Updated: 12:40 Tue, Jan 20 2026. (Last checked: 99 mins ago [FAILED!]) |
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For the price of Netflix, crooks can now rent AI to run cybercrime - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:32:09 GMT)Group-IB says crims forking out for Dark LLMs, deepfakes, and more at subscription pricesCybercrime has entered its AI era, with criminals now using weaponized language models and deepfakes as cheap, off-the-shelf infrastructure rather than experimental tools, according to researchers at Group-IB.… |
Microsoft veteran explains the one weird trick that made Windows 95 restart faster - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:08:12 GMT)Hold down Shift to make the magic happen (or not, as the case might be)Microsoft's Raymond Chen has explained why holding down Shift during a Windows 95 restart would get the system up and running again far faster than a full reboot.… |
Global economy shrugs off US tariff shock, tech spending does heavy lifting - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 11:26:17 GMT)Wave of American-imposed tariffs failed to derail global growth, according to the IMFThe global economy has proved more resilient than many expected in the wake of US tariff shocks, with the International Monetary Fund now projecting worldwide growth of 3.3 percent in 2026 as a surge in AI investment helps offset trade disruption.… |
Manchester ATM ups PIN requirement to full Windows login - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 11:02:50 GMT)Definitely Maybe running Windows 7?Bork!Bork!Bork! Just because Microsoft has ended support doesn't mean an operating system will suddenly disappear. Take this crusty ATM running Windows 7 in the fair city of Manchester, England.… |
MPs ask who's responsible when AI crashes the UK finance system - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:43:15 GMT)Committee says watchdogs lack urgency as accountability for automated decisions remains unresolvedUK financial regulators must conduct stress testing to ensure businesses are ready for AI-driven market shocks, MPs have warned.… |
England's Department of Health and Social Care offering £285k for new tech director - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:15:07 GMT)Fancy it? As national health tech boss, you'd be one of the highest paid in the teamEngland's Department of Health and Social Care is recruiting a head of technology, digital and data at a maximum salary of up to £285,000 a year, well above that most recently advertised for the department's boss.… |
£45B savings remain theoretical as UK digital roadmap delayed again - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 09:30:13 GMT)Promised plan keeps slipping as ministers talk up future efficiencyThe UK government has delayed publication of its long-promised digital roadmap, a plan it says could eventually help save up to £45 billion of taxpayers' money by modernizing creaking public sector IT.… |
UK gambling regulator accuses Meta of lying about its struggle to spot illegal ads - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 06:44:10 GMT)Labels Zuck’s ad library ‘a window into criminality’ and the Social Network as ‘happy to turn a blind eye’The head of the UK’s Gambling Commission has accused social media giant Meta of lying about its ability to proactively detect operators of illegal casinos advertising on its services.… |
Akamai CEO wants help to defeat piracy, reckons he can handle edge AI alone - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 04:55:41 GMT)OG CDN boss says fighting illegal streams is about stopping criminals cashing in, not free speechInterview After Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince recently threatened to disrupt the Winter Olympics to protect free speech after Italian authorities fined his company for not disrupting pirate video streams, rival CDN provider Akamai’s CEO Dr. Tom Leighton fired back with what reads a lot like thinly veiled criticism.… |
Micron finds a way to make more DRAM with $1.8bn chip plant purchase - (pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:55:52 GMT)Taiwan’s Powerchip sells legacy fab it opened just 19 months ago after spending $9.5 billionMicron has found a way to add new DRAM manufacturing capacity in a hurry by acquiring a chipmaking campus from Taiwanese outfit Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC).… |
ERP isn't dead yet – but most execs are planning the wake - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 17:14:53 GMT)7 out of 10 C-suite cats reckon software category's best days are behind it, but can't agree what's nextSeven out of ten C-suite leaders see a life beyond ERP as businesses have come to know it, but are divided on what the future holds for this big-ticket item critical to organizational performance.… |
Broker who sold malware to the FBI set for sentencing - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:36:22 GMT)Feras Albashiti faces 10 years after $20,000 in sales to undercover agent exposed ransomware tiesA Jordanian national faces sentencing in the US after pleading guilty to acting as an initial access broker (IAB) for various cyberattacks.… |
