United Nations to grill US over alleged NSA bugging of its HQ – report
The United Nations has said that it plans to contact the US over a report that the NSA had bugged its New York headquarters.
Germany's Der Spiegel, citing secret documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, reported on Sunday that the US had "cracked the encryption" of the internal video conferencing system at the UN in …
Tesla tops $20bn as Elon Musk claims arm-wave design tech
In a very meta piece of invention, PayPal hecamillionaire Elon Musk has promised that the 3D gesture-hologram system used by Musk-inspired Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies could soon be a reality.
The entrepreneur tweeted that he had come up with a way to let people design industrial parts with a few waves of their hands. Musk …
US court: Dell can't hound debtor with robocalls to her mobile
US mobile phone users can stop companies from contacting them using automated dialling systems, an appeals court said in a ruling against Dell.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing a lower court decision, sided with Ashley Gager, a Dell customer who complained that the firm hounded her with 40 calls in less than three …
Jack Ma and clique aim to retain control at Alibaba after IPO
Alibaba is planning to rejig its management structure to ensure that its partners get to nominate the board and keep control over the firm after it goes public, the Hong Kong Economic Times reports.
The Chinese e-commerce powerhouse is expected to go public by the end of this year in an IPO that could be worth more than $15bn. …
Plucky ISS 'nauts manage to bodge tricky camera gizmo onto podule IN SPACE
Two Russian cosmonauts have managed to stick a new camera mount on the International Space Station despite a couple of hitches.
Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin headed out the hatch of the Pirs docking compartment for an almost six-hour spacewalk at 12.30 BST yesterday - ready to install a …
Dell nemesis Icahn offers Apple's Tim Cook slap-up grub in share buy bid
Investor Carl Icahn - best known for trying to stop Mike Dell from taking Dell the company private - has applied more gentle pressure to Apple boss Tim Cook to get the chief exec to beef up the iPhone maker's share buyback.
During the Nasdaq outage, Icahn tweeted that he'd been chatting to Cook and was planning a dinner with the …
'You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back'
This was the week when Britain discovered that its spooks were either seriously inept or specialising in some sort of double-bluff, Pink Panther-style posturing to throw everyone off the real scent.
This feast of spoof spying was kicked off when the bit of the UK police force that helps its intelligence agencies decided to …
Snowden journo's partner wins partial injunction on seized data
David Miranda, the journalist's partner held for nine hours at Heathrow under anti-terror laws, has managed to get a partial High Court injunction to stop the police "inspecting, copying or sharing" the data they seized from him - except for national security purposes.
Lawyers for Miranda confirmed to The Reg that they'd won the …
Nokia's PHAB-ULOUS comeback attempt: Huge WinPho 8 mobe rumoured
Nokia plans to join the phone-cum-tablet "phablet" craze from next month to add to its Lumia line-up.
Sources whispered to Reuters that the Finnish goliath's engineers have created more than one new device for a launch in late September.
The new kit will include a thin phablet - a phone with a screen more than five inches …
Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison
A military judge has sentenced US Army Private Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for leaking classified material to Wikileaks.
He was also dishonourably discharged from the Army, busted from private first class to private and will forfeit all pay and allowances.
Manning has built up credit of three and a half years of pre- …
Pinch to Xoom: Motorola settles trademark suit in confidential deal
Motorola has settled a trademark lawsuit in the US over the name "Xoom", and will "phase out" its use on a Googlerola fondleslab.
The Google-owned mobile device maker was sued by online payment provider Xoom Corporation on the day a tablet bearing the name Xoom was launched back in 2011 and settled the case in a confidential …
Barnes & Noble booked for running out of £29 Nooks
Struggling bookshop Barnes & Noble has been taken to task by the UK's advertising watchdog for running out of stocks of its ebook reader, the Nook, just a few days after slashing prices down to £29 in a nationwide campaign.
B&N started an ad campaign on 24 April that touted the whopping discount from £79 to £29 for the ereader …
Judge bins lawsuit alleging AOL patent sale conspiracy theory
A US judge has dismissed a case against AOL and some of its top execs over their repurchase of millions of shares in 2011 without letting on that the company was planning to sell a $1bn patent portfolio to Microsoft.
