3rd August 2012 Archive
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Microsoft unleashes Windows attack tool
Attack Surface Analyzer explains what apps do to your beautiful Windows installation
Developers, developers …. *&^%%!!# developers who break Windows! That may well be a refrain that motivated Redmond to release a new software tool, Surface Analyzer 1.0, which explains how new apps impact Windows’ ability to repel the various varieties of naughtyware. Microsoft explains the tool’s powers thusly: Attack …
Security 3 Aug 00:20
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Netflix lets free simian software for cloud chaos
Angry ape kills virtual machines at random
Streaming video provider Netflix has released Chaos Monkey, its homegrown tool that's designed to boost the resilience of cloud-based applications in the bluntest way possible: by knocking them down. "Do you think your applications can handle a troop of mischievous monkeys loose in your infrastructure?" asks Netflix's Cory …
Developer 3 Aug 00:47
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Sharp to cull 5,000 as losses exceed £1 BILLION
Electronics giant on the ropes
Japanese electronics giant Sharp has become the latest tech firm to announce swingeing job cuts, with 5,000 employees set to be culled in a bid to slash costs after it revealed losses in the last quarter of £1.1bn. Sharp hasn’t been forced to make any redundancies in over 60 years but has been hemorrhaging money thanks to a …
Business 3 Aug 04:02
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Bomb sniffing “electric nose” turns cancer detector
Boffins tweak CyraNose to detect malignant, asbestos-related cancers
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have used a device called the CyraNose 3200 to sniff out malignant mesothelioma, a nasty form of cancer often caused by exposure to asbestos. The CyraNose is a commercial device used to detect chemical vapours. Named for the legendarily-large-of-proboscis French writer, the …
Science 3 Aug 04:28
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China's smartphone shipments jump 199 PER CENT!
HTC comes good in post-PC nation
China’s bid to for world domination in all things mobile took another step in the last quarter as smartphone shipments leapt 199 per cent from the same period last year and now account for more than a quarter of the global total, according to Canalys. The analyst’s final Q2 2012 country-level shipment estimates reveal that 42 …
Business 3 Aug 04:51
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Researchers reveal radical RAID rethink
“Pipelined erasure coding” helps storage to scale at speed
Singaporean researchers have proposed a new way to protect the integrity of data in distributed storage systems and say their “RapidRAID” system offers top protection while consuming fewer network, computing and storage array resources than other approaches. RAID – redundant arrays of inexpensive disks – has been a storage …
Storage 3 Aug 06:27
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HP and Dell to 'unveil Windows RT slabs in October'
Windows-on-ARM tablets aplenty on the horizon
HP and Dell will both release tablets based on the forthcoming ARM-powered Windows RT operating system after it’s launched in October, according to the latest rumours swirling from the supply chain in Asia. Speculation has been mounting about the hardware vendors chosen to supply the first wave of tablets running the new OS - …
Data Centre 3 Aug 06:29
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Airline leaves customer on hold for 15 hours
Your call is irrelevant to us, please hold all night
Australian airline Qantas has denied claims it left a customer on hold … for 15 hours 40 minutes and one second. The claims were made by a customer who has told Fairfax media and news.com.au that he called to confirm a flight and, upon hearing the usual canned messages about what a valued and deeply-loved customer he is, …
Networks 3 Aug 06:30
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Nikon D4 DSLR review
Full-frame flagship finesse
If you thought the Nikon D3s was the ultimate DSLR for photojournalism, sport and low light photography, then think again. The Nikon D4 is not only the D3’s obvious upgrade and replacement but also Nikon’s attempt to redefine, yet again, professional imaging standards. Top shot: Nikon's D4 full-frame 16Mp DSLR When I …
reghardware 3 Aug 07:00
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Jobless yoofs! Get on your bike, er, mobe, and look for work
Tap tap-screen app, it only cost £125,000
Reading Borough Council is to develop an app to help young people find jobs. The authority's plan is part of its "from handset to mindset" project that aims to address the Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) issue across Reading and West Berkshire. By developing the app, with the benefit of £125,000 of funding …
Government 3 Aug 07:29
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HDS to flaunt young HUS array for money
Needs to stop sequential sliding of revenues
HDS quarterly revenues are slipping down and need the recently launched Hitachi Unified Storage array to ramp sales and reverse the slide. In its first fiscal 2012 quarter, HDS recorded $1.047bn revenues from storage sales by itself and Hitachi in Japan. (This figure does not include OEM sales such those to HP.) This is a …
Storage 3 Aug 08:02
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Storing punters' till receipts? UK.gov wants you to hand it over
Businesses may have to cough up transaction records
Businesses that electronically store personal data about consumers may be required to make some of that information available to those individuals "in a machine readable format" if plans under consideration by the government are followed through. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is consulting on whether …
