Signal president Meredith Whittaker says they had no choice but to use AWS, and that's a problem

'The problem is the concentration of power in the infrastructure space that means there isn’t really another choice'

Messaging service Signal may be unusual in its deployment of credible end-to-end encryption, but it shares a common availability vulnerability with many other internet services – dependence on Amazon Web Services (AWS).…

Atlas vuln lets crims inject malicious prompts ChatGPT won't forget between sessions

It can do a lot more than just play 'Eye of the Tiger' daily

In yet another reminder to be wary of AI browsers, researchers at LayerX uncovered a vulnerability in OpenAI's Atlas that lets attackers inject malicious instructions into ChatGPT's memory using cross-site request forgery.…

HPE's Discovery to succeed Frontier supercomputer with next-gen Cray tech

Oak Ridge's $500M system due in 2028, paired with a separate Lux AI cluster arriving two years earlier

HPE is set to build a successor to the Frontier exascale system for America's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, based on the next generation of its Cray supercomputer platform, plus a separate AI cluster to advance machine learning with a multi-tenant cloud-like platform.…

The last-gen Kindle is a steal at just $65 refurbished 
In case you didn’t know, the last-gen Kindle is nearly just as good as the current model. Not only is the reading experience nearly identical, it also has the same sharp 300PPI display with dark mode, an adjustable front light, and USB-C charging. If you want a great e-reader, but you also want to save […]
GM isn’t ready to rip off the CarPlay/Android Auto band-aid quite yet
Last week, General Motors CEO Mary Barra caused a stir when she said that the company would eventually kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in all of its gas cars. The company had already successfully removed phone mirroring capabilities from most of its electric vehicles, and now it was plotting how to drop support from […]
LexisNexis CEO says the AI law era is already here
Today, I’m talking with Sean Fitzpatrick, the CEO of LexisNexis, one of the most important companies in the entire legal system. For years — including when I was in law school — LexisNexis was basically the library. It’s where you went to look up case law, do legal research, and find the laws and precedents […]
‘There isn’t really another choice:’ Signal chief explains why the encrypted messenger relies on AWS
After last week’s major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage took Signal along with it, Elon Musk was quick to criticize the encrypted messaging app’s reliance on big tech. But Signal president Meredith Whittaker argues that the company didn’t have any other choice but to use AWS or another major cloud provider. “The problem here is […]
Beats’ Powerbeats Pro 2 are nearly matching their best price to date
If you’re in the market for workout earbuds, now’s your chance to make a move. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are back down to $199.99 ($50 off) in multiple colors at Amazon and Walmart. Although we saw the wireless earbuds drop to $179 earlier this year, they weren’t discounted during Amazon’s most recent Prime Day […]
Fitbit’s overhauled app and AI health coach arrive today
Fitbit's new Gemini-powered health coach is debuting in preview today, as part of an entirely new app experience that was announced back in August. Premium subscribers in the US on Android will have access to it first as it starts rolling out today, with plans to expand to iOS "later this year," according to Taylor […]
Tesla rehashing old threats to get shareholders to approve Musk’s $1 trillion pay day
Tesla’s board of directors issued a stark warning to shareholders today: approve Elon Musk’s unprecedented $1 trillion pay package or risk losing him as CEO. It’s a familiar threat, one that the board has used before, and if history offers any clues, it’s likely to work again. Tesla’s executive team is in full lobbying mode […]
Breach at Iran’s cyberspy factory results in leak of student data

Ravin Academy confirms the intrusion on Telegram, says investigation continues

Iran's school for state-sponsored cyberattackers admits it suffered a breach exposing the names and other personal information of its associates and students.…

