| Microsoft bags two more Android patent deals Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:50 PM PDT The rising cost of 'free' Microsoft has inked two more patent licensing agreements with Android hardware manufacturers.… |
| Google's epic graph cruncher mimicked with open source Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:36 PM PDT And then there was GoldenOrb Unlike Facebook or Yahoo!, Google is loath to open source its back-end software. For many, this is a sore point, as the search giant has built its famously distributed infrastructure atop countless open source tools fashioned outside the walls of the Googleplex. But Mountain View does give back in less-direct ways.… 
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| Testing time for updated Javascript standard Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:34 PM PDT Improved web apps interop promised A "minimal but needed update" to ECMAScript, also known as Javascript, has been ratified by standards chiefs who have promised greater consistency between browsers.… |
| Gartner forecast reinflates IT spending balloon Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:23 PM PDT Cloud cash promised For the second time this year, the prognosticators at market researcher Gartner have revised upwards their IT spending projections for 2011, and now are calling for a spending increase of 7.1 per cent worldwide, to $3.67 trillion.… |
| Xboxer SWATTED by armed cops after online spat Posted: 30 Jun 2011 12:21 PM PDT When games get (really) ugly The family of a 15-year-old Xbox player was raided by heavily armed police after a disaffected online opponent made a hoax emergency call claiming there was a home invasion in progress.… |
| AMD gets in Intel's grill with desktop Fusion rollout Posted: 30 Jun 2011 10:24 AM PDT 'We win', howls AMD AMD's first desktop Fusion processors were detailed on Thursday, and the company marked their debut with a confident blast at its megacompetitor, Intel.… |
| Ballmer leaves investors speechless in Seattle Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:44 AM PDT He won't go quietly, huh The pressure must be getting to Microsoft's very own bald eagle Steve Ballmer as he issued a stinging public rebuke - for the first time - to dissenting investors calling for his head, and used the soon-to-be released fiscal 2011 results to back up his reputation.…
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| Intel takes CPU market share from AMD in Q1 Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:29 AM PDT Catches chipset bug bullet in teeth The chip watchers at iSuppli say that Intel continued to gain processor market share even though it was hit by a bug in a chipset used with its "Sandy Bridge" desktop, laptop, and entry server platforms.… |
| Moderatrix in self-nix shock Posted: 30 Jun 2011 08:00 AM PDT Commentard scourge says emotional farewell In news sure to send the massed ranks of Reg commentards running for the tissue box for the other reason, the Moderatrix is packing up her paddles and departing for dungeons new.… |
| Amazon throws tax hissy-fit, dumps California affiliates Posted: 30 Jun 2011 07:50 AM PDT Taxes are for the little people. And Wal-Mart... Amazon and Overstock have severed their agreements with affiliates based in California, in an overnight response to the imposition of a sales tax for online retailers of physical goods. Online retailers are exempt from sales taxes, but dead-broke California introduced such a law on Wednesday night.… |
| Reg Hardware launches review looker-upper Posted: 30 Jun 2011 07:30 AM PDT Catch up on your kit-test reading Site News You asked for a more accessible read-out of the reviews published by Reg Hardware - and you've now got it.… |
| Big Blue offers staff Apples Posted: 30 Jun 2011 07:25 AM PDT Hey, You! It's Macs not ThinkPads IBMers used to be famous for filing lots of patents and for uniforms of dark blue suits and white shirts, but an internal email seen by the Reg suggests black turtle-necks, faded jeans and berets might be more in order now.… 
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| Wimbledon grunters turned down by viewers Posted: 30 Jun 2011 07:18 AM PDT Served over the 'net If you've avoided the bustle of public strikes by putting your feet up in front of the telly, you'll undoubtedly spend your day surrounded by grunts of a different kind.… |
| Microsoft: Office 365 outages 'will' happen Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:59 AM PDT Installs cash-back scheme to counter crappiness Microsoft is confident that Office 365 – its second generation cloud service – will prove more resilient than the Business Productivity Online Suite but it cannot guarantee uptime.… |
| Solix offers application euthanasia services Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:25 AM PDT Application morticians, when apps become ExAPPS Applications come to their end of life and have to be retired along with their data; there's no point in backing up data from dead apps. Solix is a euthanasia expert for moribund applications.… |
| Gov piles pressure on News Corp in BSkyB bid Posted: 30 Jun 2011 06:12 AM PDT We're watching you, matey An independent director will have to sit in on Sky News board meetings when editorial decisions are being made if News Corporation's bid to takeover BSkyB is successful and the news provider is spun off into a separate company, the Government said today.… |
