The Register

Looks like our galaxy might be getting a little bigger, Mr Spock Astronomy teams at the University of Cambridge and America's Fermilab looking for evidence of dark matter have spotted eight (relatively) tiny galaxies orbiting our Milky Way.…

100,000 people's details slurped? No, what we meant to say was 334,000 The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) admitted Monday that the May scam in which criminals tried to use stolen data on more than 114,000 people to collect tax information was far larger than it originally thought.…

And there's nothing you can do about it At least nine telcos around the world are using so-called super-cookies to secretly monitor citizens' online behavior, according to a new study.…

Department of Commerce to extend IANA contract by one year The US government will officially hand over control of the top level of the internet on 1 November 2016 – a year later than planned.…

Everything you say to me takes me one step closer to the Edge Microsoft is offering free downloads of Windows 10 virtual machines so people can test Edge, the web browser bundled with the new OS.…

Modern-day OPSEC warning apes World War II poster Pic The US Air Force has warned its personnel to keep quiet of their activities on Twitter – or as they put it: "Loose tweets destroy fleets."…

US telco shows 'extreme willingness to help' It has long been known that AT&T works with the NSA to monitor the internet traffic and call data in the US and overseas. Now, new files leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden show the company is by far the agency's biggest spying partner.…

Kinetic Open Storage Project is not the OpenKinect Project Three disk-drive giants and eight other IT suppliers have set up an alliance to promote directly-addressed object-storage – hard drives that store data in the form of keys and values, in other words.…

Good news for privacy lovers, not so much for hardware vendors Despite this year's release of Windows 10, notebook PC shipments are not going to see an increase over last year.…

Would have loved to hang around, take over internet but can’t miss this, er, opportunity… ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade has announced where he'll be heading after he breaks his contract 10 months early: private equity firm Abry Partners.…

Ad biz still has plenty of other problems, though The intercepting of advertisements served on dodgy pirate sites has begun to choke their revenue by 70 per cent, according to the City of London police, vindicating the policy of following the “money trail”, rather than an individual infringer, said the police and trade groups.…

To defeat the chip makers, you must become a chip maker Serial litigant and denizen of chip makers' nightmare realms, Rambus, known for its licensing business model and the resultant court cases, has announced it is getting into the manufacturing game itself.…

Looks to be spin about spin and torque talk The AupM001 storage module is made of ST-MRAM (Spin Torque Magnetic RAM) which combines DRAM speed with non-volatility and an interface compatible with DDR3 SDRAM.…

We'll cover Avere more when there's more to cover Comment Sitting at my desk early today I thought a couple of thoughts: Avere was getting overlooked while Violin Memory is in danger of getting overcooked – one company almost ignored and the other facing intense scrutiny. Why?…

Researchers tell Chocolate Factory to get its gingerbread house in order According to security company Rapid7, Google needs to rethink how it patches Android in the wake of initial botched attempts to resolve the Stagefright vulnerability.…

Asks employees to report on each other if caught weeping, but in a good way Jeff Bezos has responded to an article reporting on Amazon's allegedly unpleasant office culture by stating that the "shockingly callous management practices" do not ring true with the Amazon he knows.…

Drivexone box means OBD-II is the car's port for Pimlico The Vodafone bright ideas department, xone, has been testing its car-tracking system with a plumbing company in London, potentially saving the pipe/washer-related enterprise "£100,000 a year".…

Investor's company throws millions at ad-flinging platform Billionaire George Soros has slurped up $212m (£135m) of Facebook shares, while simultaneously shedding $365m (£233m) of stock in Chinese giant Alibaba.…

Yep, an article about aligning business and IT When it comes to implementing IT effectively, not all companies are equal. Some place a heavy emphasis on business outcomes, and tie deployment strongly to business outcomes. Some merely keep the engines running without really thinking about what they’re doing, or why. Some use IT to innovate and disrupt their businesses, and some don’t.…

Space Launch System RS-25 roars into life VID NASA has released a video of last week's test burn of an RS-25 motor, which will ultimately power the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS).…

Sorry little ones, staring out of the virtual window just got much harder Maybe now you don’t want the kids turning off their iPads in class after all. By using VNC remote access, pupils can now instantly share their work with their teacher and the rest of the pupils.…

Disastrous procurement promises less than services currently have The Home Office has announced a new twist in the sorry tale of the Emergency Services Network saga and is asking suppliers to consult on a procurement framework that started two years ago.…

Human rights didn't feature at all, says activists' analysis Hacking Team failed to take effective action to investigate or stop reported abuses of its technology by the Ethiopian government against dissidents, according to Human Rights Watch.…

Something for the silly season, Sir? Maybe robots versus ferrets? Product Roundup Bored of summer yet? I'm guessing that you, just like everyone else, assumed that as a lecturer, I get the summer off. No chance. Yet on the days I do escape this hellhole of forthcoming teenage subjugation, I am keeping myself busy – during unpredictable lightning storms, or sweltering and unseasonable conditions – playing with what I consider to be this summer’s must-have entertainment. A mix of techie gadgets and things to play with when the batteries run out plus an exclusive video of robotic ways to keep your ferrets entertained.…

