The Register

Apple, Dell made some progress, but MacBooks are still the worst to crack open, says PIRG The right to repair movement has gained momentum, yet laptop makers have largely stalled on improving repairability....

Hot air or a 50% energy saving? Exoscale datacenter runs proof-of-concept to test veracity of Digger's claims A1 Digital is testing liquid cooling tech for power-intensive AI servers that is claimed to save 50 percent of the energy previously required for cooling, doing away entirely with the need for air conditioning....

A painful loss for young company that's yet to generate revenue A NASDAQ-listed US minerals company says cybercriminals broke into its systems on Valentine's Day and paid themselves around $500,000 - money earmarked for a vendor....

Locals see red as public cloud's service health dashboard shows green Norwegians fell victim to a prolonged Microsoft Azure outage today, which impacted businesses and took down multiple government websites delivering online services to citizens....

Lucky there isn't an asteroid headed for Earth for which a demoralized space agency might need to mount a redirect mission Comment The US space agency, NASA, is famous for looking to the future. However, the fiasco of the last few days has cast doubt on the present, let alone what the coming weeks, months, or years might hold....

Bugs fixed, updating to the latest version is advisable Security sleuths found two critical vulnerabilities in a third-party library that MongoDB relies on, which means bad guys can potentially steal data and run code....

Chipzilla's design and manufacturing limbs said to be on the table Venture capitalists are circling Intel amid talk that the beleaguered chip giant may be carved up between Broadcom and TSMC, with one taking the design biz and the other the manufacturing fabs....

IT giant doing whatever it takes to reach $300 a share IBM is looking to reduce expenses through what's described as a co-location program that, according to current and former employees who spoke with The Register, appears to be designed to drive out older, more expensive workers....

Longer wait time designed to push print or PC consumers to digital support channels, sorry, 'self-solve' HP Inc is trying to force consumer PC and print customers to use online and other digital support channels by setting a minimum 15-minute wait time for anyone that phones the call center to get answers to troublesome queries....

Cost of post-Brexit arrangements revealed as HMRC looks at options following Fujitsu contract The UK's tax collector is looking for a tech supplier to take on a 370 million, seven-year contract to support a digital platform and call center to handle trading arrangements over the Northern Ireland border....

The latest in a long line of fraud stings worth billions each year Two men are in police custody after being arrested in connection with a July cryptocurrency fraud involving a man in his seventies....

Most people crank up the brightness, making energy savings moot Using apps and websites in dark mode can actually use more energy than standard mode, according to researchers, as it causes people to crank up the brightness....

Systems integrator secured 'variation' just before mega SAP migration put on hold Systems integrator DXC accrued over 50 percent more than its original contract value for completing less than half the scheduled contract term during a disastrous project to move a UK government body off an ageing SAP ERP system and onto Oracle Fusion....

FBI and CISA issue reminder - deep sigh - about the importance of patching and backups The operators of Ghost ransomware continue to claim victims and score payments, but keeping the crooks at bay is possible by patching known vulnerabilities and some basic infosec actions, according to a joint advisory issued Wednesday by the FBI and US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency....

2.3 TB held to ransom as biz formerly known as Virgin Care tells us it's probing IT 'security incident' Exclusive HCRG Care Group, a private health and social services provider, has seemingly fallen victim to the Medusa ransomware gang, which is threatening to leak what's claimed to be stolen internal records unless a substantial ransom is paid....

Arista trumpeted its role in this project for a year. Good thing business is otherwise solid Big Tech's plans to spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure during 2025 are often considered to demonstrate near-endless demand for artificial intelligence, but networking vendor Arista has just revealed a large AI build has stalled" due to lack of funds and hardware....

Nice number, but also not much more than a nice advance France's Commissariat a L'energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives on Tuesday claimed it's topped China's recently-established for record maintaining fusion plasma in a tokamak, and therefore taken another step towards building a fusion reactor capable of producing cheap energy....

That's the way the cookie melts A US Army soldier suspected of hacking AT&T and Verizon has admitted leaking online people's private call records....

Reported layoffs suggest R&D functions may be hobbled, fab subsidies also at risk Comment US President Donald Trump has made it plain he's not a fan of the $53 billion CHIPS and Science Act that funds semiconductor manufacturing and research on American soil - and now it appears he's decided to make substantial staff cuts at the agencies that administer it....

Hey, at least Katie Arrington brings a solid resume Donald Trump's nominee for a critical DoD cybersecurity role sports a resume that outshines many of his past picks, despite previously suspended security clearance....

Not just a matter of time but a matter of Majorana fermions, too Microsoft says it has developed a quantum-computing chip made with novel materials that is expected to enable the development of quantum computers for meaningful, real-world applications within - you guessed it - years rather than decades....

You can find out if your GitHub codebase is leaking keys ... but so can miscreants A free automated tool that lets anyone scan public GitHub repositories for exposed AWS credentials has been released....

STOP AI warns of doomsday scenario, demands governments pull the plug on advanced models Feature On Saturday at the Silverstone Cafe in San Francisco, a smattering of activists gathered to discuss plans to stop the further advancement of artificial intelligence....

Black Escalade motorcade sold separately - of course Need to turn heads and burn cash while out on the town? A new app lets you hire armed bodyguards to escort you around - chauffeur included - provided you're in Los Angeles or New York City....