| Spam volumes show massive drop - but why? Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:52 AM PDT Botnets switched to denial of service duties. Yay! Spam levels have dropped massively in recent months, though researchers fear this is simply because botnet operators have switched their attention to more lucrative activities.… |
| Radio society responds to radio selloff Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:46 AM PDT Difficult details, dodgy premise The RSGB reckons that 500MHz of spectrum, which the Ministry of Fun wants to see sold off by 2020, isn't empty, and hasn't much application anyway.…
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| The freakonomics of smut: Does it actually cause rape? Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:42 AM PDT Plenty of reasons for thugs never to leave the house Comment Does porn cause rape? It could do: rape fantasies causing porn is a certainty. While there are many who would argue that porn causes rape, what we would really like to know is whether it is true.… |
| Star Wars fans want Sony sued over game shutdown Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:29 AM PDT Fear of loss, a path to the dark side is Fans of the LucasArts' MMOG, Star Wars Galaxies, are so upset by Sony Online Entertainment's decision to axe the title this December, that they claim they're planning to file a lawsuit.… |
| T-Mobile to tout 'truly unlimited' mobile data plan Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:13 AM PDT Surf's up T-Mobile has made a complete Scrooge-around on its mobile data allowances, announcing a "truly unlimited" deal for new and existing customers.… |
| Pricey Apple Thunderbolt cable inner chippery exposed Posted: 30 Jun 2011 05:02 AM PDT 40 quid for wires... and 12 chips Want to know why Apple is charging £39 - $50 in the US - for its Thunderbolt cable?… |
| Feds shut down poker site Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:59 AM PDT With a bit of help from wee Channel Island One of the world's most successful poker sites, FullTiltPoker.com, has been shut down by the FBI.… |
| Strike hits police, ICO and the Rev Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:48 AM PDT HMRC not looking good either The Information Commissioner's Office has had to shut its helpline today because of industrial action.… |
| Patriot hackers disrupt al-Qaeda websites Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:45 AM PDT Ellen Degeneres teaches bombers to bake cupcakes Patriot hackers have interfered with al Qaeda's ability to issue videos and messages to supporters via a series of apparently coordinated denial of service attacks against Jihadist websites.…
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| Skype brings cross-platform video to Android Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:43 AM PDT No more pretending to be in the office Skype's Android client now supports cross-platform video calling, so mobile users can see desktop users and no one has to feel jealous of Apple's FaceTime any more.… |
| New plan: Send humans into space, keep the robots on Earth Posted: 30 Jun 2011 04:41 AM PDT Usual space exploration model topsy-turvinated by ESA Barring certain exceptions, as everyone knows, the usual way for humanity to explore other planets or astronomical bodies is that we send out sophisticated robots to have a look round, controlled by teams of humans here on Earth.… |
| The Cube: Apple's daftest, strangest romance Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:40 AM PDT Ten years on, we remember the bonkers box This Old Box Ten years ago on Sunday, Apple called it quits on one of its oddest products ever, the G4 Cube. The Cube was a strange and wonderful machine that continues to fascinate today - but it was widely perceived to have failed. Some people thoroughly enjoyed the failure, thinking it served Apple right.… |
| Feds on trail of LulzSec raid Ohio house Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:26 AM PDT And Lulzers turn on m_nerva The international investigation into the notorious LulzSec hacking crew has moved from the UK to the US Midwest with the search of a house in Hamilton, Ohio by FBI agents.… |
| Brainscan breakthrough: Working robot limbs come closer Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:25 AM PDT Brains in jars controlling cyber colossi, too, of course Canadian brain boffins are chuffed to announce a new breakthrough in the tricky business of machine mind-reading: they have developed a method of working out from brain scans what physical action a person is about to carry out – before he or she can actually do it.…
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| Lego lover builds big Barad-dûr replica Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:13 AM PDT Tower record? Some folk have got too much time on their hands. Then again, sometimes those people deserve to be applauded for their efforts.… |
| Apple's white MacBook drought set to flip to gush Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:06 AM PDT Entry-level device to flood European channels next week The constraint on channel bully boy Apple's low-end white MacBook is set to end next week, according to well-placed sources in the vendor's supply chain.… |
| Spikes in demand get lost in the cloud Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:00 AM PDT Which service is best? One approach to smoothing out application demand is a load-balanced server farm. Another is virtualisation to bring extra resources to bear when needed.… |