Qualcomm is turning parts from cellphone chips into AI chips to rival Nvidia
Qualcomm is launching a pair of new AI chips in an attempt to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in the market. On Monday, Qualcomm announced plans to release its new AI200 chip next year, followed by the AI250 in 2027 — both of which are built on the company’s mobile neural processing technology.  The new chips are […]
Sora is showing us how broken deepfake detection is
OpenAI's new deepfake machine, Sora, has proven that artificial intelligence is alarmingly good at faking reality. The AI-generated video platform, powered by OpenAI's new Sora 2 model, has churned out detailed (and often offensive or harmful) videos of famous people like Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Jackson, and Bryan Cranston, as well as copyrighted characters […]
Threads is getting disappearing posts
Threads is launching a new feature called the “ghost post:” a post it will automatically archive after 24 hours. These posts will come in handy if you want to share a thought, but don’t want to keep it on your profile. It’s also a feature that users on X, formerly Twitter, have long requested, leading them […]
You have one week to opt out or become fodder for LinkedIn AI training

Nations previously exempt from scraping now in the firing line

If you thought living in Europe, Canada, or Hong Kong meant you were protected from having LinkedIn scrape your posts to train its AI, think again. You have a week to opt out before the Microsoft subsidiary assumes you're fine with it.…

As AI agents join SaaS, AWS tells users to expect more pricing puzzles

Cloud giant says choice and flexibility matter more than standardization – for now

Interview  As agentic AI solutions flood the market, users will face a complex environment in terms of deployment and commercial models, with standard practices yet to be resolved, says Olawale Oladehin, AWS director, solutions architecture.…

X is getting closer to removing the last reminders of Twitter
X is preparing to put Twitter.com out to pasture, and the official @Safety account posted on Friday warning anyone using physical security keys or passkeys for 2FA that they will need to re-enroll them. According to X, if the login methods aren’t updated by November 10th, the associated accounts will be locked until the update […]
EU Sovereignty Plan Accused of Helping US Cloud Giants

Brussels' plan muddies the waters and could hand advantage to foreign hyperscalers, says trade body

Europe's efforts to reduce reliance on US hyperscalers is under fire from many of the local cloud providers it is designed to help.…

The PS5 bundle that includes two years of PS Plus Premium is $170 off
Between increased tariffs and price hikes, it’s not a great time to buy a PlayStation 5 console. That is, unless you head over to GameStop, which is selling the 825GB PS5 with a disc drive in its original (thicker) design along with 24 months of PS Plus Premium included for just $579.99 (previously $749.99). Given […]
If you can’t afford a vacation, an AI app will sell you pictures of one
Faking wealth has always been big business, from buying designer dupes to renting private jet “sets” for photoshoots. But these days, people are using AI to make it a little more personal: creating photos of themselves living in leisure and luxury not to chase clout, but as a form of personal escapism or an attempt […]
‘Clinical-grade AI’: a new buzzy AI word that means absolutely nothing
Earlier this month, Lyra Health announced a "clinical-grade" AI chatbot to help users with "challenges" like burnout, sleep disruptions, and stress. There are eighteen mentions of "clinical" in its press release, including "clinically designed," "clinically rigorous," and "clinical training." For most people, myself included, "clinical" suggests "medical." The problem is, it doesn't mean medical. In […]
Researchers exploit OpenAI's Atlas by disguising prompts as URLs

NeutralTrust shows how agentic browser can interpret bogus links as trusted user commands

Researchers have found more attack vectors for OpenAI's new Atlas web browser – this time by disguising a potentially malicious prompt as an apparently harmless URL.…

OnePlus 15 arrives in China, global launch ‘coming soon’
After a steady stream of spec teases, OnePlus has launched its new OnePlus 15 flagship in China today. Release plans elsewhere are still unconfirmed, but the company promises that the phone’s global launching will be “soon.” We’ve known what the 15 would look like since September, when OnePlus also confirmed it would be powered by […]
X says passkey reset isn't about a security issue – it's to finally kill off twitter.com

Social media site dispatches crucial clarification days after curious announcement

X (formerly Twitter) sparked security concerns over the weekend when it announced users must re-enroll their security keys by November 10 or face account lockouts — without initially explaining why.…

Ex-CISA head thinks AI might fix code so fast we won't need security teams

Jen Easterly says most breaches stem from bad software, and smarter tech could finally clean it up

Ex-CISA head Jen Easterly claims AI could spell the end of the cybersecurity industry, as the sloppy software and vulnerabilities that criminals rely on will be tracked down faster than ever.…