A year on from the big overhaul of Plasma 6, more functionality appears KDE Plasma 6.3 is here, closely followed by a point release, alongside new versions of the KDE Frameworks and KDE Gear apps collection....

WHAM, bam, no thank you, ma'am? Eggheads at Microsoft have produced a generative AI tool they say can create a three-dimensional game world to help developers design and tweak gameplay....

Because 4G notspots aren't much good to anyone Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile plan to open a research hub this summer to test and validate the integration of orbital services with terrestrial cellphone networks....

Microsoft suggests a move to the cloud Microsoft has issued administrators a 60-day warning - driver synchronization using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) will be deprecated....

It's probably fine As the risk corridor narrows for asteroid 2024 YR4, the possibility of a collision with Earth in 2032 have increased....

15GB of sensitive files traced back to former software biz Typically shoppers can expect to find tie-dye t-shirts, broken lamps and old disco records at flea markets, now it seems storage drives filled with huge volumes of sensitive data can be added to that list....

NGMN reports what telcos want, but admits most can be delivered by 5G Mobile operators are pushing for consensus on the key components of next-gen 6G networks, warning that a new radio interface could add complexity - though they acknowledge it would also allow for higher data rates....

The FOSS world has replicated most of it in Lazarus Delphi is still very much with us, but the FOSS world also has its own, largely compatible, GUI-based Object Pascal environment - and it's worth a look....

Also hammers another nail into Cortana's coffin with the end of Location History Microsoft had a Valentine's Day gift for Windows Insiders, firing another arrow into the heart of Cortana while also attempting to soothe European privacy concerns....

Showbiz members' passport scans already plastered online A London talent agency has reported itself to the UK's data protection watchdog after the Rhysida ransomware crew last week claimed it had attacked the business, which represents luminaries of stage and screen....

Tech and people behind IoT brooch that reviewers instantly hated will one day pep up printers The AI Pin" produced by company called Humane was a leading tender for 2024's biggest consumer tech flop, but that hasn't stopped HP acquiring some of the code and people behind the device and using it as the basis for a new innovation team that will infuse its printers and conference room kit with AI....

Odd X-ray flashes gave the game away, just few weeks after China-led mission launched The Einstein Probe telescope has spotted evidence of one star consuming matter from another....

Envisions phased introduction dependent on manufacturing commitments United States President Donald Trump has hinted at substantial tariffs on imported semiconductors....

If this makes you feel sick, knowing this happened before ransomware actors started targeting medical info may help An alleged security SNAFU that occurred during the Obama administration has finally been settled under the second Trump administration....

If you want to avoid urgent patches, stop exposing management consoles to the public internet A flaw patched last week by Palo Alto Networks is now under active attack and, when chained with two older vulnerabilities, allows attackers to gain root access to affected systems....

Analyst tells El Reg to expect more of this across hardware brands Acer has become one of the first major computer makers to confirm it will hike laptop prices in the US, citing fresh import tariffs on Chinese-made hardware imposed by the Trump administration....

Because stealing your credentials, banking info, and IP just wasn't enough A new variant of Snake Keylogger is making the rounds, primarily hitting Windows users across Asia and Europe. This strain also uses the BASIC-like scripting language AutoIt to deploy itself, adding an extra layer of obfuscation to help it slip past detection....

What do Redditors think? Well, it wouldn't be Reddit if they were happy Redditors love a topic to gripe about, and this week the focus will likely be on CEO Steve Huffman's claim that paywalled content is coming to the so-called Front Page of the Internet....

Our first look at the default desktop for Fedora 42 and Ubuntu 'Plucky Puffin' The next version of the default desktop for most of the big Linux distros is in beta. Here's what to expect next month, or soon thereafter....

Called it an 'incident' in SEC filing, but encrypted apps and data exfiltration suggest Lee just can't say the R word US newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is blaming its recent service disruptions on a "cybersecurity attack," per a regulatory filing, and is the latest company to avoid using the dreaded R word....

Scientists refine estimates, but can't yet rule out an impact The latest figures from the European Space Agency (ESA) on the trajectory of asteroid 2024 YR4 show a reduction in uncertainty around the object's orbit while the probability of impact remains low....

Exploit code now available for MitM and DoS attacks Researchers can disclose two brand-new vulnerabilities in OpenSSH now that patches have been released....

Meanwhile, on-prem version of 23ai remains uncertain Oracle has postponed the end of support date for its popular 19c database as users await news of a mainstream on-prem version of its latest database, 23ai....

Lions juggling chainsaws are fun to watch, but you wouldn't want them trimming your trees Opinion Nobody likes The Man. When a traffic cop tells you to straighten up and slow down or else, profound thanks are rarely the first words on your lips. Then you drive past a car embedded in a tree, surrounded by blue lights and cutting equipment. Perhaps Officer Dibble had a point....

Musk's latest attempt at a 'maximally truth-seeking' bot arrives Grok 3 has begun rolling out. xAI founder Elon Musk describes the chatbot as "a maximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct."...

There's everything to play for, but there ain't no Play Store Huawei is bringing its triple-fold Mate XT smartphone to a global audience, but with an eye-watering reported price tag, the question is - who will want to buy it?...