25th > June > 2013 Archive
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CSIRO seeks seagoing sysadmin
Fleeing flocks of furious testers who think your last beta was more like a pre-alpha compiled after a Friday night bender? Or perhaps you're more the independent operator who wants an environment in which the PHB* is far, far away and your users are a captive audience.
Pink Floyd blasts Pandora for 'tricking' artists with petition
Three members of iconic British psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd have penned an editorial condemning the practices of streaming music service Pandora, which they say has been trying to trick recording artists into cutting their own pay.
Huawei's new 7-inch MediaPad Vogue feeds Wi-Fi+3G phablet frenzy
Chinese electronics giant Huawei has jumped feet-first into the emerging tablet-that's-also-a-phone market with the release of the MediaPad 7 Vogue, a seven-inch tablet that can be had in either a Wi-Fi-only or Wi-Fi plus 3G phone call–capable version.
PlayStation 4 is FreeBSD inside
As Sony's PlayStation 4 pre-orders take off (perhaps at the expense of the already-unloved Xbox One), speculation has emerged that the console's underlying operating system is based on the FreeBSD operating system.
Qld opens government data for app prize
Australian app developers short of funds but long on the business of extracting useful information out of government data have the chance to top-up their finances to the tune of $AU5,000 courtesy of a Queensland government competition.
PRISM leaker strands hacks on booze-free flight
Declining to state just where NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden went after dodging the press, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has issued a statement saying that Snowden is “healthy and safe”.
Trend Micro turns RAT catcher as Taiwan cops cuff hacker
Security vendor Trend Micro has embiggened its industry collaboration credentials this week after helping Taiwanese police arrest one man in connection with a widespread targeted attack, and teaming up with Interpol on a new cyber crime prevention centre.
India's eager IT grads fall for fake interview scams
Technology companies in India are warning prospective employees of a fresh round of scam mail designed to trick job-seekers into paying a security deposit in return for an interview.
Bitcoin now accepted in London pub. In Hack-ney, of course
A pub in East London has become the first in Britain to accept Bitcoin in lieu of real money.
Moses tablets ease Noah's flood headaches
Philippines authorities are hoping technology will help save lives this rainy season, after announcing a plan to equip local disaster officials with tablets to access and upload key info to prevent flood-related deaths.
Galaxy S4 way faster than iPhone 5: Which?
UK consumer magazine Which? has dropped a benchmark bucket on the iPhone, rating it the slowest of seven smartphones under test.
Apple reveals payouts for parents of in-app purchase nippers
Apple has released details of the compensation it will hand out to parents whose credit card took a pounding when their kids made ludicrously expensive in-app purchases.
WD HAMRs down shingles on disk drive road map
Analysis
Twenty years ago a myriad of hard drive vendors pushing essentially the same technology fought themselves into oblivion.
German Kim Jong-un lookalike spaffed official Nork pics over Instagram
A German teen with an uncanny resemblance to Kim Jong-un has been outed as the manager of an "official" North Korean Instagram account.
Premier League seeks court order to ban footie-streaming Swedish site
The Premier League is set to ask for a UK court order to force ISPs like BT and Sky to block popular football streaming site FirstRow1.eu.
Charlie Miller to tell Vegas punters how to hack your car
An eagerly anticipated talk by Charlie Miller on car hacking, rejected by organisers of the Black Hat security conference, will get an airing in Las Vegas this summer after all.
Edinburgh students' heaving racks: UK's only hope for cluster-wrestling glory
HPC blog
Eight universities have travelled to the 2013 International Supercomputing Conference in Leipzig, Germany, to participate in the 2013 ISC Student Cluster Challenge. They’ve deployed their clusters and are busily working to turn in the best results on a series of HPC benchmarks and scientific apps.
Steelie Neelie eyeballs ENCRYPTION PLAN for telco data breaches
Telcos in Europe are being asked to consider encrypting their subscribers' personal information as Brussels confirmed new rules on Monday about the industry's obligation to notify customers about data breaches.
The future of cinema and TV: It’s game over for the hi-res hype
Feature
Digital video guru and author of The MPEG Handbook, John Watkinson, examines the next generation of TV and film and reveals it shouldn't be anything like what we're being sold today.
Business is slow. Here's a good idea, let's compete with customers
Storagebod
Should enterprise vendors consider becoming service providers? When Rich Rogers of HDS tweeted this my initial response was:
Saucy selfie app Snapchat hits $800m valuation as VCs chuck cash around
Risqué photo-sharing app Snapchat has convinced VCs its saucy-selfie-sending service can provide serious returns for their $60m investment in its latest funding round, led by venture capital company IVP.
BlackBerry introduces iOS and Android to Work Space
BlackBerry Work Space is now available for iOS and Android, creating a secure container (under your own BOFH's control, natch) on devices owned by employees.
Freed LulzSec hacker banned from contacting Anons, wiping data
Erstwhile LulzSec spokesman Jake Davis has been freed from detention, with strict conditions on the 20-year-old's use of the internet and computers.
Fusion-io spins up ioTurbine, enhances server flash caching
Fusion-io has tweaked its acquired ioTurbine software to offload up to 96 per cent of mixed read/write requests from a SAN, by caching data in server flash caches.
Hugs all round as Google relaunches Groups service
Google has ditched the old version of its Groups service after revamping the tool to allow users to share an inbox with others.
Finance CIOs sweat as regulators prepare to probe aging mainframes
Could the watchful eyes of regulators soon come to rest on the old and often creaking IT systems that run the back offices of the UK’s leading banks?