A shareholder had sued AOL, its chief exec Tim Armstrong and CFO Arthur Minson, saying that they knew about the …
Alien antique show: Egyptians wore JEWELRY FROM SPAAAACE
Archaeologists have discovered that ancient Egyptians fashioned their bling from rocks from outer space, not from iron ore.
Three of the nine ancient beads from Gerzeh, Egypt Just bead it, bead it ... Three of the nine ancient beads from Gerzeh, Egypt
We're told beads kept at UCL's Petrie Museum in London predate the …
Legal bible Groklaw pulls plug in wake of Lavabit shutdown, NSA firestorm
Blogger Pamela Jones will shut down her award-winning legal news website Groklaw following revelations that the NSA is intercepting the world's internet communications.
Jones, also known as PJ, said in a final farewell article that the shutdown of encrypted email provider Lavabit, used by whistleblower Edward Snowden, had …
Dr Dre's Beats plans to drop HTC, hook up with rich mate – report
Beats Electronics is reportedly looking to ditch its HTC partnership and bring in a new investor with fresh funds instead.
The maker of the popular Beats by Dr Dre headphones, which is branching out into speakers, car audio systems and online music streaming, wants to find a new investor that will help the business grow, people …
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak disses Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs
Steve Wozniak isn't too impressed with the Steve Jobs biopic film Jobs - and said a lot of its problems came from Ashton Kutcher's portrayal of the Apple founder.
The Woz jumped on the comments section of a Gizmodo review of the movie for his own impromptu critique, which wasn't all that complimentary.
"I saw Jobs tonight. I …
Vodafone 'settled SECRET £57m Irish tax wrangle' back in 2009
Vodafone made a settlement potentially worth millions with HMRC to end a dispute about the amount of tax paid by one of the telco's Irish subsidiaries.
The deal was outed after The Guardian said yesterday that accounts filed in Dublin showed the Irish firm, Vodafone Ireland Marketing Ltd (VIML), settling up with HMRC in 2009. …
Sony to pop 'top Viacom channels' in PlayStations, smart tellies, mobes
Sony is linking arms with US media goliath Viacom to show top channels on PlayStation games consoles and smart TVs, it is claimed.
An insider whispered to the Wall Street Journal that Sony had reached a preliminary agreement with Viacom to stream its cable channels alongside on-demand content on the Japanese giant's new internet …
Shareholders hoping to squeeze cash from Kodak are deluded, says court
Kodak shareholders aren't going to get the chance to set up a committee to represent their interests in the reorganisation of the bankrupt firm.
Investors in the bust camera firm were trying to get a US bankruptcy judge to allow them to set up the committee, after hearing of the current reorganisation plan, which would see them …
Engineer's $30m windfall from Nintendo 3DS patent spat SLASHED by beak
A US judge has halved a $30.2m payout awarded to an inventor by a jury in a patent infringement trial involving Nintendo's 3DS console.
The panel of peers in New York handed ex-Sony engineer Seijiro Tomita the multimillion-dollar damages after finding that Ninty had infringed his patented 3D display technology - which allows …
How much will Apple cough for ebook conspiracy? Trial starts May 2014
Apple is due to face a trial on damages in summer next year, after a judge found the fruity firm guilty of conspiring with publishers to raise the price of ebooks.
US District Judge Denise Cote said that if another resolution hadn't been arrived at before then, the trial would be scheduled to kick off in May 2014 to determine …
Japan's largest mobe operator to snub Samsung this winter
Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo will snub Samsung in its winter smartphone line-up after the Galaxy S4 failed to meet its summer sales targets.
The firm will stock mobes from Sony, Sharp and Fujitsu in its main product line, partly in response to the S4's performance and also because the Korean electronics firm doesn' …
Samsung faces Brazilian rap: Factory bods work '15hrs without break'
Samsung is being sued for about $110m by the Brazilian government for allegedly forcing employees to work long shifts on its assembly lines without a break.
It is claimed the South Korean giant's factory in Manaus, a city in the north of the South American nation, puts workers' health at risk by making them to do repetitive …
Top execs off as Zynga's new CEO shaves 'layer' off senior ranks
Zynga's new chief exec Don Mattrick is shaking things up in management at the social gaming firm, which apparently includes getting rid of a number of top senior execs.