Everything you know about last week's AWS outage is wrong

AI wasn't the cause, and multi-cloud is for rubes

Column  AWS put out a hefty analysis of its October 20 outage, and it's apparently written in a continuing stream of consciousness before the Red Bull wore off and the author passed out after 36 straight hours of writing.…

Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like 
Samsung warned us last month that ads were coming to the giant Android tablets embedded in its Family Hub smart fridges. I've been eyeing mine ever since - and the first ones are about to arrive. Starting November 3rd, the $2,000-plus connected fridges will get a new widget that serves up ads, Shane Higby, head […]
Machine learning saves £4.4M in UK.gov work and pensions fraud detection

Poor data standards across government hamper scaling, says Parliament spending watchdog

The UK government's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has saved £4.4 million over three years by using machine learning to tackle fraud, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). However, the public spending watchdog found the department's ability to expand this work is limited by fragmented IT systems and poor cross-government data standards.…

The Chinese Box and Turing Test: Is AI really intelligent?

No, it's just good at mass-production copy and paste. And yes, we're correctly applying Betteridge's Law

Opinion  Remember ELIZA? The 1966 chatbot from MIT's AI Lab convinced countless people it was intelligent using nothing but simple pattern matching and canned responses. Nearly 60 years later, ChatGPT has people making the same mistake. Chatbots don't think – they've just gotten exponentially better at pretending.…

The perfect AWS storm has blown over, but the climate is only getting worse

When it rains, it pours – and nobody packed an umbrella

Opinion  When your cabbie asks you what you do for a living, and you answer "tech journalist," you never get asked about cloud infrastructure in return. Bitcoin, mobile phones, AI, yes. Until last week: "What's this AWS thing, then?" You already knew a lot of people were having a very bad day in Bezosville, but if the news had reached an Edinburgh black cab driver, new adjectives were needed.…

Frustrated consultant 'went full Hulk' and started smashing hardware

Four back-to-back weekends of work – and disastrously bad documentation – will do that do a techie

Who, Me?  Welcome to Monday morning and another installment of Who, Me? For the uninitiated, it's The Register's weekly reader-contributed column that tells tales of your greatest misses, and how you rebuilt a career afterward.…

Automattic accuses rival WordPress outfit WP Engine of ‘false advertising, and deceptive business practices’

FOSS feud re-ignites with massive counter-claim

The long battle between Automattic and WP Engine has flared again, this time with accusations the latter company issued “false advertising”, and employed “deceptive business practices.”…

UN Cybercrime Treaty wins dozens of signatories, to go with its many critics

Allows surveillance and cross-border evidence sharing, which worries human rights groups

The United Nations on Saturday staged a signing ceremony for the Convention against Cybercrime, the world’s first agreement to combat online crime. And while 72 nations picked up the pen, critics continue to point out the convention’s flaws.…

Australia sues Microsoft for misleading Microsoft 365 users about Copilot subscription options

PLUS: China demotes tech self-sufficiency goal; Alibaba Cloud quietly quits VMware; India demands deepfake labels; and more!

Asia In Brief  Australia’s Competition & Consumer Commission on Monday commenced legal proceedings against Microsoft for allegedly misleading users of its Microsoft 365 bundle.…

the steorn orbo

We think that we're converting time into energy... that's the engineering principle.

In the 1820s, stacks, ovens, and gasometers rose over the docklands of Dublin.

Shaq's new ride gets jaq'ed in haq attaq

PLUS: Judge spanks NSO; Mozilla requires data use disclosures; TARmageddon meets Rust; And more!

Infosec In Brief  Former basketball star Shaquille O'Neal is 7'1" (215 cm), and therefore uses car customization companies to modify vehicles to fit his frame. But it appears cybercriminals have targeted Shaq’s preferred motor-modder.…

