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19th March 2013 Archive

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  • Juniper goes skinny to pack routers into little racks

    A central office router staff won't trip over

    Juniper Networks has caught the “smaller is better for routers” bug, kicking off a 300mm form factor member of its PTX family which it says targets the traditional telco exchange, where rackspace was designed for the phone switching kit of the 1970s instead of the computer racks in data centres. Speaking to The Register ahead …

    Data Networking 19 Mar 00:03

  • EA Origin vuln puts players at risk

    Game platform allows remote exploits, millions vulnerable

    A flaw in EA's Origin game store puts its 40 million or so users at risk of remote execution vulnerabilities The vulnerability was described by security researchers Luigi Auriemma and Donato Ferranta of ReVuln, in a paper released on Saturday. Origin is the distribution platform behind just-launched SimCity, along with other …

    Security 19 Mar 00:23

  • Caught on camera: Fujitsu touts anti-terrorist pulse-taking tech

    The doctor will see you now...

    Japanese boffins at Fujitsu have announced a new imaging technology that can take a user’s pulse simply by monitoring the changing brightness of their face, and in so doing potentially stop shifty souls at the airport. The ingenious video-based system captures the subject’s face, calculating the average value of red, green and …

    Security 19 Mar 01:08

  • 4K video may wow vidiots, but content creators see pitfalls

    GTC 2013 Skyrockets studio storage costs, strangles editing bandwidth

    Don't expect ultra-high-resolution 4K video to be broadcast onto your living room wall anytime soon. According to the people responsible to building the equipment that can capture, edit, and encode 4K, there are a number of hurdles to overcome – not the least being storage requirements on the production side. Sure, 4K displays …

    Hardware 19 Mar 01:34

  • Infosec boffins meet to plan nuke plant hack response

    International Atomic Energy Agency promises a glowing report

    Stuxnet gave the world a graphic demonstration just how high the stakes can be when malware hits machinery. This week, the world is starting to plan a response to an even scarier incident, in which an online attack is aimed at a working nuclear or radiological facility. Leading the fight is the International Atomic Energy …

    Security 19 Mar 01:55

  • World's largest solar collection plant opened in Abu Dhabi

    100MW system testing commercial viability

    Shams 1, the 100MW solar collector plant that's a cooperative venture between energy investor Masdar, French oil firm Total, Abengoa Solar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has officially opened for business. The 2.5 square kilometer Shams facility (named after the Arabic word for Sun) is technically the world's largest for …

    Science 19 Mar 02:39

  • Researchers find cloud storage apps leave files on smartphones

    Box.com leaves behind everything needed to download some files

    Researchers at the University of Glasgow have found that cloud storage apps that say they send files to the cloud also leave retrievable versions of files on the devices. The files aren't there for all to see, but do represent a resource useful to forensic investigators or those willing to look hard – for whatever purpose. …

    Security 19 Mar 04:39

  • Holly(oaks) talking head is FUTURE of face messaging, claims prof

    But where's the smegging sarcasm?

    A simulated talking head that can apparently express human emotion has been created by engineers in Cambridge, England. Think Red Dwarf meets, er, Hollyoaks. The computer system called "Zoe" can generate voice and facial expressions from typed text and - more importantly from a commercial perspective - can potentially be used …

    Media 19 Mar 06:03

  • FinFisher spyware goes global, mobile and undercover

    Report claims to have found C&C servers in 25 countries

    Security researchers have warned that the controversial FinFisher spyware has been updated to evade detection and has now been discovered in 25 countries across the globe, many of them in APAC. FinFisher, also known as FinSpy, is produced by Anglo/German firm Gamma International and marketed as a “lawful interception” suite …

    Security 19 Mar 06:34

  • Seagate's cloud backup baby gets software boost

    EVault hopes version seven will tempt small biz users

    Seagate has given its backup-to-the-cloud EVault sub an appliance software boost, probably in a bid to lure in more of that small and medium biz customer goodness. EVault appliances have now been updated with the latest v7.0 version of its software. according to the firm, this means faster backups, up to 100 per cent faster …