Business 3 Aug 08:19
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Apple 'wanted to stuff Twitter with dollars' to fill iTunes with twits
Tweet biz refused to take Cupertino's coin - rumour
Apple wanted to integrate Twitter into iTunes, according some people "familiar" with negotiations between the two companies. The immediate fruit of talks between the pair last year was the native Twitter app for iPhones and iPads. But Apple also wanted to go a step further, the Wall Street Journal reports, and offered to …
Networks 3 Aug 08:42
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Anonymous hunts down Voldemort for hacking hungry kids' charity
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named named, outed to cops
A Harry Potter fan's attempt to impress hacktivist collective Anonymous by defacing a charity's website has backfired and his alleged identity handed over to cops. RedSky, a video production firm that produced a documentary to help raise cash for underprivileged kids in New Zealand, was done over by the black hat hacker who …
Security 3 Aug 09:03
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Greenland ice sheet not going anywhere in a hurry, say boffins
Danish prof: You can stop work on that ark for now
Doom-laden predictions that the seas are set to rise by a metre or more this century due to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet are well off the mark, a team of scientists has announced in a new study of the matter. "It turns out that the ice sheet, in relation to this point, behaves more dynamically and is able to more …
Energy 3 Aug 09:16
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How one bad algorithm cost traders $440m
A look at the worst software testing day ever
Knight Capital, a firm that specialises in executing trades for retail brokers, took $440m in cash losses Wednesday due to a faulty test of new trading software. This morning reports were calling it a trading “glitch", which isn’t nearly as accurate as the term I’d use: “f**king disaster". The broad outline of the story is …
Developer 3 Aug 09:32
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'Sending timing data over cell network - what could go wrong?'
Quotw Plus: 'What's the point in having a trial?'
This was the week when Microsoft buffed and polished its ancient spam-handy Hotmail service into the new Outlook.com, just seven years after Google gave us Gmail. Apparently the planets had not yet aligned in Redmond's favour, because according to the firm's Chris Jones: We think the time is right to reimagine email. Given …
Bootnotes 3 Aug 09:46
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Apple plans extended iPad display through 'Smart Covers'
Peripheral vision
Apple envisions iPad cases with flexible displays that expand functionality into the tablet's protective sleeve, recently publicised patent applications reveal. The suggested Smart Cover, which draws power and data from a connector on one side of the slate, could be used to display a media control interface, or extend the …
reghardware 3 Aug 10:08
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Opera updated following unexplained Outlook.com lockout
Update Microsoft's Gmail-alike opened for browser's fans
Opera Software is working on a fix to ensure Microsoft’s Hotmail successor Outlook.com works in its browser. Opera has pumped out Update 12.01 to make Outlook.com work with its browser but warned fans might continue to encounter problems with attachments. It has also patched a critical vulnerability in desktop versions of its …
Applications 3 Aug 10:17
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UK physical game sales hit rock bottom
Retail in need of therapy?
The UK games market hit an all time low last week. Retailers took in just £8.4m from software sales. With the release schedule dryer than a Saharan snakepit, this time of the year is always grim, but with just 394,688 physical copies of games sold through stores last week, the industry suffered its lowest financial performance …
reghardware 3 Aug 10:22
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Samsung tells Apple: Quit your 'frivolous' whining over court doc leak
iPhone rival brands demand for trial win 'extreme'
Apple's attempt to score an easy win over Samsung in their smartphone patent trial, thus punishing its rival for leaking court evidence, has been branded "extreme" by the South Korean giant. Samsung had prepared slides to defend itself against allegations that it copied the iPhone design for its own products, but the court …
Law 3 Aug 10:51
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UK judges quietly declare text chat can be obscene
Fantasy 1-2-1 talk could land you in jail
You could be committing a criminal offence next time you discuss your deepest fantasies with someone online. Alarmist? Only slightly. A ruling slipped out quietly by the Appeal Court earlier this year, and lurking in the background while the substantive case to which it applied came to court, makes it plain: the act of …
Law 3 Aug 11:03
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Tablet tech is really a Psion of the times
Something for the Weekend, Sir And now, the world's most expensive netbook
Excitedly but carefully, I tore open the tough cardboard packing and slid out my latest purchase: an iPad keyboard. Not an Apple wireless keyboard, mind. That would be silly. That would be like buying a bicycle pump bigger than my bike. Instead, I purchased a keyboard the same size as the iPad, with the ability to click onto …
reghardware 3 Aug 11:09
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Does Box really need $284m in VC cash?