Chief technology officer Cadir Lee, chief operating officer David Ko and chief people officer Colleen McCreary are all leaving the firm that makes Farmville, …
Breaking news, literally: Syrians joyride New York Post tweets, Facebook
The Syrian Electronic Army hijacked the Twitter and Facebook feeds of lively tabloid the New York Post - after compromising social networking outfit SocialFlow.
The hackers, who back Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, claimed on their website that they had managed to seize control of the Post's major news and business news …
Three's UK mobile network goes down on unlucky northerners
Three UK's phone network has gone down for users in Scotland and the North of England.
While users appear to be able to use data on their phones, they're unable to engage in the ancient art of actually calling people to speak to them.
The mobile operator's support account tweeted:
Some customers in Scotland and the North of …
Norway BANS Apple from Oslo's skies: No aerial Maps app snaps allowed
Apple has been denied permission to take aerial photographs of Oslo to create 3D images of the Norwegian capital for its Maps app – even though the US embassy has appealed to the Scandinavian nation's government to reconsider.
The fruity firm has been stymied by the Norwegian government, local media is reporting, because of …
Court hearing on Icahn's Dell buyout block set for Friday
Carl Icahn's attempt to get the courts to intervene speedily in Michael Dell's bid to take the firm private has been delayed until Friday.
The Delaware Court of Chancery has scheduled a conference for Friday on Icahn's request for an expedited hearing in the case.
The activist investor wants the court to stop Dell from changing …
Tech war latest: Today's leather tools 'invented by NEANDERTHALS'
Neanderthals were just as good at working leather as modern humans - and used the same tools still employed by leather-workers today - a new study has found.
Four views of the most complete lissoir found during excavations at the Neandertal site of Abri Peyrony Four views of the most complete lissoir found during excavations at …
Deutsche Telekom launches 'NSA-busting' encrypted email service
Deutsche Telekom and United Internet have launched a super-secure German email service that they claim defeats the data-sniffing shenanigans of the likes of the NSA.
The partners announced that they were starting an initiative for "secure email communication across Germany".
"Germans are deeply unsettled by the latest reports …
100,000+ Earthlings star in 'reality TV contest' for ONE-WAY ticket to MARS
More than 100,000 people want to go to Mars and never, ever come back, according to the non-profit organising a trip to the dust world.
Mars One first landers Mars One (of a kind) ... how its landers might look
Mars One's mission to colonise the Red Planet from 2022 has attracted thousands of applicants for the coveted four …
Google to snub Samsung, hand Nexus 10 to Asus – report
Google has dumped Samsung as the maker of its Nexus 10 fondleslabs and switched to Taiwanese manufacturer Asus, reports Geek.com.
The report cited "multiple sources" as claiming the Nexus 10 refresh would be available on the Google Play Store in time for the holiday season. A screen capture of a retailer's leaked stock lookup …
This weekend: Watch HOT STARS shower! Moon won't interfere
The most highly anticipated meteor shower of the year, the Perseids, are due to start their usually prolific streak through the sky tomorrow night and run until Monday.
Perseid meteor captured by Bill Pinnell. All rights reserved Perseid meteor captured by Bill Pinnell back in 2009.
The Perseids originate from the debris …
Tumblr! boss! bags! $81m! if! he! stomachs! FOUR! YEARS! at! Yahoo!
Tumblr founder and chief exec David Karp made a whopping $81m in his deal to sell the blogging site to Yahoo! for $1.1bn.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Karp will get $41m in Yahoo! stock and $40m in cash over the next four years - but only if he remains a Yahoo! employee during that time. …
Big Mike shoots email to Dell staff: My backers and I are your best bet
Michael Dell has told employees at the struggling firm that he's "passionately committed" to getting his $24.9bn leveraged buyout deal through the shareholder vote and using R&D and acquisitions to become a more competitive firm.
In an email to staff, also filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Big Mike said that the …
Jimbo: Software used for network-level smut-blocking DOESN'T WORK
This was the week when IBM was banned by the Australian state of Queensland, which may well fire folks for hiring Big Blue if they're doing so for government projects.
It turns out that the tech stalwart behaved "unethically" when trying to win the bid to develop a new application for the state's Department of Health, according …
Here we go again: Apple gets second bite in ITC Moto patent spat
A US appeals court has overturned an International Trade Commission decision that invalidated one Apple patent brought against Motorola – and decided that Moto didn't infringe on another.