US cluster kids bring noisy gear, 'fun' toys to World War HPC
HPC blog
Eight universities have travelled to the 2013 International Supercomputing Conference in Leipzig, Germany, to participate in the 2013 ISC Student Cluster Challenge. They’ve hastily pulled together their data-nomming HPC beasts and are now busily working to to hit the jackpot on a series of HPC benchmarks and scientific applications.
Google NOT REQUIRED to wipe 'sensitive' search results after all
The European Union's Court of Justice has agreed with Google by saying that search engine providers should not be held responsible for the type of personal data that appears on web pages it processes.
Joyent spins up ZFS object store
Joyent has spun-up an object store in its cloud that spans multiple data centers as it tries to specialize in one area where its technology may draw developers away from the black hole that is Amazon Web Services.
Rainforest Eagles 2.0 and African cluster boffins head to Europe for app WAR
HPC blog
The cluster kids on eight international university teams have now deployed their clusters at the 2013 International Supercomputing Conference in Leipzig, Germany. The 2013 ISC Student Cluster Challenge entrants are now fighting each other to win a series of HPC benchmarks and scientific apps.
Windows 8 hype has hurt PC makers and distributors - Gartner
Gartner slashed its PC sales forecast yesterday evening amid warnings that a glut of unwanted Windows 8 kit is sitting in warehouses gathering dust.
IBM axes nearly THREE THOUSAND staffers in North America - union
IBM has axed nearly three thousand workers in Canada and the US, according to employee union Alliance@IBM, as its cost-cutting drive begins to bite.
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo: The big three slug it out at E3
Game Theory
Now that the dust has settled on the maelstrom of gaming news that is the E3 show, it’s down to us gamers to sift through the detritus and choose sides. Why can’t we all just get along, huh?
North and South Korea hit by cyber-blitz on Korean War anniversary
Both North and South Korea are under cyber attack from a group of unidentified hackers who blitzed senior government officials' websites and a group of media companies.
Sci-fi and horror scribe Richard Matheson: He is Legend
Obituary
Acclaimed science fiction and horror writer Richard Matheson, who will perhaps be best remembered for his novel I Am Legend, has died at the age of 87.
Windows 8.1 start button appears as Microsoft's Blue wave breaks
Microsoft's Blue wave of Windows, tools and services updates has started breaking complete with an early glimpse of the Windows 8.1 start button.
2 Chinese teams. 1 unbeaten. Cluster wrestlers, be warned
HPC blog
China has sent two teams to the eight-university 2013 International Supercomputing Conference Student Cluster battle, but they had to earn their trip. As student cluster competition aficionados know, the Asia Student Supercomputer Challenge held their first regional cluster competition last April.
Salesforce and Oracle bury hatchet in historic cloud partnership
Salesforce.com and Oracle are to integrate their clouds at application, platform and infrastructure levels, the companies announced today.
Microsoft: Someone gave us shot in the ARM by swallowing Surface tabs
Microsoft has produced the name of a corporate customer in a fresh attempt to convince us Windows 8 is being adopted by businesses.
Puppet gooses admin tool performance with Enterprise 3.0
Back in January, system administration tool maker Puppet Labs got a $30m equity injection from VMware, and the company has put some of that money to good use with a major revamp of its commercial-grade Puppet Enterprise tool.
Barnes & Noble sheds Nook tablet albatross, will focus on ebooks
Barnes & Noble has announced that it is abandoning the color tablet business in an effort to stabilize its lossmaking Nook digital division.
Sweaty European youngsters get to grips with ‘coffee table of doom’
HPC blog
It was a hot week in Leipzig - "sweating through your shirt five minutes after you walk out of your hotel" hot. However, extreme heat and even the resulting prickly heat won’t keep us from checking in with all of the teams during the last day of the ISC’13 Student Cluster Challenge.
Massive Media dumps Amplidata, makes eyes at Caringo
Object storage supplier Amplidata has been replaced by fellow supplier Caringo at Massive Media, which bills itself as the world's largest social discovery site.
Sony unveils latest attempt at an Android SmartWatch
After some heavy-handed hints, Sony has used the Mobile Asia Expo 2013 to show off the latest version of its Android SmartWatch, intended to be the fashion item of choice for the mobile cognoscenti.
Microsoft: Half of all organizations will use 'Facebook-like' tools
Exactly one year to the day since Microsoft's $1.2bn acquisition of Yammer, Redmond says its plan to bring social collaboration to the enterprise has only just begun.
The Register's NBN study: a good start, let's ramp it up
It was nice to start today with more than $5,000 pledged on Pozible for The Register's NBN study – but we're still $94k-plus shy of the target, and our intent is serious.
AT&T sells out of HTC First Facebook phones
Are you one of the silent minority that's still planning to buy a Facebook phone but just hasn't got around to it yet? You may be out of luck, as AT&T has reportedly sold out of its initial stock (and it won't be ordering any more).
Intel demos real-time code compression for die shrinkage, power saving
Research@Intel
Intel researchers have developed a way to make the increasingly tiny processors needed to power the impending "Internet of Things" even tinier: compress the code running on them.
Salesforce and Oracle forge partnership to smash rivals
Analysis
The notoriously shy and unassuming CEOs of Oracle and Salesforce have announced a major partnership after spending years throwing clods of muck at one another – leading many to ask what is going on in the IT industry to cause this change.
Oz data breach notification law close
With a terse statement – “The committee recommends that the Senate pass the Bill” – Australia has moved a small step closer to having mandatory data breach notification.
