The Register

Outsourcers outsourced work for the BBC, Amazon, and HBO Max to the hermit kingdom A misconfigured cloud server that used a North Korean IP address has led to the discovery that film production studios including the BBC, Amazon, and HBO Max could be inadvertently hiring workers from the hermit kingdom for animation projects....

Yet X remains a supporter of The Christchurch Call, an international agreement to stop video nasties +Comment Australia's government has secured a court order requiring Elon Musk's social network, X, to remove all videos depicting a terrorist attack....

Digital reform conference sees PM repeat calls to get online government services right at last Usually when a government announces it's drawing up a digitalization roadmap, it's being metaphorical. In Japan's case, it's quite literal: roadways dedicated to autonomous vehicles handling logistics-related traffic will be mapped out....

Putin's pals use 'GooseEgg' malware to launch attacks you can defeat with patches or deletion Russian spies are exploiting a years-old Windows print spooler vulnerability and using a custom tool called GooseEgg to elevate privileges and steal credentials across compromised networks, according to Microsoft Threat Intelligence....

Group of now-ex Googlers say 50 folks have been let go, vow ongoing protests After firing 28 people for protesting its cloud deal with Israel by occupying its offices, Google reportedly spent the weekend letting go of more staff to bring the number of employees let go over the incident to an even 50....

Seven years of stonewalling and no consequences for advertising giant Japan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has concluded that Google unfairly blocked its local Yahoo! rival from accessing advertising technology, but will not fine the Chocolate Factory....

Senate kills reform amendments, Biden swiftly signs bill into law US lawmakers on Saturday reauthorized a contentious warrantless surveillance tool for another two years - and added a whole bunch of people and organizations to the list of those who can be compelled to spy for Uncle Sam....

Lachwani faked it but didn't make it Manish Lachwani, former CEO of app testing firm HeadSpin, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and will pay a fine of $1 million....

Chinese tech juggernaut eyes global expansion despite US tech restrictions Huawei plans to expand its native HarmonyOS smartphone platform worldwide, despite coming under US-led sanctions that have deprived it of access to key technologies....

Because nothing reassures investors like discounting some inventory After a week beset by disaster after disaster, Tesla has decided to reassure investors that it's still a safe bet ... by discounting prices around the world....

$20m to keep the industry from having to rely on fossil fuels Solar energy company Exowatt has launched with the financial support of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, alongside two other investors....

The Reg accepts no responsibility for borked installations Worried about Windows 11 bloat and want a bit more control over what goes into its ISOs? Over the weekend, a new version of Tiny11 Builder in PowerShell guise arrived....

Don't bore us, get to the chorus: You need less privacy so we can protect the children Yet another international cop shop has come out swinging against end-to-end encryption - this time it's Europol which is urging an end to implementation of the tech for fear police investigations will be hampered by protected DMs....

KDE edition has the most conspicuous changes, and could become future flagship Fedora 40 is in the final stretch before launch tomorrow, with release candidate 1.14 in testing....

Prosecutors believe one frikkin' laser did make its way to Beijing Germany has arrested three citizens who allegedly tried to transfer military technology to China, a violation of the country's export rules....

LGBTQ+ dating app's maker previously denied selling sensitive user data Hundreds have joined a UK class action lawsuit against LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr, seeking damages over a historical case of the company allegedly forwarding users' HIV status as well as other sensitive data to third-party advertisers....

Riveting conclusion to Tesla recall saga While the vast majority of recent Tesla recalls have been addressed with over-the-air updates, the fix for Cybertruck's recalcitrant acceleration pedal necessitates a rare venture into meatspace. And it's as underwhelming as it is simple....

Meta insists it's just misunderstood and it's safe to talk to citizens over FB The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) has warned that government organizations should not use Facebook to communicate with the country's citizens unless they can guarantee the privacy of data....

Which one of you is already running 100-plus kilowatt racks? Survey As CPUs and GPUs grow ever denser and power-hungry, many, including Register readers, expect liquid cooling to play a larger role in enterprise datacenters over the next few years....

Sadly no push to ban stupid TikTok dances, but ByteDance would have year to offload app Stateside Fresh US legislation to force the sale of TikTok locally was passed in Washington over the weekend after an earlier version stalled in the Senate....

High-flying AI scientist claims unfair dismissal following pregnancy leave A lawsuit is alleging Amazon was so desperate to keep up with the competition in generative AI it was willing to breach its own copyright rules....

Clippy 2024 is something else Microsoft has acknowledged an error - Copilot is auto-launching for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel as well as the Canary and Dev builds....

Leaked draft report says stated goals still come up short Google's Privacy Sandbox, which aspires to provide privacy-preserving ad targeting and analytics, still isn't sufficiently private....

Commercial operators must try Varda The US Federal Aviation Administration is updating its launch license requirements: if you're launching something designed for reentry, you'll need a license for that, too. Before you launch....

Syzmon Jastrzebski wrongly borrowed $126k, money written off as he's left the country UK government is kissing goodbye to the 100,000 an IT consultant-cum-software developer wrongly secured under the Bounce Back Loans scheme that was created during the pandemic to financially support firms....

What if it's not AI but the algorithm to blame? Opinion It was a bold claim by the richest and most famous tech founder: bold, precise and wrong. Laughably so. Twenty years ago, Bill Gates promised to rid the world of spam by 2006. How's that worked out for you?...