Open ... and Shut Look to Red Hat's model – it's better to make money than raise it
Once upon a time Joe Kraus dreamed that future start-ups would be 30 times cheaper to build. Clearly he hadn't talked to Aaron Levie, chief executive of enterprise collaboration company Box, which just raised $125m on a reported $1.2bn valuation. Box is playing a high-stakes poker game which will end in complete victory. Or …
Storage 3 Aug 11:14
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Meet the company that wants to destroy Twitter. It's Twitter
Can we build a better FaceTwittle?
For years I've marvelled at Twitter, the most commercially and technically clueless company to ever strike it big. Twitter is now hugely popular and millions of people love to use it. They use it in very creative ways. Twitter's success, in retrospect, now looks blindingly obvious. But Twitter has been uniquely inept at taking …
Applications 3 Aug 11:33
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Post-pub nosh deathmatch: Bauernfrühstück v bacon sarnie
1966 revisited - with added pork
As long-term Reg readers are aware, it's been scientifically proven that bacon has almost miraculous powers to cure the effects of a night on the sauce. Accordingly, we at the Special Projects Bureau went in search of two world-class sliced pork recipes designed to ameliorate the pain of a severe liver-kicking. Prepare your …
SPB 3 Aug 11:44
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SAP to bung Oracle at least $306m in software piracy row
But Larry's eyes are still on a $1.3bn prize
German software giant SAP has agreed to hand over $306m in damages to Oracle in the TomorrowNow copyright infringement case in order to avoid a new trial. Oracle sued SAP in 2007, claiming that the German biz's TomorrowNow subsidiary illegally downloaded Oracle software and support documents in an effort to pilfer Oracle …
Law 3 Aug 12:04
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HP hangs axe over 268 UK staffers ahead of mass cull
Govt warned of upcoming cut, say insiders
HP wants to make nearly 300 UK staff redundant before its mass lay-off programme even kicks in, company insiders have claimed. Well-placed sources say HP informed the government's Department for Business Innovation & Skills a fortnight ago that 268 jobs have been put at risk. Companies have a legal obligation under the Data …
CIO 3 Aug 12:19
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Experts stroke beards over LOHAN's vacuity
Readers raise the pressure in hypobaric test chamber
Last weekend, we finally got LOHAN to breathe fire when we successfully fired a solid rocket motor at an simulated altitude of 76,500ft (23,300m). Our Rocketry Experimental High Altitude Barosimulator (REHAB) hypobaric test chamber began to pay its way as a Cesaroni P29-1G casing, packed with a 57F59-12A "White Thunder" reload …
SPB 3 Aug 12:29
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Avnet Technology Solutions swallows Pepperweed
US-based HP software and services MSP acquired by distie
Avnet Technology Solutions has swallowed Pepperweed Consulting, an HP Software Elite Partner Stateside. This is the latest acquisition Avnet TS has made this year after snapping up enterprise distie Magirus and minnow solutions providers including Mattelli and Ascendant Tech. IT enterprise management and integration firm …
Channel Register 3 Aug 12:33
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Microsoft dumps Metro from Windows 8
Sadly, just the name. Someone else says they own it
Microsoft has dropped "Metro", the name given to the squaretastic user interface for Windows 8 and Windows Phone, claiming it was just a code name all along. Litigation, though, may be the real reason as it seems the word may be owned by a European company or individual that objected to its use. The change comes late in the …
Windows 8 3 Aug 12:42
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M-Tech Data: Grey import battle with Oracle has ruined us
Manchester-based firm shuts up shop after being 'crippled' by legal costs
M-Tech Data's boss has claimed the "crippling" legal bill for its spat with Oracle over allegations of parallel importing left management with no option but to shut up shop. The Manchester-based distie was involved in a long running case with Sun Microsoftsystems, and subsequently the vendor's new parent Oracle over the …
Channel Register 3 Aug 13:04
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BOYLE and BONG: The secret story of my OLYMPIC TRIUMPH
¡Bong! Getting social with Sir Timothy - picture exclusive
"People like me sound like a lot of big cannons" - Mao Tse-Tung When Danny Boyle rang me out of the blue wanting to devise the greatest ever Opening Olympic Ceremony, I was in tears of joy. The chance to work with the man who wrote Trainspotting and brought Bend It Like Beckham to the world's cinema screens was unmissable. " …
Media 3 Aug 13:26
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RBS: June's tech enormo-cock-up cost us £125m
Hardly any of which went to any actual fixing of stuff
RBS's software upgrade blunder in June has cost the banking group £125m so far this year, with further costs expected. The bulk of that money was spent on compensating customers, with the cost of the actual technical fix "unlikely to cost a meaningful amount", according to group finance director Bruce Van Saun. RBS also …
Financial News 3 Aug 14:02
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US will fight ITU members for internet domination
Really, Russia, it's just better if we handle it
The US has made it clear that it won't be letting control of the internet slip out of ICANN's hands anytime soon. The US Department of State released the country's proposals for the World Conference on International Telecommunications on its website, where the threat of attempts by Russia and others to wrest the web from the …
Government 3 Aug 14:32
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Skyrim expansion Dawnguard storms to Steam
PC players privy at last
Bethesda's first DLC pack for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim landed on Steam this week, giving PC gamers access to the bloodsucking Dawnguard expansion. Those with Xbox 360s have been slaying vampires through Dawnguard following its launch at the end of June as Microsoft held an exclusive on the content. Now that that has …
reghardware 3 Aug 14:40
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Ridable giant robo-bug creeps, crawls toward reality
Mech-insect could be yours - for 300 grand
If you have long-term ambitions to pilot a giant six-legged mech walker, then pledge your support for Project Hexapod and its two-ton robo-bug, Stompy. The fully ridable machine was dreamt up a couple of months ago by robo enthusiasts Gui Cavalcanti, James Whong and Dan Cody, who are now seeking to raise the wonga they need to …
reghardware 3 Aug 14:58
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UK 4G auction: No word on what will be flogged, or what it costs
So we're all ready to go then?