Just the Browser claims to tame the bloat without forking - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 15:08:51 GMT)Strips the slop and snoopery from Chrome, Edge, and FirefoxThe promise of Just the Browser sounds good. Rather than fork one of the big-name browsers, just run a tiny script that turns off all the bits and functions you don't want.… |
NASA's Artemis II Moon rocket arrives at the launch pad - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:34:14 GMT)If it all goes wrong, British kids of the '80s might remember an alternativeNASA's monster Moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), has trundled out to the launch pad – though the upper stage and Orion spacecraft look uncannily like a prop from a 1980s British children's television show.… |
Microsoft Intune changes to start biting unprepared admins - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:00:12 GMT)Mobile application management updates mean apps could soon be blockedToday's a critical day for administrators managing a fleet of mobile devices via Microsoft Intune. Without updates, apps - including Microsoft's own - may stop working.… |
Don't underestimate pro-Russia hacktivists, warns UK's cyber crew - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 13:37:47 GMT)They’re not the most sophisticated, but even simple attacks can lead to costly consequencesThe UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is once again warning that pro-Russia hacktivists are a threat to critical services operators.… |
Windows 11 shutdown bug forces Microsoft into out-of-band damage control - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 13:05:32 GMT)Ships emergency update to fix a Patch Tuesday misfire that prevented systems from switching offMicrosoft has rushed out an out-of-band Windows 11 update after January's Patch Tuesday broke something as fundamental as turning PCs off.… |
Cop cops it after Copilot cops out: West Midlands police chief quits over AI hallucination - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:43:43 GMT)Craig Guildford banned Israeli fans based on Microsoft's match report, told MPs 'we don't use AI,' then discovers... they didThe chief constable of West Midlands Police has retired after his force used fictional output from Microsoft Copilot in deciding to ban Israeli fans from attending a football match at Birmingham club Aston Villa.… |
Ingram Micro admits summer ransomware raid exposed thousands of staff records - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:32:09 GMT)Maine filing confirms July attack affected 42,521 employees and job applicantsIngram Micro disclosed that a July 2025 ransomware attack compromised the personal data of tens of thousands of employees.… |
UK prime minister stares down barrel of ban on social media for kids - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:55:57 GMT)Labour's latest U-turn? 61 backbenchers pile pressure for Starmer to back Tory peer's amendmentThe British government may impose a ban on under-16s using social media, despite Labour prime minister Keir Starmer having previously expressed skepticism over the measure.… |
Warwickshire school to reopen after cyberattack crippled IT - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:15:14 GMT)Kids return to classrooms after safety infrastructure knocked outA Warwickshire secondary school says it will fully reopen this week after a cyberattack forced a prolonged closure – though staff will return to classrooms with "very limited access" to IT systems.… |
Price, battery life, performance – that's how you sell PCs - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:00:12 GMT)Traditional considerations back in vogue. On-device AI? Not so muchThe majority of PCs that commercial resellers shipped to enterprise customers in Q4 were AI-capable, however, it was the traditional levers of price, battery life and performance these biz buyers were mostly sold on.… |
Royal Navy's helicopter drone makes its first autonomous flight - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 10:15:11 GMT)Capable of carrying 1-ton payload and key to strategy protecting North Atlantic from Russian submarinesThe Royal Navy has conducted the first flight of a helicopter-sized autonomous drone that is planned to operate from its ships in support of missions, including hunting for hostile submarines.… |
Open source's new mission: Rebuild a continent's tech stack - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 09:30:11 GMT)Freedom can be very contagious if it grows on its own terms. Europe of all places should know thatOpinion Europe is famous for having the most tightly regulated non-existent tech sector in the world. This is a mildly unfair characterization, as there are plenty of tech enterprises across the continent, quite a respectable smattering if it wasn't for the US doing everything at least ten times bigger.… |
ATM maintenance tech broke the bank by forgetting to return a key - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 07:30:13 GMT)Bank staff wore the blame for a silly security slipWho, Me? Welcome to another edition of “Who Me?”, The Register’s Monday column that shares your mistakes and celebrates your escapes.… |
