French operator pooh-poohs iOS4
Dismissed with a 'non' and a Gallic shrug

French network operator SFR is thumbing its nose at Apple by telling customers to think carefully before upgrading to iOS 4.?

Beware the blizzard of torrents of Starcraft 2
Expense accounts

Starcraft 2 was released this week and at the hefty RRP of £45. Many games sites are hopping mad at this, although typically retailers are selling Blizzard's strategy game at £10 less than RRP.?

Street View spooked by 10 Rillington Place?
Orwellian black Opel scoots past infamous murder site

Until now, we at El Reg have assumed that Google's Street View spymobiles are as fearless as they are all-seeing, but it appears this may not be entirely true.?

Gaming sites bet on merger
In time for US welcome?

PartyGaming and Bwin have agreed to merge, just as moves to make online gambling legal in the US get a little closer.?

Hitachi details unified management
Running the stack from one screen

Hitachi's Unified Compute Platform (UCP) integrated IT stack idea is gathering momentum.?

Free On-Demand Webcast - Virtualizing the Hard Stuff

Data.gov.uk chief admits transparency concerns
Raw info may be too confusing

The head of the government's website for the release of public sector data has said it is a challenge to ensure that users can understand the statistics.?

Pioneer BDP-330 Blu-ray player
Pure and simple

Review If a recent survey for HP is to be believed, Britons remain committed to packaged media, with 75 percent wanting hard copies of films in a box. So despite the advance of video streaming and downloading, perhaps it?s not yet time to write off conventional disc players, like Pioneer?s latest Blu-ray offering, the BDP-330.?

Google site fools interwebs into China blockage scare
It's fully blocked!

Google's China search is working just fine, despite breathless claims from countless news organizations that it's "fully blocked."?

'Suspicious' Android wallpaper app nabs user data
Up to 4 million downloads

An Android wallpaper application that collected data from users' phones and uploaded it to a site in China was downloaded "millions of times", according to mobile security firm Lookout.?

Data for 100m Facebook accounts published to BitTorrent
Forever is a mighty long time

Underscoring the permanence of data published on the internet, a security researcher has compiled the names and URLs of more than 100 million Facebook users and made them available as a BitTorrent download.?

What You Want: Flickr Creator Spins Addictive New Web Service
Meet Caterina Fake, the creative spark behind Hunch. Her big idea? Develop a web service that knows what you want before you even want it.

July 30, 1935: Penguins Invade Britain, Readers Rejoice
Penguin publishes the first paperback books of substance, bringing the likes of Ernest Hemingway, André Maurois and Agatha Christie to the masses. The business model of the book-publishing industry is about to change.

Found: The Future of In-Flight Entertainment
What will in-flight entertainment be like in the year 2023? There isn't any.

Found Contest: Imagine the Future of Taco Trucks
Wired magazine's Found page represents our best guess at what lies over the horizon, from touchscreen windshields to organ farming. Help create our next Found page: Show us what taco trucks will look like in 10, 20 or 100 years?

Clive Thompson on the Death of the Phone Call
Clive Thompson waxes philosophical on how text messaging is threatening -- and preserving -- the telephone conversation.

Alt Text: Library of Congress Rulings That Could Have Been
Being able to legally jailbreak your iPhone is cool and all, but think where this type of legal reasoning could take us.

WikiLeaks Suspect's YouTube Videos Raised 'Red Flag' in 2008
An Army private suspected of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks was admonished as a trainee in 2008 for uploading YouTube videos discussing classified facilities, according to an Army official with direct knowledge of the incident.

Gallery: How to Build an Earthquake-Resistant Bridge
San Franciscans gets a peek at what's involved in building a new bridge when builders place the first segment of a tower that will soon hold up a brand-new span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Wired.com shoots photos of the new bridge on a recent tour of the massive construction project.

Top U.S. Officer: WikiLeaks Has 'Blood on Its Hands'
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen is ordinarily a mild-mannered man. But they could barely contain his anger on Thursday at WikiLeaks for publishing tens of thousands of secret documents about the Afghanistan war.

Android App's Data Collection Raises Mobile-Security Questions
An Android app's data-collection practice has raised concerns about user privacy and security on mobile phones.

Lab tested: 21.5- and 27-inch Core i3 iMacs/3.2GHz
Straight from Macworld Lab: Benchmark results of two new iMacs, both of which sport Intel's 3.2GHz Core i3 processor.


by James Galbraith
29 Jul 2010 at 7:01pm

CrossOver, CrossOver Games 9.1 released
These utilities allow some Windows apps and games to run on a Mac without Windows itself. Major updates bring support for more apps and games, as well as a core software update that includes more than 23,000 changes.


by David Chartier
29 Jul 2010 at 6:13pm

Ballmer pushes slates but reveals few details
Microsoft's CEO told analysts that the company is aggressively pursuing slates, although he gave few details.


by Nancy Gohring
29 Jul 2010 at 6:05pm

Review: Cross Process for iPhone
This well-designed app replicates cross-processing effects on your mobile photos. It's a good single-purpose app, though other App Store offerings allow you to give a cross-processed look to your photos, along with many other popular low-fi options.