You need to listen to the brutally oppressive I’ve Seen All I Need to See
There are only a handful of albums that I think qualify as genuinely scary. You Won't Get What You Want by Daughters, and Swans To Be Kind both immediately come to mind. But those records come with… let's say, baggage. I've Seen All I Need to See lacks some of the atmospheric spookiness of To […]
Adobe’s Project Indigo camera finally adds iPhone 17 support
Adobe’s computational photography app, Project Indigo, had a bit of trouble adapting to the new square-format selfie sensor in the iPhone 17 series. For the last month or so, the app simply didn’t support Apple’s latest phones at all. Adobe was working behind the scenes to get things up and running, and posting occasional updates […]
How Guitar Hero made everybody a rock star
"Sharp Dressed Man," by ZZ Top. Hard on a good day, Medium when my friends were over, Expert once and then never ever again. That was my Guitar Hero sweet spot. And for years, it seemed like everybody had one. The plastic guitar controllers became a staple of living rooms everywhere, and the songs - […]
The next legal frontier is your face and AI
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the legal morass of AI, follow Adi Robertson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started The song was called "Heart on My Sleeve," and […]
My favorite e-reader just got a big update
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 103, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, sorry everything's so expensive this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about gooning and Costco and protein bars and […]
Tech left teens fighting over scraps, and now it wants those too
Right now, there are robots stocking convenience store shelves in Japan. We haven't embraced that tech here in America yet, but it's hard to imagine 7-11 or Walmart won't at least experiment with it soon. Walmart gave up on its shelf-scanning robots in 2020, but machine vision and AI have improved a lot in the […]
AirTags and cheap gaming laptops headline our favorite deals this week
Apple’s AirTags have become one of my essentials while traveling, namely because they let me check whether my luggage is in the right place instead of panicking at the baggage claim. And right now, you can get a four-pack of AirTags at Amazon and Walmart for $64.99 ($35 off), which is just a few cents […]
What does nearly $6,000 of gaming laptop get you?
It's easy to get into the weeds on a hobby, especially if you're into PC gaming and dreaming of the highest levels of graphical performance. But how much is too much for hardware? Spending top dollar on graphics power, processing, RAM, storage, etc. - like many things - eventually leads to diminishing returns. When it […]
ICE is building a social media panopticon
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement carries out raids across the country, the agency is working rapidly to expand an online surveillance system that could potentially track millions of users on the web. Federal records uncovered by The Lever reveal that ICE is paying $5.7 million to use an AI-powered social media monitoring platform called Zignal […]
Ball x Pit is a deep, delightful rabbit hole
It took me a while to get into Ball x Pit. The new roguelike blends elements from games like Breakout, Vampire Survivors, and even city builders, creating a complex mix of ideas. But as is the case with many roguelikes, once I figured everything out well enough to get a taste of my first win, […]
Is Waymo ready for winter?
During a recent all-hands meeting, Waymo's chief winter weather expert laid it out for all the company's engineers and product managers: if Waymo wants to expand to new cities and new markets, it's robotaxis will need to be able to confidently and safely handle the snow. In its first few years of operation, Waymo has […]
The rise of “catch a cheater” apps exploits our worst human tendencies
When people sign up for a dating site like Tinder, they don't expect their profiles and personal information to be searchable - especially by a scorned lover, or worse. But that's what popular apps like Cheaterbuster or CheatEye seem to be doing under the guise of being able to "catch cheaters." Last week, 404 Media […]
MPs urge government to stop Britain's phone theft wave through tech

Committee says Apple, Google, and Samsung could render stolen handsets worthless if compelled to act

The UK's Home Secretary should use her powers to push the tech industry to deploy stronger technical measures against the surge in phone thefts, according to a House of Commons committee.…

Bored Ape Yacht Club is making a comeback — as a metaverse
It's dusk, and bugs are chirping all around me. I'm wandering through the middle of a big, virtual swamp toward the sound of thumping bass off in the distance. There isn't much else nearby - some trees, a couple of other players. It's mostly just me and the sound emanating from a large wooden structure […]
Berkeley boffins build better load balancing algo with AI

One way AI can improve on human work

Computer scientists at UC Berkeley say that AI models show promise as a way to discover and optimize algorithms.…