    Storage 19 Mar 07:04

  • Storage startups sensible silo sources, says scrutiniser

    Gartner says flash startups have a place, if they get the software right

    Orthodoxy declares complexity the enemy of an easy-to-manage and effective data centre. But Gartner's research vice president Roger Cox thinks there's now a reason to use diverse storage systems from diverse vendors, even startups. Cox's thinking is that different applications need different storage appliances. Big Data, he …

    Storage 19 Mar 07:28

  • Sysadmins: Let's perch on Microsoft Santa's lap, show him our wish list

    Sysadmin Blog Haven't we been good, er, all year?

    Griping is easy. Solving problems in an acceptable way is not. I've had a year to chew on what exactly it is about Microsoft's recent moves that bugs me, so it's time to put my money where my mouth is and try to be constructive. Here is my wish list for the next iteration of Windows, offered in the vain hope that someone at …

    Small Biz 19 Mar 08:05

  • Fusion-io gobbles Brit Linux SCSI gurus ID7

    Seasoned with PCIe cards, flash and cash

    Fusion-io flogs software to turn a server fitted with its PCIe flash cards into a shared storage appliance. It turns out that the software is based on UK developer ID7's code and Fusion-io has just bought the company. ID7 was set up in 2006 and produces SCST, an open-source Linux component used by many storage vendors. It is a …

    Storage 19 Mar 08:33

  • Paying a TV tax makes you happy - BBC

    Comment What's that, Sooty... you DON'T want to pay compulsory fee for havin' telly?

    We're not making this up. TV Licensing™*, the outfit in charge of collecting the BBC's licence fee, has published a new report entitled "TV Licensing Reveals TV Elation Across The Nation". The outfit has created what it called "The National TeleHappiness Index" to measure how, er, happy TV makes people in the UK. There is also …

    Media 19 Mar 09:03

  • Upstart Starboard Storage cuts staff, looks to flog biz

    Left turn for LeftHand founder's firm

    It's a crash, not a burn, but definitely a change of direction for startup Starboard Storage, which has put up a For Sale sign. The apparently rejuvenated Reldata counts none other than LeftHand Networks founder Bill Chambers as its CEO and exec chairman. But it appears staff have been laid off and the company is hardly selling …

    The Channel 19 Mar 09:34

  • Drilling into 3D printing: Gimmick, revolution or spooks' nightmare?

    Special report Top prof sorts the hype from the science for El Reg

    3D printing, otherwise known as additive manufacturing, is a subject that pumps out enthusiasts faster than any real-life 3D printer can churn out products. In conventional machining, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CADCAM) combine to make products or parts of products by cutting away at, drilling and …

    Hardware 19 Mar 10:03

  • ARM head legs it from core body: CEO Warren East retires

    Just as Microsoft forks Windows 8 from Intel

    ARM Holdings' chief executive Warren East is stepping down after nearly 12 years leading the British tech success story. East, 52, is retiring on 1 July, 2013, and will be replaced by 45-year-old ARM president Simon Segars, processor core designer ARM confirmed this morning. East said in a statement: “It has been a privilege …

    Business 19 Mar 10:48

  • Dot Hill in a dot hole: Disk array builder struggles to stem losses

    What next for the mid-range drive vault biz?

    Disk-array constructor Dot Hill's newly released financial figures for last year reveal a falling revenue trend and a struggle to reel in losses. Dot Hill's quarterly revenues and losses (Click on chart for a larger version) The company, which has offices in Basingstoke, UK, supplied hardware to Sun and Oracle, then NetApp …

    Storage 19 Mar 10:59

  • Is UK web speech regulated? No.10: Er. We’ll get back to you

    On-the-hoof tabloid crackdown leaves bloggers, online journos in the dark

    As plastered all over the news yesterday, politicians and anti-tabloid campaigners finally hatched a plan to form a publishing regulator, by royal charter, with the ability to fine misbehaving organs and demand corrections to articles. The letter of the law underpinning the watchdog states it will cover websites; government spin …

    Government 19 Mar 11:33

  • Review: Sony Xperia Z Android smartphone

    The new flagship with tattered sails?