by Beau Colburn
29 Jul 2010 at 5:49pm

Let the iPhone be your guide at New York's Natural History museum
The American Museum of Natural History Explorer app gives visitors a guided tour of the museum, complete with turn by turn directions, and information on exhibits.


by David Dahlquist
29 Jul 2010 at 5:23pm

iPhone-like BlackBerry can inject new life into RIM
RIM is expected to announce details of the iPhone-esque BlackBerry 9800 next week. Tony Bradley of PCWorld looks at what the new smartphone could mean for RIM


by Tony Bradley
29 Jul 2010 at 3:49pm

Mac Family Tree 6 gains new interface, tools
The latest update to Synium Software's Mac Family Tree brings an overhauled interface and a handful of new features.


by Dan Moren
29 Jul 2010 at 2:48pm

Review: Baby Decks DJ for iPad
This virtual turntable app isn't inexpensive. But it produces realistic scratching sounds and effectively mimics the look and feel of using real turntables.


by Tim Mercer
29 Jul 2010 at 2:45pm

Review: Apple Magic Trackpad
Dan Frakes updates his first look at the Magic Trackpad with a final review and rating.


by Dan Frakes
29 Jul 2010 at 2:03pm

Facebook Questions service aims to crowdsource answers
Facebook launched a beta version of its new "Facebook Questions" service, which lets you pose questions that the rest of the Facebook community can answer.


by Emily Price
29 Jul 2010 at 1:09pm

US CERT Technical Cyber Alert System Documents

SB10-207: Vulnerability Summary for the Week of July 19, 2010
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of July 19, 2010

SB10-200: Vulnerability Summary for the Week of July 12, 2010
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of July 12, 2010

TA10-194B: Oracle Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Oracle Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities

TA10-194A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities

SB10-193: Vulnerability Summary for the Week of July 5, 2010
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of July 5, 2010

SB10-186: Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 28, 2010
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 28, 2010

SB10-179: Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 21, 2010
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 21, 2010

SB10-172: Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 14, 2010
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 14, 2010

SB10-165: Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 7, 2010
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of June 7, 2010

TA10-162A: Adobe Flash and AIR Vulnerabilities
Adobe Flash and AIR Vulnerabilities

Slashdot

'Bizarre' Nanobubbles Found In Strained Graphene
schliz writes "Physicists have observed 'bizarre' behaviour in graphene electrons that they say could make the material even more suitable to replace silicon in future electronic devices. When strained in a particular manner, nanobubbles formed on a sheet of graphene, within which electrons came to occupy particular, quantum energy levels rather than the usual, continuous range of energies in unstrained graphene. By controlling electrons' energy levels, researchers could control how easily th...
by timothy
30 Jul 2010 at 4:04am

1-in-1,000 Chance of Asteroid Impact In ... 2182?
astroengine writes "Sure, we're looking 172 years into the future, but an international collaboration of scientists have developed two mathematical models to help predict when a potentially hazardous asteroid (or PHA) may hit us, not in this century, but the next. The rationale is that to stand any hope in deflecting a civilization-ending or extinction-level impact, we need as much time as possible to deal with the threatening space rock. (Asteroid deflection can be a time-consuming venture, ...
by timothy
30 Jul 2010 at 12:57am

2 Chinese ISPs Serve 20% of World Broadband Users
suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from Ars Technica: "If you need a reminder of just how big China is—and just how important the Internet has become there—consider this stat: between them, two Chinese ISPs serve 20 percent of all broadband subscribers in the entire world and both companies continue to grow, even as growth slows significantly in more developed markets. Every other ISP trails dramatically. Japan's NTT comes in third with 17 million subscribers, and all US providers are smaller...
by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 9:46pm

World's Fastest Hybrid OK'd For Production
thecarchik writes "The Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid supercar, first shown as a concept at this spring's Geneva Motor Show, got official approval as a production model today from the company's board of directors. Just consider the specs: a 500-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-8 engine with a 9200-rpm redline, 0-to-62-mph acceleration of 3.2 seconds, and top speed of 198 miles per hour. Oh, and did we mention it gets 78 miles per gallon on the European cycle? The astounding fuel efficiency comes courtesy o...
by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 6:40pm

Sometimes It's OK To Steal My Games
spidweb writes "One Indie developer has written a nuanced article on a how software piracy affects him, approaching the issue from the opposite direction. He lists the ways in which the widespread piracy of PC games helps him. From the article: 'You don't get everything you want in this world. You can get piles of cool stuff for free. Or you can be an honorable, ethical being. You don't get both. Most of the time. Because, when I'm being honest with myself, which happens sometimes, I have to ...
by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 5:54pm

