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Updated 2025-03-14 10:01
Pirate Bay financier and far-right activist Carl Lundström dies in plane crash
Mooney M20 propeller plane hit mountain in Slovenia amid bad weather One of the initial backers of infamous torrenting site The Pirate Bay, Carl Lundstrom, has died after crashing his aircraft in bad weather....
User complained his mouse wasn’t working. But he wasn’t using a mouse
The same chap also caused a bomb scare in a missile factory On Call Welcome once again to On Call, The Register's Friday column in which we share your astounding tales of being asked to tackle tech support jobs that seemingly defy common sense....
Saturn runs rings around Jupiter
Ratification of 128 additional moons puts the smaller gas giant way ahead on satellite count Saturn runs rings around Jupiter Ratification of 128 new moons put the smaller gas giant way ahead on satellite count The International Astronomical Union on Tuesday ratified the recent discovery of 128 previously unknown moons orbiting Saturn, taking the gas giant's count of known natural satellites to 274....
India investigates whether Uber makes iPhone users pay more to ride
Rideshare companies said it isn't happening. Lawmakers aren't convinced India's government has ordered an investigation into whether Uber and local ride-share champion charge Ola customers more if they use iPhones....
Judge orders Feds rehire workers falsely fired for lousy performance
Veteran of Oracle vs Google Java trial fumes over 'gimmicks' and 'sham' arguments A federal judge has ordered six US government agencies to immediately rehire employees fired this year by the Trump administration....
Dems ask federal agencies for reassurance DOGE isn't feeding data into AI willy-nilly
Pouring sensitive info into unapproved, unaccountable, unsafe models would be a 'severe' cybersecurity fail House Democrats have sent letters to 24 federal agencies asking for assurances that Elon Musk's DOGE team is not feeding sensitive government data into "unapproved and unaccountable" AI systems....
We did not have Brave clashing with Rupert Murdoch on our 2025 bingo card, but there it is
Indie browser maker asks judge for legal shield against copyright threats over AI summaries Brave has gone to court to head off potential legal action from News Corp over the browser maker's auto-generated AI summaries of articles published by Rupert Murdoch's media empire....
Google says it's rolling out fix for stricken Chromecasts
It'll take a few days, give or take your situation Google has told The Register it's beginning to roll out a fix for Chromecast devices that were crippled by an expired security certificate authority. We're assured this deployment will take place over the next few days....
OpenAI asks Uncle Sam to let it scrape everything, stop other countries complaining
The rest of the world doesn't think 'fair use' is fair but we should make 'em Updated OpenAI wants the US government to ensure it has access to any data it wants to train GenAI models, and to stop foreign countries from trying to enforce copyright rules against it and other American AI firms....
Starliner astronauts' stay drags on as Crew-10 launch scrubs
Hydraulic problems stop the countdown clock at T-44 minutes The launch of the next crew to the International Space Station (ISS) was postponed to no earlier than Friday, March 14, due to a hydraulic issue with a group support clamp arm for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during March 12's countdown....
That 'angry guest' email from Booking.com? It's a scam, not a 1-star review
Phishers check in, your credentials check out, Microsoft warns An ongoing phishing campaign disguised as a Booking.com email casts keystroke and credential-stealing malware into hospitality employees' inboxes for financial fraud and theft, according to Microsoft Threat Intelligence....
Microsoft tempted to hit the gas as renewables can't keep up with AI
So much for 'carbon negative by 2030' Microsoft says there is plenty of wind and solar to power datacenters in the US, but it is still eyeing natural gas generation as it juggles the growing energy needs of AI with its own net-zero commitments....
CISA: We didn't fire red teams, we just unhired a bunch of them
Agency tries to save face as it also pulls essential funding for election security initiatives Uncle Sam's cybersecurity agency is trying to save face by seeking to clear up what it's calling "inaccurate reporting" after a former senior pen-tester claimed the organization axed two red teams....
DeepSeek can be gently persuaded to spit out malware code
It might need polishing, but a useful find for any budding cybercrooks out there DeepSeek's flagship R1 model is capable of generating a working keylogger and basic ransomware code, just as long as a techie is on hand to tinker with it a little....
ESA cuts the ribbon on 34,000-core Space HPC center tailored for space workloads
It's called 'SpaceHPC' and it heats the building it lives in The European Space Agency this week inaugurated its new supercomputing facility built with HPE....
Frack to the future? Geothermal energy pitched as datacenter savior
If operators are willing to cough up a 'green premium' and tax credits are not repealed An independent research body claims that geothermal power generation could provide an answer to the growing energy requirements of datacenters....
GCC 15 is close: COBOL and Itanium are in, but ALGOL is out
Steering Committee decides against merge of over-complex and largely unloved ALGOL-68 'at this point' Version 15 of the GNU Compiler Collection is getting close to release, and as it does, some changes are not going to make it....