Sam Altman’s next startup eyes using sound waves to read your brain
This is an excerpt of Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter about AI and the tech industry, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Sam Altman has tapped Mikhail Shapiro, an award-winning biomolecular engineer, to join the Merge Labs brain-computer interface startup he's set to announce soon with co-founder Alex Blania. While Shapiro's […]
Apple says Jon Prosser ‘has not indicated’ when he may respond to lawsuit
Earlier this week, Jon Prosser, who is being sued by Apple for allegedly stealing trade secrets, told The Verge that he has been “in active communications with Apple since the beginning stages of this case.” But Apple, in a new filing on Thursday that was reported on by MacRumors, said that while Prosser has “publicly […]
Everybody's warning about critical Windows Server WSUS bug exploits ... but Microsoft's mum

Critical 9.8-rated vulnerability affects Windows Server 2012 - 2025

Governments and private security sleuths warned that attackers are already exploiting a critical bug in Microsoft Windows Server Update Services, shortly after Redmond pushed an emergency patch for the remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability.…

Wordle has achievements now
Want to flex your Wordle habit beyond just keeping your streak? The New York Times has added badges to recognize certain achievements in Wordle, Spelling Bee, and Connections. “Have you achieved the infamous Wordle in 1? What about the Perfect Connections Puzzle? How many Pangrams are under your Spelling Bee belt? Badges are rewards you […]
High-stakes poker scam used rigged card shufflers, X-ray tables, and special glasses

31 alleged poker schemers nabbed alongside arrest of separate sports betting ring

The feds on Thursday charged alleged mafia associates and current and former National Basketball Association players and coaches with running rigged poker games and illegal sports betting.…

Halo: Campaign Evolved is a gorgeous remake that debuts on PS5 and Xbox in 2026
Halo Studios has created something special for the 25th anniversary of Halo next year. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a full remake of the original Combat Evolved that launched alongside Microsoft’s first Xbox console in 2001. It has a fully rebuilt campaign with 4K visuals, new weapons and vehicles, a four-player online co-op mode, and brand-new […]
DJI’s excellent Osmo Pocket 3 is over $200 off in its first sale since tariffs
I use a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 every single week to help film Today I’m Toying With, and I love it to pieces. The baby steadicam’s one of the most popular gadgets the company’s ever sold, because it’s so good at automatically capturing stabilized video of whatever I want, far better than a phone. What […]
Sneaky Mermaid attack in Microsoft 365 Copilot steals data

Redmond says it's fixed this particular indirect prompt injection vuln

Microsoft fixed a security hole in Microsoft 365 Copilot that allowed attackers to trick the AI assistant into stealing sensitive tenant data – like emails – via indirect prompt injection attacks.…

Eufy’s X10 Pro Omni robovac is matching its Prime Day low for a limited time
Halloween parties are fun. The preparation and cleanup? Not so much. Luckily for those looking to make life a little easier next week, Eufy’s X10 Pro Omni is available from Amazon for $499.99 ($300 off) when you clip the on-page coupon, which matches the all-time low we last saw during Amazon’s October Prime Day event. […]
Neato’s cloud is shutting down, leaving its robovacs stuck in manual mode
Two years after US-based Neato Robotics closed up shop in 2023, its robot vacuum cleaners have reached the end of the road (or rather, hallway). Users are receiving emails notifying them that their Neato robovacs will no longer have access to cloud services, meaning they can’t be controlled through the robots’ MyNeato app anymore.  In […]
Sora makes slurfect deepfakes of celebs spewing racial epithets

If you listen closely, you’ll realize Sam Altman and the others are only saying sound-alike words

Guardrails? What guardrails? Naughty netizens found a way to trick the Sora 2 video generator into producing deepfakes of public figures, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and billionaire Mark Cuban, that make it sound as though they're spewing racial slurs. The trick works despite Sora's built-in filters meant to block hateful language.…