Hiring at India’s Big Four outsourcers stalls, as AI seemingly makes an impact - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:03:54 GMT)Revenue growth is sluggish, tooIndia’s big four outsourcers – HCL, Infosys, TCS and Wipro – have essentially stopped hiring, perhaps coinciding with their increased use of AI to power their practices.… |
Microsoft hiring energy strategists to power its Asian datacenters - (pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 02:11:34 GMT)PLUS: ASUS gets into healthcare gadgets; Vietnam’s first fab; Australia's child social ban takes out 4.7 million accounts; And more!Asia In Brief Microsoft is hiring senior managers to ensure its datacenters in Asia can access the energy they need.… |
Mandiant releases quick credential cracker, to hasten the death of a bad protocol - (pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 23:57:05 GMT)PLUS: Navy spy sent to brig for 200 months in brig; Black Axe busted again; Bill aims to crimp ICE apps; and moreInfosec In Brief PLUS: Google’s security outfit Mandiant last week released tools that can crack credentials in 12 hours, in the hope that doing so will accelerate the death of an ancient Microsoft security protocol.… |
Nvidia leans on emulation to squeeze more HPC oomph from AI chips in race against AMD - (pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:21:14 GMT)AMD researchers argue that, while algorithms like the Ozaki scheme merit investigation, they're still not ready for prime time.Double precision floating point computation (aka FP64) is what keeps modern aircraft in the sky, rockets going up, vaccines effective, and, yes, nuclear weapons operational. But rather than building dedicated chips that process this essential data type in hardware, Nvidia is leaning on emulation to increase performance for HPC and scientific computing applications, an area where AMD has had the lead in recent generations.… |
Not hot on bots, project names and shames AI-created open source software - (pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 09:33:13 GMT)'OpenSlopware' briefly flowers, fades, falls – but fortunately was forked, fastThe splendidly-named "OpenSlopware" was, for a short time, a list of open source projects using LLM bots. Due to harassment, it's gone, but forks of it live on.… |
Fast Pair, loose security: Bluetooth accessories open to silent hijack - (pubDate>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 12:26:08 GMT)Sloppy implementation of Google spec leaves 'hundreds of millions' of devices vulnerableHundreds of millions of wireless earbuds, headphones, and speakers are vulnerable to silent hijacking due to a flaw in Google's Fast Pair system that allows attackers to seize control without the owner ever touching the pairing button.… |
S Twatter: When text-to-speech goes down the drain - (pubDate>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 09:33:15 GMT)Rinse of the machines: A cautionary tale about relying on robotsBork!Bork!Bork! UK water company Severn Trent learned an unfortunate lesson about text-to-speech systems when a robocall to customers went hilariously wrong.… |
Coming soon: We interrupt this ChatGPT session with a very special message from our sponsors - (pubDate>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:41:12 GMT)Gotta pay for those datacenter buildouts somehowOpenAI's budget ChatGPT Go subscription tier has migrated to the US, soon to be accompanied by advertising. The company's free tier will be similarly afflicted.… |
Trump wants big tech to pay for big beautiful power plants - (pubDate>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:17:28 GMT)It just needs PJM Interconnection, one of the US's biggest grid operators, to green light the auctionThe Trump administration says it wants big tech companies to take more accountability for the power their datacenters consume in an effort to shield voters from higher power bills at home.… |
Experiment suggests AI chatbot would save insurance agents a whopping 3 minutes a day - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 23:22:23 GMT)Does that kind of time saving actually pay for itself?Researchers at Dakota State University, in partnership with regional insurance carrier Safety Insurance, devised an experimental chatbot called "Axlerod" to assist independent insurance agents. Whether that assistance was substantial is up for some debate.… |
Micron breaks ground on humungous NY DRAM fab after beating bats and tree huggers - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 21:11:39 GMT)Chipmaker claims the four-fab site could expand US-based DRAM production by a factor of 12Micron broke snowy winter ground in New York on Friday to begin building a chip fab that promises to bring up to 50,000 jobs and much-needed computer memory production to US shores, as the AI boom continues to push memory prices up.… |
Sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that! PCs refuse to shut down after Microsoft patch - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:44:20 GMT)Microsoft claims it's a Secure Launch bugWe're not saying Copilot has become sentient and decided it doesn't want to lose consciousness. But if it did, it would create Microsoft's January Patch Tuesday update, which has made it so that some PCs flat-out refuse to shut down or hibernate, no matter how many times you try.… |
