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The Register
Biting the hand that feeds IT — sci/tech news and views for the world
Updated: 46 min 39 sec ago
Leaked Google docs out top search ad spenders
BP spilled $3.6m in Gulf spin campaign
Following its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP went from spending about $57,000 a month on Google search ads to an enormous $3.6 million outlay for the month of June alone, according to a report citing internal Google documents.…
HP sues Hurd to keep secrets from Ellison
'We don't want him. But you can't have him'
Hewlett-Packard has sued disgraced former chief executive Mark Hurd in an effort to stop him from joining Oracle.…
Privacy watchdogs challenge laptop seizures at US borders
6,671 travelers searched (so far)
Privacy advocates have sued the Obama administration over its practice of seizing laptops, cell phones, and other devices at US borders and copying their contents even when the owner isn't suspected of wrongdoing.…
Google's antitrust probe spin answered
Foundem claims 'diversionary straw man tactics'
Foundem — the UK-based vertical search outfit involved in antitrust investigations of Google in both Texas and the European Union — has responded to Google's account of the Texas probe, accusing the Mountain View search giant of "diversionary 'straw man' tactics."…
Amazon poaches Microsoft games chief
Kindle online game player?
Amazon has poached one of the brains behind Microsoft's fabulously successful Xbox and Xbox Live, hinting at a rival cloud-based gaming strategy.…
Twitter bug creates account hijacking peril
One-click vuln 'ridiculously easy to attack'
Twitter has been bitten by a hard-to-kill web-application bug that's being actively exploited to steal users' authentication credentials, a security expert said Tuesday.…
Microsoft bod scoots over to BBC iPlayer job
We keep Highfield, you can have Danker
The cross-pollination of Microsoft and the BBC's iPlayer continued yesterday, with Auntie confirming it had hired Redmond's IPTV platform Mediaroom and Zune wonk.…
New 'iPhoD' can 'adjust the speed of light by turning a knob'
Magic quantum opti-chip can be made in normal fab, too
Optical stuff is great, as everyone knows: optical links mean huge bandwidth right now, and computers running on photons rather than electrons might be truly amazing things - tremendously powerful, very economical of energy, and potentially able to exploit quantum effects to achieve all manner of mindbending feats.…
Oracle rings up new Netra servers
Xeon blade and rack boxes for telcos and hosters
It is not a coincidence that Oracle is paying close attention to the Netra server lineup since taking over Sun Microsystems back in January. Telecommunications companies and service providers of various sorts still have lots Sparc/Solaris iron installed, and it is here where Oracle must build a defensive perimeter and hold the line with its Netra products.…
Sarko hit by 'asshole' Googlebomb
Oh merde
Nikolas Sarkozy has become the latest high profile victim of a Google bomb, after bloggers linked his Facebook page to the phrase "trou du cul".…
Sod hedgerows and fields, build more base stations
Coverage more important than rural idyll, says quango
The Commission For Rural Communities is calling for less restrictive planning laws to encourage comms networks to build out, for the sake of the rural economy.…
PARIS threatened by the bends
Careful with that dope
El Reg's Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) team continues to work on the Vulture 1-X aircraft structure, while attempting to refine the skinning process.…
Wikileaks caught up in Swedish police raids
Copyright coppers go after P2P servers
Swedish police raided several addresses this morning, including an ISP linked to Wikileaks, while assisting a Belgian file-sharing probe.…
Oz pedestrians fall to 'Death by iPod'
'Lambs to the slaughter'
Distracted Oz pedestrians are allegedly dropping like flies to "Death by iPod" - an untimely end provoked by walking out into traffic while in a "zombie trance".…
Scammers seize on tax rebates as phishing lure
Greedy sprats
Fraudsters have wasted no time jumping on news of a tax mix-up in the UK as a hook for scams.…
Assange under fire from Wikileakers
'Friends are people who tell you if your face is dirty'
Criticism of Wikileaks mouthpiece Julian Assange is growing, with more voices joining the chorus calling for him to step aside while his various Swedish legal problems are sorted out.…
Apple's AirPlay: Bring the walled garden home
Double standards
Analysis "You want computers to discover each other and just share stuff," I recall Steve Jobs saying back in 2002, as he personally demonstrated wireless music streaming at an Apple developer event.…
NASA buys cutting-edge Cornish robot
To be dubbed Oooh-Arrr-2-D2, no doubt
In a triumph for West Country technical prowess and engineering knowhow, NASA has ordered a robot made in Cornwall. Here's a vid:…
DoJ focuses probe of Google flight data land grab
Two antitrust issues eyed, says report
The US Justice Department is examining two particular issues as it investigates Google's recent proposed buyout of ITA Software to see if the acquisition would be anti-competitive, according to a report citing sources familiar with the situation.…
Spammers exploit another Facebook flaw
Share this
Spammers have taken advantage of a vulnerability in Facebook to spread auto-replicating links, a trick that makes it possible to spread crud without using social engineering.…