    How it must gall Sony to find that along with the likes of HTC, ZTE and LG it is now firmly in the second division of Android phone makers, floundering in the spume and wake of the global sales monster that is Samsung. Xperia Z: a bit of a slab Personally I blame a ludicrously complex model portfolio as much as lacklustre …

    Phones 19 Mar 12:03

  • eBay chief Donahoe sees his package nearly DOUBLE in size

    Online bazaar does so well that CEO gets $29.7m compensation

    eBay chief John Donahoe saw his compensation package shoot up 81 per cent last year to a whopping $29.7m as the online bazaar's stock grew 68 per cent. Donahoe was handsomely rewarded for the growth the marketplace site and its payment business PayPal saw last year, with a salary bump of three per cent to $970,353. That was …

    Business 19 Mar 12:43

  • El Reg bundles your gaming past into brace of ebooks

    Got coins burning a hole in your pocket? Spend them here....

    Games, we love 'em. We've played a fair few of them over the years too. And while we've seen graphics evolve from barely distinguishable bunches of pixels to elegantly sculpted and rendered 3D models, and virtual arenas expand from the limits of a screen's resolution to take in entire cityscapes, one thing is constant among all …

    Games 19 Mar 12:46

  • Software bug halts Curiosity: Nuke lab bot in safe mode

    Thank GOD for buffer overrun checks, eh NASA?

    NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is parked in "safe mode" again after being laid low by a software bug. The fault was triggered by an unexpected command-file size, which the machine detected before it was too late. Curiosity's selfie on the Red Planet The nuclear-powered space lab truck put itself into precautionary standby …

    Science 19 Mar 13:08

  • Email and collaboration checkpoint

    Tech Panel How is your office productivity solution working for you?

    With all the talk about Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media, it’s all too easy to forget that for the vast majority of businesses, communications and collaboration are built on email. Whatever your personal opinion, the reality out there is that this is mainly Microsoft Office clients talking to an Exchange and …

    Cloud 19 Mar 13:28

  • Then there were 3: Micron slowly 'wipes out' NAND flash rivals

    'We’re probably the largest SSD public company today'

    Hands up who thought Samsung was the world's leading flash shipper? Well, according to a Micron VP, it is his company that's the biggest shipper of NAND flash in the business, bigger than both Samsung and Hynix. Micron makes DRAM, NAND and NOR flash chips. Kipp Bedard, Micron's investor relations VP, told the Raymond James …

    Storage 19 Mar 14:04

  • MongoDB developers 10Gen tool-up NoSQL database

    Polish paid-for version, fix flaws, pray for wider adoption

    MongoDB has been given a search engine, analytical features, and broader reporting capabilities as steward 10Gen tries to make the NoSQL database more accessible. Version 2.4 of the open source NoSQL database became generally available on Tuesday. The additions to the platform deal with some of the usability criticisms that …

    Applications 19 Mar 15:00

  • Phone, internet corps SNUB US government's cybersecurity ABCs

    20 computer defences rejected by telecoms industry

    Phone companies and ISPs in the US have convinced a top advisory panel to hold back the American government from forcing a set of basic IT cybersecurity standards on them. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set up a group of experts to figure out if the communications industry should be forced to adapt 20 "critical …

    Networks 19 Mar 16:14

  • Chameleon botnet grabbed $6m A MONTH from online ad-slingers

    Click fraudster bot fingered after analysts crack its signature

    A web analytics firm has sniffed out a botnet that was raking in $6m a month from online advertisers. The so-called Chameleon botnet mimicked human visitors on select websites, causing billions of display ad impressions to be served to compromised machines. As many as 120,000 infected drones have been discovered so far. Almost …