Thermoelectrics Could Let You Feel the Heat In Games
myshadows writes "Tech Review has an interesting article on how Tokyo Metropolitan University researchers have been able to give a sensory addition to gaming peripherals — namely, temperature. 'As the range of interactions with digital environments expands, it's logical to ask what's next: Smell-o-vision has been on the horizon for something like 50 years, but there's a dark horse stalking this race: thermoelectrics. Based on the Peltier effect, these solid-state devices are easy to incorpora...
by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 5:03pm

KDE SC 4.7 May Use OpenGL 3 For Compositing
An anonymous reader writes "KDE SC 4.5 is about to be released and KDE SC 4.6 is being discussed. However, Martin Graesslin has revealed some details about what they are planning for KDE 4.7. According to Martin's blog post, they are looking at OpenGL 3.0 to provide the compositing effects in KDE SC 4.7. OpenGL 3.0 provides support for frame buffer objects, hardware instancing, vertex array objects, and sRGB framebuffers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 4:40pm

Perl 6, Early, With Rakudo Star
Perl 6 may have been "finally coming within reach" in 2004, but now it's even closer. Reader rnddim writes "The Perl 6 implementation Rakudo Star has been released today for 'early adopters.' This release of Rakudo is different from the normal monthly compiler releases in that is it bundled with a draft of a Perl 6 book, and several modules. It's not complete, and it's not as fast as it should be, but Rakudo in its current state is proving to be usable and useful. Rakudo Star releases will co...
by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 4:22pm

Internal Costs Per Gigabyte — What Do You Pay?
CodePwned writes "I recently took over a position at a rather large company where I discovered my group was paying $30 per gigabyte per month! That's $360 per year per gigabyte to our own IT department. While I understand costs are different depending on the scale, redundancy, backup and support methods, there doesn't seem to be any good papers on what range you should expect your costs to be. So far, my research shows an average of $1 per gigabyte or less for internally hosted space. What do...
by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 3:29pm

Stieg Larsson Is First Author To Sell 1M E-Books
Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that the late Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson, author of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, has become the first author to sell more than one million e-books on Amazon. The Swedish noir thrillers features Lisbeth Salander, an asocial and extremely intelligent hacker and researcher, specialized in investigations of persons, and investigative journalist Mikael Blomqvist. Quercus ha...
by timothy
29 Jul 2010 at 2:46pm

Sophos Latest Virus Alerts

30 Jul 2010 Mal/VB-FX

30 Jul 2010 Mal/VB-FY

30 Jul 2010 Troj/Agent-OAI

30 Jul 2010 Troj/Banker-FAH

30 Jul 2010 Troj/Mdrop-CSY

30 Jul 2010 Troj/PWS-BKK

30 Jul 2010 Troj/ShellBot-C

30 Jul 2010 Troj/VB-EUC

30 Jul 2010 Mal/Chymin-A

30 Jul 2010 Mal/VB-FW

Notebook Computers from Amazon

	Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop List Price: $1,199.00 Sale Price: Too low to display Average Rating:
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	Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop List Price: $999.99 Sale Price: Too low to display Average Rating:
	Inheriting technology and design features from the MacBook Pro line, the Apple MacBook (model MC516LL/A) retains its durable polycarbonate unibody design, with a durable polycarbonate unibody design featuring a brilliant, glass Multi-Touch trackpad while getting updated with a faster Intel Core 2 Duo processor, more powerful NVIDIA graphics, and longer battery life--up to 10 hours per charge...

	Apple MacBook Pro MC371LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop List Price: $1,799.00 Sale Price: Too low to display Average Rating:
	Updated with Intel's Core i5 processor and next-generation NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics, the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro is faster than ever and will keep you working longer away from power cords with an enhanced battery life of up to 9 hours of battery life...

	Apple MacBook Pro MC375LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop List Price: $1,499.00 Sale Price: Too low to display Average Rating:
	Combining advanced NVIDIA integrated graphics technology along with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro is faster than ever and will keep you working longer away from power cords with an enhanced battery life of up to 10 hours of battery life...

	Apple MacBook Pro MC373LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop List Price: $2,199.00 Sale Price: Too low to display Average Rating:
	Updated with Intel's Core i7 processor and next-generation NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics, the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro is faster than ever and will keep you working longer away from power cords with an enhanced battery life of up to 9 hours of battery life...

	Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Female Adapter Cable for Apple Macbook, Macbook Pro, iMac, Macbook Air, Mac Mini Laptop List Price: $29.95 Sale Price: $2.99 Average Rating:
	The Mini DisplayPort is a miniaturized version of the DisplayPort used by Apple. It is used in revisions of the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro notebooks, iMac, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro desktops and also the 24-inch Apple Cinema Display...

	Laptop Battery for Apple A1185 MacBook Pro 13" Series, MA561G/A, MA561LL/A (White) Sale Price: $34.94 Average Rating:
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	Apple MacBook Pro MC024LL/A 17-Inch Laptop List Price: $2,299.00 Sale Price: Too low to display Average Rating:
	Updated with Intel's Core i5 processor and next-generation NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics, the 17-inch Apple MacBook Pro is faster than ever and will keep you working longer away from power cords with an enhanced battery life of up to 9 hours of battery life...