done what you want for Ubuntu, …

    Operating Systems 7 Mar 20:38

  • Cisco slashes mobile data growth rate forecast for Oz

    Carriers will still need mobile-to-WiFi offload to cope

    With the spotlight on its very latest Visual Networking Index forecasts for mobile data, The Register is interested to note that Cisco has actually trimmed the five-year growth rate for Australian mobile data consumption. In its 2011 to 2016 VNI, Cisco was predicting a compound annual growth rate of 68 percent, with the …

    Mobile 7 Mar 21:05

  • Red Hat tempts devs with OpenShift Origin upgrades

    Moves all pull requests to GitHub for community equality

    Red Hat has instituted changes at platform-as-a-service OpenShift that put outside contributors on more equal footing with Red Hat employees. The Linux kingpin and cloud-wannabe announced a set of features designed to increase community participation in its PaaS in a blog post by the OpenShift Team on Thursday. The most …

    Developer 7 Mar 21:25

  • Amazon yanks SimCity download from store

    EA server woes lead to well over 800 one-star reviews – so far

    Amazon has stopped selling the downloadable version of SimCity after hundreds of incensed gamers gave the just-launched game one-star reviews. The SimCity – Standard Edition was removed from Amazon's virtual shelves on Thursday. The always-online game has been mostly unplayable since it launched on Tuesday because of problems …

    Applications 7 Mar 23:28

  • BUPA glitch sees credit cards charged multiple times

    Health fund's SNAFU not so good for members' financial health

    Health insurer Bupa has charged some of its members three or more times their fortnightly premium, after a software glitch saw multiple payments debited to credit card accounts. Reg readers have confirmed that BUPA's Australian operations charged their credit cards three or more times in February, in some cases resulting in …

    Business 7 Mar 23:36