Last week the Ofcom announced details of the upcoming 4G spectrum auction, only the regulator still can't say how much spectrum is on sale, what it will cost, or the annual rent due afterwards. The mega-auction announced last week includes bands at 800MHz, which've been cleared of analogue TV, and at 2.6GHz, which has been …
Broadband 3 Aug 15:02
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We love everyone in the SPLA channel the same, honest - Microsoft
Pricing gulfs? What pricing gulfs?
Microsoft has insisted it has levelled the playing field for all resellers pushing its Service Provider Licensing Agreements (SPLA). As revealed at the start of this week, Microsoft opened the SPLA programme to distribution heavyweights Ingram Micro and Westcoast in a bid to lure more resellers on board. Five large-account …
Channel Register 3 Aug 15:09
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LinkedIn shows webtastic social media firms how it's done
Actual profits
LinkedIn stuck its tongue out at all its social media rivals with better-than-expected revenue and a tidy profit for the second quarter. While web firms like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga have seen their stocks tumble amid mounting losses and growing concern over how they will continue to grow revenue, LinkedIn's net profit of $ …
Financial News 3 Aug 16:02
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NASA hands out $millions to wannabe spaceship builders
Outsourced space podules and minishuttle score moolah
NASA has stuck its hands far into its pockets of the third development round of the Commercial Crew programme, giving hundreds of millions to SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corporation. The funding will help put the firms (further) ahead of their competitors in the race for manned craft jollies and cheap science …
Space 3 Aug 18:27
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Daily Mail group in screeching U-turn on parody tweet persecution
Oh, we weren't that bothered, really
The Daily Mail group has dropped its legal action against a Twitter user who sent up one of its executives - just three days after news barons attempted to slap four criminal charges on the twit. The retraction of the writ was revealed by the spoof tweeter, UnSteveDorkland, who parodied Steve Auckland, the CEO of the Daily …
Media 3 Aug 19:04
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Microsoft tightens grip on OEM Windows 8 licensing
Factories will report directly to Redmond
A series of slides leaked online reveal information about Microsoft's new OEM Activation process for Windows 8, which is designed to make it more difficult to activate illegal copies of Redmond's latest OS. OEM Activation (OA) allows PC manufacturers to ship systems with Windows preinstalled and already activated, so that …
Windows 8 3 Aug 19:36
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EA sues Zynga over ripping off Sims Social
Claims to represent designers everywhere
Electronic Arts has launched a legal crusade against troubled online games company Zynga, claiming that The Ville is a direct rip-off of the game Sims Social by EA subsidiary Maxis. "This is a case of principle. Maxis isn't the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its creative product. But we are the studio that has the …
Law 3 Aug 20:27
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Carbonite disputes ASA censure of cloud storage ads
Was ruling caused by communications snafu?
US cloud backup vendor Carbonite has said it will contest the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling that its adverts claiming unlimited storage are misleading. A single UK punter complained to the ASA that Carbonite's adverts with the unlimited storage offer were misleading and breached its guidelines. The ASA found …
Cloud 3 Aug 22:23
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AT&T to mothball 2G network by 2017
Your iPhone needs more spectrum
In its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, US telecommunications giant AT&T has said it plans to sunset its 2G wireless network by January 1, 2017, with the goal of reclaiming spectrum for 3G/4G service. "Due to substantial increases in the demand for wireless service in the United States, AT&T is facing …
Broadband 3 Aug 22:26
