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OUCH: Google preps ad goo injection for Android mobile Gmail app
The world's biggest advertising company is preparing to push adverts into its Android mobile Gmail client, no doubt to the surprise and alarm of fandroids who thought their private data was recompense enough.
The news comes from Android Police, which has been busily dismantling the latest version of the Gmail app for Android ( …
Clear this week's diary - Twitter just might flash its secret $15bn IPO in public
Twitter hopes to reveal to the world its secret initial public offering (IPO) filing this week, according to sources whispering in the ear of news website Quartz.
One of those people familiar with the matter told the site that the social network would like to start trading before Thanksgiving, likely on the New York Stock …
Hundreds of hackers sought for new £500m UK cyber-bomber strike force
The UK's Ministry of Defence wants to recruit an army of computer experts to serve as "cyber reservists" to defend national security.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the MoD will take on "hundreds" of IT wizards to work "at the cutting edge of the nation's cyber defences" at a cost of up to £500m. The tech talent will work …
Fondling slabs during takeoff WON'T end in a fireball of death - report
The Federal Aviation Administration's advisory committee reckons it's safe for air passengers to read ebooks and use tablets during takeoff and landing – as long as the built-in radios remain switched off.
The US governmental body in charge of air transport isn't obliged to follow the recommendation of the 28-member committee, …
Our magnificent Vulture 2 spaceplane: Intimate snaps
The Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team is gearing up to get our magnificent Vulture 2 spaceplane airborne, and while we fiddle with servos and autopilots, we thought you might enjoy a few intimate snaps of the world's first 3D-printed, rocket-powered aircraft.
Before we get down to to it, it's hats off once again …
Sharp whispers its vital statistics: 15.6in 3840 × 2160 IGZO screen for next MacLap Pro?
Will the next MacBook Pro refresh sport a 4K display, one 4,000-ish pixels wide? If Apple wants to ensure that its flagship laptop does indeed feature such a massive resolution screen, Sharp has just the LCD it needs.
The panel pusher today said it is sending out samples of a 15.6-inch display with a 3840 × 2160 pixel resolution …
WHY didn't Microsoft buy RIM? Us business blokes would have queued for THAT phone
Sysadmin blog In the wake of Microsoft announcing that it's acquiring Nokia, and BlackBerry announcing that it's buying itself out of the public market with Fairfax’s help, I can’t help but come to a single conclusion: Microsoft has missed what could possibly have been the single greatest acquisition in its company’s history.
As you’ll know …
DEAD STEVE JOBS kills Apple bounce patent from BEYOND THE GRAVE
Vid The late Apple baron Steve Jobs has critically wounded one of his company's key "bounce to update" related patents in Europe.
A German court has nixed a photo-gallery app design, filed by Apple in June 2007, after a video of Jobs demonstrating the software with the rubber-band bounce effect five months earlier was deemed prior …
Explosion predicted in Myanmar's mobe and slab markets - analysts
Market watchers are predicting an explosion in the handheld device market in Myanmar, driven by rapid infrastructure building, government reforms and the new mobile operator licensees Telenor and Ooredoo.
Smartphone shipments will grow nearly six-fold to around six million in the next four years, while the number of tablets in …
Nokia demonstrates: White Space ploy can get more 4G handsets into same spectrum
Nokia has successfully demonstrated a 4G LTE network which can hop aside when someone else wants the frequency, opening up the possibilities for dynamically-shared radio spectrum.
Nokia's test network reached three Finnish cities and was able to switch radio frequencies based on availability by regularly checking back with a …
Actifio and the curious affair of the AIX copy reduction tech
Actifio seems to having a few problems getting its virtualised file copy reduction technology working with AIX, support for which came with its v6.0 software release.
Here's a note from a customer:
We are attempting to use Actifio here at -----. Unfortunately, we can't get it to work on AIX, nor can Atifio, apparently. They …
Hong Kong's data centres stay high and dry amid Typhoon Usagi
Feature When Typhoon Usagi rattled into Hong Kong last week, complete with winds over gale force 8, the city state’s data-centre managers had nothing to fear. Typhoons are a regular part of Hong Kong life and local bit barns are designed appropriately, El Reg was told.
Nevertheless, we were was curious to find out exactly how facilities …
Windows 8 fans out-enthuse Apple fanbois
Fanbois and Fandroids often attract derision for their slavish devotion to their preferred kit, but may just have been put in the shade by dedicated followers of … Windows 8.
Yes, you read that right. Windows 8 has dedicated followers. Or to use Microsoft's wording, “our most enthusiastic customers”.