Flash Memory Summit presentation prompts presumptive postulations Comment A presentation at the Flash Memory Summit contained speculation about Intel/Micron’s 3D XPoint memory – what it is and how Intel might use it. We’ve tested some of its contents with a knowledgeable industry expert and can cast a little more light, hopefully, on what it is and where it’s going.…

Wade Alcorn recalls how XSS attacks went from concept to MySpace-muncher in days It has been 10 years since Sydney security bod Wade Alcorn disclosed how cross-site scripting vulnerabilities could be weaponised, a revelation that would one week later see the proof of concept become the fastest-spreading worm ever.…

Wikipedia founder hopes to harness SOPA snipers to promote electoral reform Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has signed up as committee chair for tech lawyer Larry Lessig's tilt at the US presidency.…

Popped Photoshop factory happy to see court case end. Adobe has paid an undisclosed amount to settle customer claims and faces US$1.2 million in legal fees after its 2013 data breach which compromised the details of 38 million users.…

Lucky devs get to blend Microsoft and Oracle on the same machine Oracle's decided it will support Windows 10. For its databases.…

Reuters report labelled conspiracy-grade 'complete nonsense, pure and simple' Eugene Kaspersky has taken to his blog to make another stinging rebuttal of a Reuters report that alleged the company that bears his name deliberately sabotaged rival antivirus packages.…

New Cumulative Update does … something that makes Windows 10 better. Promise Windows 10 is keeping its new owners busy, as Microsoft has released the second “cumulative update” for the operating system in three days.…

Technology independence looks distant as Xen and OpenBSD welcome new pals Notable tech companies from China and Russia are taking strides into the heart of the global technology community.…

Sysadmins told to lock down their Androids, also stop downloading random stuff Google has patched a vulnerability in the Google Admin application that could allow attackers to steal enterprise accounts.…

If your PC and smartmobe both hear the same things, you're in! Internet users who think two taps on a smartphone is two taps too much may soon be able to use seamless second factor authentication that verifies a person is in possession of their phone by matching ambient noise sound prints.…

Low-level x86 hassles may hold up next Kernel release The world may be on the threshold of another Linux Kernel release. Or it might not.…

Redmond's latest can't quite crack five per cent market share Windows 10's growth has slowed, according to StatCounter Global Stats.…

The official line is 112 dead, 95 missing. Sites with other numbers aren't online any more China's Cyberspace Administration has taken down 50 web sites for reporting “rumours” on the Tianjin explosions.…

Feeling the heat? Try this Cordoban chilled tomato purée It's been a bit of a scorcher here in sunny Spain this summer, with temperatures at SPB HQ regularly nudging the mid-30s, and accordingly our latest nosh neckfiller is a classic dish from down south offering an agreeable chilled alternative to frying bacon and eggs on the bonnet of the car.…

Plus: Don't mess with Zuck's 'high ethical standards' QuoTW This week, the headlines were dominated by Lenovo's bad behaviour, Google's dot-xyz obsession and a story from Silicon Valley, where even the trailer parks have $40m drama.…

What's the point of a server that can't tell you how it feels? On-Call If it's Sunday, it must be time for On-Call, our regular look at the messes Reg readers are asked to clean up at night, on weekends or at other times when they should by rights be enjoying themselves.…

That is to say, here's Richard Murphy, everybody! Worstall @ the Weekend I recently read this piece in The Times. It tells the world a bit about Richard Murphy, the, uh, “economist” behind many of the ideas which make up Jeremy Corbyn's platform about money 'n' stuff.…

Reg rider takes three GPS devices for the same spin, with unusual results A few weeks ago, Huawei asked if I'd like to take its new P8 flagship smartmobe for a spin. Which is why I found myself with two Android smartphones in my pocket just before I hopped on my bicycle to ride home from work.…

More app-equipped cameras for you to scare your pets with, apparently Feature Last week, I looked at two home camera systems: Arlo from Netgear and Welcome from Netatmo. To recap, Arlo is pretty much a straightforward cloud-based CCTV system, offering you cameras with motion sensors and notification, together with an app to view things on your phone.…

Let’s bring it back to level pegging Something for the Weekend, Sir? Alistair Dabbs is currently hanging upside down in a cave at an undisclosed location. While he slakes his thirst with the blood of those who crossed him, El Reg is re-running one of his timeless classic columns.…

Even his rivals fear this is a smear Comment Eugene Kaspersky is a complex character and capable of many things, but Friday's allegations that he ordered staff to deliberately sabotage rival antivirus packages smells fishy.…

Puerto Rico pilot canceled ... for now Google had bad news on Thursday for fans of Project Ara, its DIY modular smartphone. It seems it won't launch this year, after all.…

Land owner to decide: $39m and his pals – or $55m Poll A trailer park owner faces an unusual conundrum: sell his property for $39m and keep the long-term residents on his land in their homes – or take $55m and watch property developers tear it all down.…

eBay, Drudge Report, etc inadvertantly carry evil adverts Internet lowlives who used Yahoo! ads to infect potentially countless PCs with malware have struck again – using adverts on popular websites to reach millions more people.…