Kirby Air Riders’ impressive accessibility features are a rarity for Nintendo
The latest Nintendo Direct on October 23rd brought us an hour-long dive into Kirby Air Riders, as well as a surprising accessibility announcement. Hosted by game director Masahiro Sakurai, the Direct showed off more features, gameplay, and modes for the racing game releasing for the Switch 2 on November 20th. Tucked toward the end of […]
Epomaker’s surprisingly great P75 keyboard is on sale for just $79.99
When the Epomaker P75 launched last year, it impressed us with its build quality and laundry list of features, especially for a board that retails for less than $100. And while the mechanical keyboard has since been discontinued, it remains an excellent choice you can still pick up with either the linear or tactile switches […]
Netflix shuts down its Squid Game mobile studio
Netflix has shut down Boss Fight Entertainment, the studio behind the mobile game Squid Game: Unleashed, according to posts from staffers on LinkedIn. Netflix acquired Boss Fight in March 2022, with an executive saying at the time that the studio’s “extensive experience building hit games across genres will help accelerate our ability to provide Netflix […]
Nike is trying to sell you ‘mind-body’ shoes
Nike’s new “neuroscience-based footwear” is designed to activate an athlete’s brain before and after a big game. The two shoes, a mule (the $95 Mind 001) and a lace-up sneaker (the $145 Mind 002), feature a distinctive array of 22 orange foam nodes embedded in each sole. Nike says the nodes each move up and […]
Uncle Sam's new power plan will plug AI farms into the grid faster

Proposal would fast-track hookups for the megawatt-hungry datacenters driving US electricity demand

The US Energy Secretary wants to see datacenters connected to the grid faster, and has directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to implement new rules that speed the process.…

Microsoft Outlook is getting an AI overhaul under new leaders
Outlook users have only just got over the webification of Microsoft's email client in recent years, and already there are major changes on the horizon. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell me that the company recently reorganized its Outlook team under new leadership with a focus on rebuilding the email client for the AI era. […]
OpenAI goes after Microsoft 365 Copilot's lunch with 'company knowledge' feature

ChatGPT can now rummage through corporate files via connectors, though Redmond still has the deeper hooks

OpenAI is chalenging Microsoft 365 Copilot with "company knowledge," a new ChatGPT feature that connects to organizational data to generate business-specific answers.…

Nike’s inflatable puffer jacket de-puffs to cool you down
Alongside a powered footwear system called Project Amplify and new performance apparel with improved airflow, Nike yesterday debuted a new jacket allowing athletes to regulate their body temperature without having to add or remove layers of clothing. Leveraging the company’s longtime use of air bladders to improve the cushioning in its shoes, the Nike Therma-FIT […]
Apple faces £1.5B payout after losing UK App Store case

iPhone maker overcharged devs and users, says competition court

Apple could face claims estimated at around £1.5 billion after it lost a collective case in the UK arguing that its closed systems for apps resulted in overcharging businesses and consumers.…

DJI’s new Osmo Mobile 8 adds pet tracking and 360-degree camera pans
Just eight months after introducing the Osmo Mobile 7 Pro, DJI has already announced a follow-up. The new Osmo Mobile 8 doesn’t reimagine the now well-established design of the company’s smartphone stabilizers. But it introduces new functionality, including the ability to rotate and pan a smartphone a full 360 degrees, and support for Apple’s DockKit, […]
Verizon launches Lite home internet for people in limited coverage areas
Verizon is launching a new “Lite” home internet plan for people in areas previously not covered by its fiber and 5G internet. The new plan offers download speeds of up to 25Mbps, but it costs as much as $60 per month without any discounts. Verizon says its Lite plan is best for “light” internet usage […]
AI investment is the only thing keeping the US out of recession

Datacenter infrastructure and model development spending offset high borrowing costs

AI spending is keeping the US economy out of recession, with datacenter infrastructure and model development providing the only significant growth amid trade turmoil, tariff shocks, and high borrowing costs.…

Dispatch offers a rare unique twist on superhero stories
We are saturated with superhero media to the point where even self-criticism has been done to death with franchises like Watchmen and The Boys. But with its debut choice-driven narrative adventure, AdHoc Studio has managed to find a unique angle for the superhero genre. In Dispatch, the story focuses on an office-based lackey and corporate […]
OpenAI made ChatGPT better at sifting through your work or school information
OpenAI has launched a new ChatGPT feature that makes it easier to search for workspace information without switching between apps. The “company knowledge” ChatGPT update for Business, Enterprise, and Education users is powered by a version of GPT‑5 that directly connects with tools like Slack, SharePoint, Google Drive, and GitHub, allowing the chatbot to sift […]
Oreo-maker Mondelez will use AI for TV ads next year 
Snacking giant Mondelez is using generative AI to slash marketing costs and is preparing to release AI-generated TV ads next year, a senior executive told Reuters. Jon Halvorson, Mondelez’s global senior vice president of consumer experience, said the company has spent more than $40 million on an AI video tool that can halve production costs. […]
ChatGPT enters the browser wars
Web browsers have looked and worked basically the same way for more than a decade, to the point where they all have roughly the same features, in the same places, and are often even built around the same engine. But just about every company in tech suddenly wants to change them, all spurred by AI […]
Microsoft drops surprise Windows Server patch before weekend downtime

You didn't have plans, did you?