City council rejects inquiry into £130M Oracle IT disaster
Opposition faults leadership as officers accused of misleading councillors Birmingham City Council voted down proposals to hold a full independent inquiry into its disastrous introduction of an Oracle ERP system, which "effectively crippled" its ability to manage and report on its finances....
Android 16 may get a built-in Linux terminal
New feature on Google Pixel phones hints at a ChromeOS-like VM The March "feature drop" for Android 15 on Google Pixel devices includes an optional Linux session....
Nextcloud puts out fire after data leak panic
Community calls for off-by-default data sharing setting Open source software biz Nextcloud issued fixes to its software this week after bug hunters raised concerns about data collection....
Medusa ransomware affiliate tried triple extortion scam – up from the usual double demand
Feds warn gang still rampant and now cracked 300+ victims around the world A crook who distributes the Medusa ransomware tried to make a victim cough up three payments instead of the usual two, according to a government advisory on how to defend against the malware and the gangs who wield it....
AI models hallucinate, and doctors are OK with that
Eggheads call for comprehensive rules to govern machine learning in medical settings The tendency of AI models to hallucinate - aka confidently making stuff up - isn't sufficient to disqualify them from use in healthcare settings. So, researchers have set out to enumerate the risks and formulate a plan to do no harm while still allowing medical professionals to consult with unreliable software assistants....
As Chromecast outage drags on, fix could be days to weeks away
Google apologizes but won't say what went wrong nor when it will make things right Older models of Google's Chromecast media-streaming sticks remain broken, and independent research suggests a fix could take potentially weeks to materialize....
Need cash? Your IPv4 stash can now be collateral for $100M loans
Yeah, yeah ... if we were all exclusively on IPv6, this wouldn't be a thing. But here we are IP address marketplace IPv4.Global has started offering loans on terms that consider public IPv4 network addresses as valid collateral....
Get off that old Firefox by Friday or you'll be sorry, says Moz
Root cert expiry may bring breakage or worse for add-ons, media playback, and more If you're running an outdated version of Firefox, update by Friday or risk broken add-ons, failing DRM-protected media playback, and other errors, due to an expiring root certificate....
Mozilla pleads with Uncle Sam to not turn off that sweet, sweet Google search money
Firefox maker: Looming antitrust inferno could burn us, too Mozilla, which in 2023 received about 75 percent of its revenue from royalties paid by Google and other search providers for search engine usage in Firefox, worries that the US Justice Department's proposed ban on the very same Google Search payments would be rather harmful....
As Elon Musk makes thousands of federal workers jobless, tycoon pushes for $56B Tesla pay deal
Not so much thrown under a bus as under an unwanted electric car Elon Musk is trying yet again to get his $56 billion Tesla pay package reinstated with a fresh appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court....
Intel's new CEO: Chip world veteran Lip-Bu Tan
Restoring x86 giant to its former glory, a job no one will envy Intel has tapped former Cadence CEO and Intel board member Lip-Bu Tan to lead the embattled x86 chipmaker as it struggles to overcome mounting losses stemming from its foundry business....
iRobot may be iDead in iYear
We're doomba, say Roomba goombas, unless... Troubled robot vacuum-cleaner maker iRobot, abandoned by Amazon after regulators effectively doomed the web giant's takeover offer, has warned investors it may not survive the next 12 months....
Nvidia won the AI training race, but inference is still anyone's game
When it's all abstracted by an API endpoint, do you even care what's behind the curtain? Comment With the exception of custom cloud silicon, like Google's TPUs or Amazon's Trainium ASICs, the vast majority of AI training clusters being built today are powered by Nvidia GPUs. But while Nvidia may have won the AI training battle, the inference fight is far from decided....
Printers start speaking in tongues after Windows 11 update
Who still uses a printer anyway? Oh ... quite a lot of you, it seems Has your printer suddenly started spouting gibberish? A faulty Windows 11 23H2 update from Microsoft - rather than a ghost in the machine - could be the cause....
Amazon, Meta, Google sign pledge to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050
AI doesn't run on fairy dust after all A group of large-scale energy users including Amazon, Meta, and Google has thrown its weight behind efforts to ramp up global nuclear capacity - aiming to triple it by 2050 - to meet increasing energy demands....
DOGE helps Veterans Affairs end IT contract run by service-disabled entrepreneurs
Project dubbed 'wasteful' - Musk's lot says under-pressure VA must do it 'in-house' Elon Musk's newly minted US Department of Government Efficiency claims to have helped the Department of Veterans Affairs end a technology contract run by service-disabled veterans....
OpenInfra has only gone and joined the Linux Foundation
Artist formerly known as OpenStack to huddle under same umbrella as the Cloud Native Computing Foundation The votes are in, confirming that the Open Infrastructure Foundation intends to join the Linux Foundation....