The verbiage above comes …
SpaceX Falcon boosts to glory from Vandenberg space force base
Internet zillionaire Elon Musk has carried out a successful test of his Falcon rocket, launching from the US military space-plex at California's Vandenberg airforce base even as the delayed Cygnus capsule from rival private-space contender Orbital Sciences overcame a software glitch to successfully dock with the International …
NSA: Yes, some of our spooks DID snoop on overseas lovers
NSA spooks used top secret surveillance techniques to snoop on their partners and check out prospective lovers, according to an official admission made to a US senator.
A letter from NSA inspector general Dr. George Ellard reveals that spies "intentionally misused" signals intelligence (SIGINT) techniques to gather information …
'Outback Rover' could help calibrate satellite sensors
Earth sensing satellites have driven revolutions in farming, mineral exploration and vegetation management, but just like a camera on the ground, they need calibration.
While someone like a professional videographer will check his camera against something like a white balance, earth sensing satellites aren't so conveniently …
NSA in new SHOCK 'can see public data' SCANDAL!
In the latest round of increasingly-hyperbolic leaks about what spy agencies are doing with data, reports are emerging that the NSA has been graphing connections between American individuals. Moreover, it's using stuff that people publish on their social media timelines to help the case along.
According to this item in the New …
VMware vSAN test pilots: Don't panic but there's a chance of DATA LOSS
VMware's vSAN isn't just giving storage appliance vendors a lot to worry about: it's also giving users plenty to consider because it erases data under some circumstances.
Panic not, gentle readers: the tool is in beta and Virtzilla's engineers are onto the problem. But the problem is out there, and VMware has been kind enough to …
Metasploit creator seeks crowd's help for vuln scanning
Security outfit Rapid7 has decided that there's just too much security vulnerability information out there for any one group to handle, so its solution is to try and crowd-source the effort.
Announcing Project Sonar, the company is offering tools and datasets for download, with the idea that the community will provide input into …
All roads lead to Darwin ahead of solar challenge flag-fall
World Solar Challenge Australia's second Cruiser-class entry for the World Solar Challenge has joined the teams converging on Darwin for next weekend's start of the World Solar Challenge.
TAFE SA's SolarSpirit 3 is the technical education body's third shot at the challenge, and its compliance with the Cruiser rule that there have to be at least three …
EU move to standardise phone chargers is bad news for Apple
In a move that'll be cheered by phone users the world over, the European Union has decided that mobile phones should have a standard charger plug.
In a unanimous vote, the EU's Internal Market Committee decided that there's no good reason the charger should be treated as a proprietary secret. As German MEP Barbera Weiler put it …
Rare gold iPhone 5s goes up against 50 caliber high precision rifle
Video iPhone haters are a dime a dozen, but it takes an especially hearty helping of heated hostility towards Apple's latest shiny-shiny to go after one with a 50-caliber Barrett M82A1 high-precision rifle.
Actually, we have no idea whatsoever whether Richard Ryan harbors any personal animosity to Cupertino's new iPhone 5s, but we do …
US regulators seek public input on plan to investigate patent trolls
The US Federal Trade Commission is moving ahead – slowly – with plans to investigate the ways and practices of so-called Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs): patent trolls, to you and me.
On Friday, the FTC voted unanimously to seek public comments on a proposal to gather information from "approximately 25 companies that are in the …
Intel delays consumer TV box yet again – report
Intel is reportedly delaying the launch of a planned set-top box with pay-per-view content after a distinct lack of interest among partners.
Bloomberg reports that the previously planned launch of the box in time for this year's holiday season has now been delayed until at least 2014. Attempts by Intel to find partners for the …
Google's robot army learns Spanish
If you want to learn another language, you need to spend time in the country, talk to people, get drunk and attempt to order complex drinks, and eventually read that country's great works of literature – unless you're Google, that is.
In a recent paper, three Googlers outlined a new approach to machine-based translation that …
Violin Memory falls through basement in first day of trading
Violin Memory's hotly-anticipated IPO fizzled on the first day of trading.
The flash-array company had raised some $162m by selling its shares at $9, but on the first day of trading the stock opened below $8 and fell from there.
The stock closed at $7.02 on Friday, down 22 percent. Violin Memory has posted a loss for the last …
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 region-locking saga CLEAR AS MUD
On Thursday, we reported that UK mobile-tech shop Clove had noted on its order page for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 that that device would work only with SIM cards issued in the region in which it was purchased. On Friday, it seems that the real situation might be different.
Might.
GigaOm's David Meyer now writes that Samsung's …
Hey, out-of-work BlackBerry bods: How about a job at Motorola?
Those 4,500 BlackBerry employees that CEO Thorsten Heins has promised to send packing may not be out of work for long – if Google has anything to say about it.