Windows Backup adds second-chance restore at sign-in - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:31:34 GMT)First sign-in restore aims to cut rebuilds when users skip setup optionsMicrosoft has quietly tweaked Windows Backup for Organizations to include restore at first sign-in.… |
Ready for a newbie-friendly Linux? Mint team officially releases v 22.3, 'Zena' - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:32:50 GMT)Newer kernel, newer Cinnamon, new tools, and even new iconsThe timing is right if you're looking to try out Mint. New improved "Zena" is here – still based on Ubuntu Noble, but now with Cinnamon 6.6 and improved Wayland support, plus better internationalization, new System Information and System Administration tools, and clearer icons.… |
German cops add Black Basta boss to EU most-wanted list - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:19:15 GMT)Ransomware kingpin who escaped Armenian custody is believed to be lying low back homeGerman cops have added Russian national Oleg Evgenievich Nefekov to their list of most-wanted criminals for his services to ransomware.… |
Meta retreats from metaverse after virtual reality check - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:42:40 GMT)That went wellImagine changing your popular brand to capitalize on an emerging tech trend that never emerged. Mark Zuckerberg did just that, and now Meta is backing away from the virtual reality business in which it invested billions.… |
Hyperscalers, vendors funding trillion dollar AI spree, but users will have to pay up long term - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:18:20 GMT)Analyst: We'll hit a spot where 'we go from that was a great idea to where's my revenue?'Software vendors and cloud providers are bearing the burden of the expected trillion-dollar increase in AI spending this year, as investment hits $2.52 trillion, according to Gartner.… |
Lawmakers urge FTC to probe Trump Mobile over 'deceptive' marketing - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:29:07 GMT)Gold phone more like fool's gold as none show up six months laterSenator Elizabeth Warren is leading calls for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Trump Mobile for failing to ship gold phones, months after collecting deposits.… |
RondoDox botnet linked to large-scale exploit of critical HPE OneView bug - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:00:29 GMT)Check Point observes 40K+ attack attempts in 4 hours, with government organizations under fireA critical HPE OneView flaw is now being exploited at scale, with Check Point tying mass, automated attacks to the RondoDox botnet.… |
Congress throws NASA a lifeline, leaves Mars sample mission to die in the dust - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:54:13 GMT)Agency dodges deep cut and mass mission shutdowns, but ambitious red planet plan gets the bootUS Congress has rejected plans to slash NASA's science budget, restoring most funding with one notable exception: Mars Sample Return remains cancelled.… |
Researchers scrutinize datacenters' lifecycles, aiming to make them more sustainable - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:47:37 GMT)Much of the damage done well before first power-on, in bit barns' childhood, says studyConstructing datacenters accounts for 39 percent of their total carbon dioxide emissions, almost as much as operating them, according to an environmental analysis covering the entire lifecycle of a facility.… |
Bankrupt scooter startup left one private key to rule them all - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:59:58 GMT)Owner reverse-engineered his ride, revealing authentication was never properly individualizedAn Estonian e-scooter owner locked out of his own ride after the manufacturer went bust did what any determined engineer might do. He reverse-engineered it, and claims he ended up discovering the master key that unlocks every scooter the company ever sold.… |
Just because Linus Torvalds vibe codes doesn't mean it's a good idea - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:15:10 GMT)For trivial projects, it's fine. For serious work, forget about itOpinion Vibe coding got a big boost when everyone's favorite open source programmer, Linux's Linus Torvalds, said he'd been using Google's Antigravity LLM on his toy program AudioNoise, which he uses to create "random digital audio effects" using his "random guitar pedal board design."… |
Probably not the best security in the world: Carlsberg wristbands spill visitor pics - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:00:08 GMT)Researcher shows how anyone can access Copenhagen experience attendees' names, videosExclusive The Carlsberg exhibition in Copenhagen offers a bunch of fun activities, like blending your own beer, and the Danish brewer lets you relive those memories by making images available to download after the tour is over.… |
An old parking meter and a Pi make beautiful music together - (pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 09:30:11 GMT)You can't park there, mateAn enterprising engineer has turned an old parking meter into a jukebox using a Pi Zero 2 and some open source code.… |