| Everything is converging on the network Posted: 30 Jun 2011 03:00 AM PDT Keep traffic moving According to my dictionary (a book, not one of those new-fangled online jobs), convergence is "the act of coming together".… |
| HP TouchPad 9.7in WebOS tablet Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:42 AM PDT The true alternative to Android and Apple? Hands On HP has learned from Apple. Not simply by mimicking - or judging it to be the correct size in any case - the iPad's 9.7in screen defined dimensions, but by avoiding the obvious operating system: Android.… |
| German vulture detective hits turbulence Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:26 AM PDT Bird-brained search-and-rescue scavenger German police in Lower Saxony hoping to train a vulture to seek out dead bodies are having issues with the bird's training.… |
| How that Oracle and Pillar earn-out really works Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:25 AM PDT Losses need reversing Comment Pillar investors will only receive cash from Oracle for the Pillar acquisition if Pillar revenues in 2014 exceed net losses from 2011 to 2014.… 
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| Efficiency and Reform Group 'has saved over £3bn' Posted: 30 Jun 2011 02:24 AM PDT It's all about understanding The Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) has helped to save government £3bn-£4bn over the past few months, its lead official has told a group of MPs.… |
| 17 flock to see Gordon Ramsay turkey Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:46 AM PDT Love's Kitchen takes £121 in opening week Sweary chef Gordon Ramsay looks a likely Razzie candidate after his film debut attracted just 17 cinemagoers in its opening week.… |
| Lloyds aims 15,000 job cuts at IT and back office Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:38 AM PDT Banking group to withdraw from 15 countries LloydsTSB is cutting another 15,000 jobs but will not be shutting branches as part of its strategic review.… |
| Oracle's Java plan trapped in last century Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:09 PM PDT Clouds leave Ellison behind Oracle's roadmap for Javas 7 and 8 shows it recognizes the world is pulling away and leaving Java with last-century concepts and ideals. Java 7 is meant to set the foundation for a cloud-friendly platform, but the real cloud-ready features won't make an appearance until Java 8 in 2013 at the earliest.… |
| Lenovo Thinkpad X220T 12.5in tablet PC Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:05 PM PDT A fondleslab too far? Review A recent business profile of Lenovo in a national newspaper made an interesting assertion. "Anyone you spot on the Tube using a ThinkPad has almost certainly obtained it from their employer," claimed the reporter.… |
| Koreans visit Tesco through subway hoardings Posted: 29 Jun 2011 11:00 PM PDT Fresh fruit and veg from the underground Tesco is causing quite a stir in South Korea with a virtual shopping experience that encourages customers to scan billboards on the subway.… |
| Yahoo! tech boss gazes beyond Hadoop Posted: 29 Jun 2011 10:16 PM PDT MapReduce goes only so fast Hadoop underpins everything from Facebook to eBay to Yahoo!, but it's not designed for online applications.…
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| Digital Rupert’s bumper $545m loss Posted: 29 Jun 2011 10:10 PM PDT MySpace sold to Specific Media with Timberlake as star investor The very expensive, sorry tale of how to turn a cool digital business into a boring corporate leper has ended with a painful US$545 million loss for News Corp and perhaps a chance at resurrection for MySpace.… |
| Hackers steal personal data of military, gov personnel Posted: 29 Jun 2011 10:03 PM PDT Please don't feed the spear phishers Hackers breached the security of a defense industry news website and stole sensitive subscriber information that could be used in attacks targeting the US military and its contractors.… |
| IBM boffins claim phase change memory breakthrough Posted: 29 Jun 2011 09:26 PM PDT Catch my drift Fast and reliable non-volatile memory of some sort that will replace flash memory is the dream of more than a few semiconductor researchers and chip makers. And boffins at IBM Research in Zurich, Switzerland, think they have come up with a new encoding technique that will allow for multi-level cell (MLC) phase change memory to be commercialized at some point in the not too distant future.… |
| Microsoft floats 'site-ready' IE10 preview Posted: 29 Jun 2011 08:10 PM PDT Firefox kerfuffle rolls on Microsoft has released another preview version of Internet Explorer 10, and it has used the occasion to once again explain how it loves the enterprise more than Firefox.… |
| CA coughs up $330m in cash for apps dev house Posted: 29 Jun 2011 07:46 PM PDT Interactive TKO borged Software conglomerate CA Technologies has borged another company in its ongoing effort to make its wares relevant in an increasingly virtual and cloudy IT world.…
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| Chess crown stripped in plagiarism furore Posted: 29 Jun 2011 07:31 PM PDT Computer champion copied code Knights and pawns are being brandished in the rarified world of computer chess, with program Rybka and its developer Vasik Rajlich stripped of the world title on a charge of plagiarism.… |