Expired Juniper routers find new life – as Chinese spy hubs
Fewer than 10 known victims, but Mandiant suspects others compromised, too Chinese spies have for months exploited old Juniper Networks routers, infecting the buggy gear with custom backdoors and gaining root access to the compromised devices....
ServiceNow's new AI agents will happily volunteer for your dullest tasks
Yokohama release also adds meta-observabiilty and takes a tilt at CRM ServiceNow has for years used the example of employee onboarding to explain the power of its wares, pointing out that a lot of people around an organization are needed to get new hires on the payroll, registered with HR, equipped with a computer, and assigned appropriate permissions to access applications....
This is the FBI, open up. China's Volt Typhoon is on your network
Power utility GM talks to El Reg about getting that call and what happened next Nick Lawler, general manager of the Littleton Electric Light and Water Departments (LELWD), was at home one Friday when he got a call from the FBI alerting him that the public power utility's network had been compromised. The digital intruders turned out to be Volt Typhoon....
Rocket Lab says NASA lacks leadership on Mars Sample Return
Agency willing to take huge risks with human exploration, but not willing to do it for some dirt? Rocket Lab has been on a roll lately, with multiple Electron launches, plans for an ocean platform for its Neutron rocket, and a second mission for in-space manufacturing business Varda under its belt. However, NASA has apparently rejected the company's Mars Sample Return mission proposal. Why?...
Free95 claims to be a GPL 3 Windows clone, but it's giving vaporware vibes
Don't, don't, DON'T believe the hype The developer of Free95 says it will be a free Windows 95-compatible OS, but we suspect an elaborate prank. At best, maybe an unknowing one....
UK must pay cyber pros more than its Prime Minister, top civil servant says
Leaders call for fewer contractors and more top talent installed across government Senior officials in the UK's civil service understand that future cyber hires in Whitehall will need to be paid a salary higher than that of the Prime Minister if the government wants to get serious about fending off attacks....
MariaDB reboots DBaaS plans with open source at the core
Five years after it launched its first database service, the MySQL fork is trying again MariaDB says it is building a database-as-a-service based on open source principles after offloading its old DBaaS before going into private ownership....
Apple has locked me in the same monopolistic cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users
Vendors just don't want machines to live double lives Column My decade-old and very well-travelled 13" MacBook Pro finally died, and I hoped my new-ish M2 iPad Pro could replace it....
Microsoft quantum breakthrough claims labelled 'unreliable' and 'essentially fraudulent'
Redmond insists it's got this right and has even more impressive results to share soon Microsoft's claim of having made quantum computing breakthroughs has attracted strong criticism from scientists, but the software giant says it's work is sound - and it will soon reveal data that proves it....
Man with artificial heart survives over 100 days outside hospital
Skip the schnitzel with gravy and chips for lunch - this is an experimental device for transplant candidates Australian company BiVACOR has revealed a patient implanted with its artificial heart survived for 100 days - and is still with us after receiving a donated organ....
CISA worker says 100-strong red team fired after DOGE cancelled contract
Election infosec advisory agency also shuttered A penetration tester who worked at the US govt's CISA claims his 100-strong team was dismissed after Elon Musk's Trump-blessed DOGE unit cancelled a contract - and that more staff at the cybersecurity agency have also been let go....
Choose your own Patch Tuesday adventure: Start with six zero-day fixes, or six critical flaws
Microsoft tackles 50-plus security blunders, Adobe splats 3D bugs, and Apple deals with a doozy Patch Tuesday Microsoft's Patch Tuesday bundle has appeared, with a dirty dozen flaws competing for your urgent attention - six of them rated critical and another six already being exploited by criminals....
Microsoft adds another Copilot hotkey – this time for AI voice chat
Hold Alt + Spacebar for two seconds, and Clippy 2.0 is all ears Microsoft has added yet another Copilot tweak for Windows Insiders. Hold down Alt + Spacebar for two seconds, and the AI assistant will pop up for a voice chat....
Energy trio wants to pipe gas from coal mines to keep datacenter lights on
Nothing says 'sustainable AI' like the burps of Appalachian industry Three companies in the US are teaming up to address the burgeoning energy needs of datacenters by using coal mine methane piped to on-site fuel cells at locations that are already hotspots for building bit barns....
Microsoft will kill Remote Desktop soon, insists you'll love replacement
Windows App the way ahead as support pulled from May 27 The end is nigh for Microsoft's Remote Desktop application. The IT giant will pull support on May 27 when users must transition to the corp's Windows App, with all the positives and negatives that entails....
'Uber for nurses' exposes 86K+ medical records, PII in open S3 bucket for months
Non-password-protected, unencrypted 108GB database ... what could possibly go wrong Exclusive More than 86,000 records containing nurses' medical records, facial images, ID documents and more sensitive info linked to health tech company ESHYFT was left sitting in a wide-open misconfigured AWS S3 bucket for months - or possibly even longer - before it was closed it last week....
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