Reuters reports that Motorola Canada – a branch of Google's Motorola Mobility division, which markets such Android devices as the recently released Moto X – has …
Valve aiming to take the joy(sticks) out of gaming with Steam Controller
Gaming house Valve has completed its trio of announcements for the week with news of a planned wireless game controller that replaces the traditional thumb-controlled mini joysticks with two force-feedback touchpads and a programmable screen.
Steam Controller The touchy-feely future of gaming?
The two touchpads will give …
Microsoft keeps Skype content safe from police data slurping - for now
Microsoft has not yet handed over the content of any Skype conversations to regular law enforcement requests in the last six months, Redmond has revealed.
Redmond's stance was shown in its second transparency report, released on Friday. However, the report does not contain national security letter requests, so NSA and FISC and …
Redmond expands fanboi trade-in program to include iPhones
Microsoft has expanded its trade-in program for iOS devices to include iPhones, in addition to iPads.
Earlier this month, the software giant began offering customers in the US and Canada $200 gift certificates to the Microsoft Store in exchange for iPad trade-ins, in hopes that customers would spend the dough on a Surface …
Global execs name Apple 'most innovative company' – again
When unveiling the soon-to-be-released computer-in-a-can Mac Pro at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference this June, Apple marketing headman Phil Schiller quipped "Can't innovate anymore, my ass," a barb aimed at those observers who accuse Cupertino of having lost its mojo.
Global business strategy firm Boston Consulting …
London schoolboy cuffed for BIGGEST DDOS ATTACK IN HISTORY
A British police investigation into the massive DDoS attack against internet watchdog Spamhaus has led to the arrest of a 16-year-old London schoolboy who, it is claimed, is part of an international gang of cyber-crooks.
"The suspect was found with his computer systems open and logged on to various virtual systems and forums," …
LAST CHANCE to get yer cut-price Iridium satellite comms unit
Reader offer Before heading off to the pub for a well-deserved pint this fine Friday, we'd like to remind readers that you only have a few days left to get 10 per cent off a Rock Seven RockBLOCK Iridium satellite comms unit, as used by our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team, as part of its emergency abort system.
Top and …
Uh-oh Google Glassholes: Sugar daddy Intel strokes HUD goggles upstart
Intel has joined an industry-wide drive to make hopeless geeks look totally ridiculous - by ploughing cash into wearable-computing startup Recon Instruments.
Chipzilla has made a "significant investment" into Recon, which makes head-mounted displays for sporty types. Intel could end up squaring off with Google, the maker of …
French data cops to Google: RIGHT, you had your chance. PUNISHMENT time
Google has declined to make required changes to its privacy policy, France's privacy watchdog said today. The French data cops added that they will slap the ad giant with sanctions.
The Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) - on behalf of the European Union's Article 29 Working Party - headed up an …
IPCC: Yes, humans are definitely behind all this global warming we aren't having
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it's more certain than ever that humanity is warming the planet dangerously - despite the fact that a long-running flat period in global temperatures is well into its second decade.
The IPCC released a brief "Summary for Policy Makers" today (go here) a teaser for its hefty …
LOHAN twangs BRASTRAP to unfetter mighty orbs
Pics+Vid Capping a hectic month for the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team - in which we revealed the magnificent Vulture 2 spaceplane, rescued our heroic playmonaut from the side of a Spanish mountain and finally got a rocket motor igniter to go bang at 20,000m - we're delighted to report that the Big Red Abort Switch To …
Samsung proposes 'remedies' to EU antitrust chief in fine dodge hope
Samsung, the world's biggest smartphone vendor, has submitted a package of concessions to the competition wing of the European Commission in a move to try to offset a massive fine.
The EU's antitrust commissioner Joaquin Almunia said during a speech in New York today that the South Korean electronics giant had "sent us a set of …
EMC snaps up ex Symantec veep to rule new HPC skunkworks
EMC has recruited an ex-Symantec exec to lord it over its Emerging Technology Products division. His product brief includes "hybrid Cloud Gateways and High Performance Computing storage" which is fine ... except EMC hasn't got any such products.
Chirantan “CJ” Desai will be the president of the newly-formed Emerging Technology …
Apple tackles iPhone lock-up cockup with iOS 7.0.2
Apple has plugged a gaping security hole in iOS 7 which allowed interlopers to snoop through fanbois' private content.
When iOS 7 was released last week, Apple watchers quickly found they could bypass the lock screen bypass method by sliding up the new Control Center and performing a nifty button combination requiring perfect …
BlackBerry Black Friday: $1bn loss as warehouses bulge with hated Z10s
BlackBerry endured a catastrophic second quarter as today it announced a $965m loss in those three months. Its revenue from the period was half of the first-quarter takings and half of last year's second-quarter revenue.
BlackBerry cancelled its conference with analysts that traditionally accompanies these quarterly results - …