    Security 19 Mar 17:18

  • Apple fixes iOS passcode-bypass hack with 6.1.3 update

    New code should be big in Japan

    It has taken Apple a little over a month and two updates to do it, but the latest iOS 6.1.3 update means your beloved iDevice can now be safe again from nimble-fingered thieves. In February, an iPhone user discovered that a certain pattern of swipes and key presses would allow the password locking screen to be bypassed on …

    Operating Systems 19 Mar 18:28

  • Nvidia stretches Tesla GPU coprocessors from HPC to big data

    GTC 2013 'Anything a CPU can do, a GPU can do better'

    Graphics chip maker Nvidia has barely begun to put a dent in the traditional high performance computing segment with its Tesla GPU coprocessors and it is already gearing up to take on new markets. The next target is big data, and as with parallel supercomputing, Nvidia is hoping to get the jump on rivals Intel and AMD, which …

    HPC 19 Mar 19:23

  • Report: AWS gets $600m contract to build CIA spook cloud

    Amazon joins military-industrial complex

    Amazon has signed a contract with the CIA that will see Bezos and Co. help the intelligence agency build a big yellow cloud, according to reports. The news, if true, would mark Amazon's graduation to the elite set of major OEMs that have aided intelligence organizations, putting AWS's alleged spook cloud alongside IBM's Nazi- …

    Business 19 Mar 21:23

  • Nvidia's 2015 Tegra ARM chip promises '100X' speed-up

    GTC 2013 First 'Logan' marries CUDA, then 'Parker' moves to 64-bit Denver

    Nvidia has fleshed out details about its next Tegra mobile processor, code-named Logan, and revealed that its long-running 64-bit ARM "Project Denver" effort will yield its first fruit from Logan's follow-on, code-named Parker. "Logan has something we've been dying to bring to the world for so long," Nvidia cofounder, …

    Hardware 19 Mar 21:43

  • First sale doctrine survives US Supreme Court

    Books are still property

    Dead tree books have kept one of their few advantages over e-books, with the US Supreme Court upholding the first sale doctrine, which states that the publisher's exclusivity over a book ends with its purchase. The case was brought by John Wiley & Sons against Thai student Supap Kirtsaeng, who had noticed that textbooks in his …

    Law 19 Mar 22:03

  • Nvidia to stack up DRAM on future 'Volta' GPUs

    GTC 2013 Over 1TB/sec of memory bandwidth can definitely play Crysis

    Nvidia wants to own an ever-increasing part of the computing racket and will be adding 3D memory stacking to its future graphics processors to make them more power-efficient and to boost their performance. Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and CEO at Nvidia, outlined the company's plans to used stacked DRAM on future graphics chips …

    HPC 19 Mar 22:23

  • Researcher sets up illegal 420,000 node botnet for IPv4 internet map

    Potentially risks thousands of years in jail

    An anonymous researcher has taken an unorthodox approach to achieve the dream of mapping out the entire remaining IPv4 internet - and in doing so broken enough laws around the world to potentially put him or her behind bars for thousands of years. To scan the IPv4 address space, billions of pings must be sent to discover all …

    Security 19 Mar 23:14

  • Microsoft responds to Chinese software contract bribery claims

    A yuan in the hand is worth two software licenses in the DC?

    Microsoft has responded to the WSJ's accusations that its business partners bribed Chinese officials in exchange for software contracts, by noting that it is reviewing the allegations and may find dirt. The company published a statement on Tuesday in response to the WSJ's report that lawyers from both the Justice Department …

    Business 19 Mar 23:15

  • Virty market share race reaches the bend and heeeeere comes Oracle

    Gartner says users want VMware alternatives for the 40% of non-virtual workloads

    Think virtualisation and it's hard not to think VMware. And Microsoft, which Gartner's vice president and distinguished analyst Thomas Bittman yesterday said has around 19 or 20 per cent of the market, compared to VMware's 75 per cent or so. Oracle, Parallels, Citrix and Red Hat scrap over the rest of the market, but Bittman …

    Virtualization 19 Mar 23:35