The ITC decided last year that the phone firm was off the hook on the two patents, but the appeals court ruled that it erred in its decision …
Groupon pops corks: Happy CEO, sales and shares up, profit... oh
Groupon has named co-founder Eric Lefkofsky as the next chief exec at the same time as announcing better-than-expected revenues in this year's second quarter, sending shares shooting up 25 per cent.
This is despite making a $7.6m loss during those three months, whereas it made a profit of $28.4m the same period last year.
The …
Manning's max sentence cut, may only spend up to 90 years in the cooler
Bradley Manning's maximum possible sentence for publishing tens of thousands of American classified documents via Wikileaks has been reduced from 136 years to 90 years.
The military judge overseeing his trial agreed that some of the 20 charges on which the army private was found guilty last week were closely related and could be …
Patent tank VirnetX fires 'secure domain name' design claim at Apple
Security patent wielder VirnetX has tacked a newly protected design onto a fresh lawsuit against Apple over secure communications technology.
VirnetX said it has just been granted two new patents in the US, and has filed with the Texan courts to add one of them on to its list of claims against the iPhone maker.
The new patent …
NO, ELEPHANTS, it's we DOLPHINS who NEVER FORGET our best pals
Dolphins have the longest memories in the animal kingdom, longer even than the famously unforgetful elephant, say scientists: the sea-dwelling mammals remember friends' whistles after being separated for more than 20 years.
Dolphins can remember each other's signature whistles after 20 years Mate! How long has it been? 20 years …
'Look, give us Snowden' - this Friday's top US-Russia talks revealed
America will hold high-level talks on political and military teamwork with Russia this Friday - despite the latter country's offer of temporary asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel are due to meet their Russian counterparts in Washington to discuss " …
Google patents swish, swosh, swoosh pattern unlock app swipe
Google has a new, freshly approved patent up its sleeve that should get rid of a few of the gestures involved when you launch your favourite app on your locked phone.
Google's unlock to app patent
The Chocolate Factory has won a patent for "alternative unlocking patterns", which would let fandroids get into apps like the …
Sony refuses to flog off Spider-Man lab and other entertainment wings
PlayStation giant Sony has rejected activist investor Daniel Loeb's call to partially sell off its entertainment arm to prop up its electronics business.
The Japanese firm said in a letter to Loeb's hedge fund, Third Point, that the board had unanimously voted to hang onto the entertainment business, which includes subsidiaries …
Super-SVELTE BLUSH-PINK planet goes too far with star
Astronomers have detected a low-mass giant planet that challenges existing theories about how bigger worlds are formed.
Jupiterlike low mass exoplanet GJ 504b Artist's impression ... the Jupiter-like low-mass exoplanet GJ 504b
The Jupiter-sized world, dubbed GJ 504b, was found much further out in its star's orbit than a …
Apple will swap fanbois' killer phoney phone chargers for legit adapters
Dodgy knockoff power adapters for iPhones, iPads and iPods can be swapped for an official charger in a new trade-in deal from Apple.
The Cupertino giant is keen to get dangerous third-party power gear out of fanbois' hands after a woman in China was electrocuted when she tried to take a call on her iPhone while it was charging …
Child porn hidden in legit hacked websites: 100s redirected to sick images
Innocent companies' websites are being hacked to serve images of child sex abuse, the Internet Watch Foundation has warned.
The charity said that, in the past six weeks, it has received 227 reports of netizens being directed from completely legal online porno sites to web pages on a second server containing illegal material. …
World's FIRST TALKING SPACE ROBO-CHUM BLASTS OFF to the ISS
Kirobo, Earth's first talking robot to go off world, is en route to the International Space Station - and its prime directive is to tackle loneliness.
Science fiction just became science fact, as this video explained ahead of the bot's blast off:
Japanese droid Kirobo lifted off for the orbiting lab yesterday along with five …
South Korea: We're 'concerned' that Obama saved Apple from ban
The South Korean government has said that it's concerned about the decision by President Barack Obama not to go through with a ban on Apple iDevices that were found by the ITC to infringe on a Samsung patent.
"The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy expresses concerns over the negative effect the decision by the US Trade …