For once, Redmond's finest saved the day - by being rubbish in unexpectedly useful ways Who, Me? It's Monday once again, dear reader, and you know what that means: another dive into the Who, Me? confessional, to share stories of IT gone wrong that Reg readers managed to pretend had gone right....

For now, Redmond is dogfooding Azure for product simulations Microsoft has bragged that its own Azure HPC service was able to reduce the length of its Surface laptop design process - most notably for a hinge, which was reduced to one iteration, and hopes to use AI to do even better in future....

The processor that gave the world the ZX Spectrum and so much more is out of wafers Production of some models of Z80 processor - the chip that helped spark the PC boom of the 1980s - will cease in June 2024 after an all-too-brief 48 years....

Two rounds of reports and patches may not have completely closed this hole BLACK HAT ASIA Researchers at US/Israeli infosec outfit SafeBreach last Friday discussed flaws in Microsoft and Kaspersky security products that can potentially allow the remote deletion of files. And, they asserted, the hole could remain exploitable - even after both vendors claim to have patched the problem....

A day after FBI boss warns Beijing is poised to strike against US infrastructure China last week reorganized its military to create an Information Support Force aimed at ensuring it can fight and win networked wars....

PLUS: Akira ransomware resurgent; Telehealth outfit fined for data-sharing; This week's nastiest vulns Infosec In Brief In a cautionary tale that no one is immune from attack, the security org MITRE has admitted that it got pwned....

PLUS: Samsung in 'emergency mode'; Tim Cook's Asian charm tour; APAC AI spend to surge Asia In Brief Elon Musk's X, the artist formerly known as Twitter, has vowed to commence court action against Australia's government over orders to take down content depicting violence and violent extremism....

With little competition at the goverment level, Windows giant has no incentive to make its systems safer Interview Microsoft has a shocking level of control over IT within the US federal government - so much so that former senior White House cyber policy director AJ Grotto thinks it's fair to call Redmond's recent security failures a national security issue....

VASA-1 framework can turn a still image and a cloned voice file into a plausible video of a person talking Microsoft this week demoed VASA-1, a framework for creating videos of people talking from a still image, audio sample, and text script, and claims - rightly - it's too dangerous to be released to the public....

4-letter survivor's move to Qt 6 means that, love it or hate it, Wayland is looming Version 2.0 of the LXQt desktop updates its foundations to Qt 6, as also used in KDE Plasma 6 - but still has one foot in the Qt 5 past, to ease the transition....

Bulletproof? Is it waterproof? Ts&Cs say: 'Failure to put Cybertruck in Car Wash Mode may result in damage' The perils of turning cars into computers were laid bare by a hapless Cybertruck owner who claimed his ride was rendered an $80,000 "paperweight" by something as benign as a wash....

Not yet the London Underground style efficient schematic we want, but it's a start Boffins at the UK's Surrey Space Centre have devised a way of determining the optimal route for spacecraft that doesn't require the engines to burn precious fuel....

You can leave your personal vendettas at home - we have work to do, Pichai warns Google is consolidating the various teams working on generative AI under the DeepMind team in a bid to accelerate development of more capable systems....

LEO rising in US military: Close encounters of the recon kind SpaceX is understood to be working with aerospace and defense biz Northrop Grumman on a spy satellite program that provides the US military with improved intelligence imagery....

Police say this appears to be a 'deliberate act.' Sacramento International Airport (SMF) suffered hours of flight delays yesterday after what appears to be an intentional cutting of an AT&T internet cable serving the facility....

Look out for a new star next week NASA is to send a solar sail demonstrator into orbit next week, and there is a good chance that the sail, measuring 860 square feet (80 square meters), will be visible from Earth....

Hot on the heels of Ubuntu Noble beta come the betas of the Qt-based remixes, with some interesting differences The beta versions of Lubuntuand Kubuntu 24.04 are out, showing that there's room to improve on the standard Ubuntu formula....

No wonder industry is exploring nuclear as an alternative to electricity US energy provider Exelon has calculated that power demand from datacenters in the Chicago area is set to increase ninefold, in more evidence that AI adoption is will put further strain electricity supplies....

Still available in Hong Kong and Macau, for now Apple has removed four apps from its China-regional app store, including Meta's WhatsApp and Threads, after it was ordered to do so by Beijing for security reasons....

That isn't what Tesla meant by Full Self-Driving Tesla has issued a recall notice for every single Cybertruck it has produced thus far, a sum of 3,878 vehicles....

Social media use and gaming show steep increases within the age group, after UK comms watchdog given new powers The UK's telecoms regulator has found that nearly a quarter of children between the ages of five and seven own a smartphone while a similar percentage use social media unsupervised....

It's the second time the World-Check list has fallen into the wrong hands The World-Check database used by businesses to verify the trustworthiness of users has fallen into the hands of cybercriminals....

Apparently an attempt to damage Ukraine's war effort Bavarian state police have arrested two German-Russian citizens on suspicion of being Russian spies and planning to bomb industrial and military facilities that participate in efforts to assist Ukraine defend itself against Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion....

No, boss, I'm not just playing a game. I'm testing compatibility. Honest It is almost 30 years since Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger was released. In addition to allowing users to kick some Kilrathi ass, the game also played an important role in testing Windows 95....