Microsoft has released an out-of-band update to patch a critical vulnerability in Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).…

Alaska Airlines grounded by mystery IT meltdown

Failure at primary datacenter leaves planes parked and passengers angry, second incident since July

Timing is everything – except when it isn't. US carrier Alaska Airlines has grounded its fleet once again due to a mystery IT issue.…

Trump’s got Big Tech and crypto bankrolling White House ballroom
Trump is demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for a gilded grand ballroom. The president says taxpayers won’t be footing the $300 million bill and that private donors, himself included, will pick up the tab.  Big Tech will be paying for a lot of it, if the list of donors […]
Digital ID is now less about illegal working, more about rummaging through drawers

Starmer rebrands unpopular scheme as convenience tool after backlash

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has relaunched his digital ID scheme as something that will make people's lives easier, less than four weeks after announcing it as a measure to tackle illegal working.…

Instagram and Facebook are breaking the EU’s illegal content rules
Facebook and Instagram are breaching Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) rules related to the handling of illegal content, moderation, and transparency, according to a preliminary decision issued by the European Commission. TikTok and Meta have both also been found to be violating transparency obligations under the DSA.  The Commission says that Meta is imposing “confusing” […]
Windows Insiders get special anniversary desktop wallpaper

11 years of filing feedback and all we got was a bloody... not even a T-shirt?

Microsoft is celebrating 11 years of the Windows Insider Program with custom desktops and - maybe - a secret hint for users wondering which operating system to consider.…

BBC probe finds AI chatbots mangle nearly half of news summaries

Google Gemini worst offender with 76% error rate

Four of the most popular AI chatbots routinely serve up inaccurate or misleading news content to users, according to a wide-reaching investigation.…

How do you solve a problem like Discovery?

Request For Ideas: How would you move a retired orbiter across the US?

The White House's Office of Management and Budget is grappling with how to transport Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian Museum in Virginia to Space Center Houston. How would you do it?…

Shield AI shows off not-at-all-terrifying autonomous VTOL combat drone

Runways? Where we're going, we don't need runways

US defense technology biz Shield AI claims it can build a jet-powered vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) autonomous fighter drone that doesn't need a runway to operate.…

Britain's Ministry of Justice just signed up to ChatGPT Enterprise

OpenAI sweetens the deal with data residency

OpenAI has signed up the UK's Ministry of Justice as the latest public sector customer for ChatGPT Enterprise.…

New boss took charge of project code and sent two billion unwanted emails

Techie summoned at 02:00 AM to sort things out sent another 2 billion trying to fix it

On Call  Welcome to another instalment of On Call, The Register's weekly wander through your tales of tech support.…

Iran's MuddyWater wades into 100+ government networks in latest spying spree

Group-IB says Tehran-linked crew used hijacked mailbox and VPN to sling phishing emails across Middle East

Iran's favorite muddy-footed cyberespionage crew is at it again, this time breaching more than 100 government entities across the Middle East and North Africa, according to researchers at Group-IB.…

Supermicro warns it will miss revenue forecast by a lazy billion bucks or more

Mystery customer wants an upgrade that will take some time

Supermicro has revised its revenue forecast downwards by a couple of billion dollars, but insisted it’s nothing to worry about.…

Intel says server CPUs will be hot again – in a good way, to power AI workloads – any year now

Chipzilla returns to profit and suggests customers are primed to sign for foundry services once it nails 18A process

Intel has returned to profitability, grown revenue, and suggested demand for AI will ensure its struggling foundry business wins customers and boosts its datacenter CPU business.…

Cyber exec with lavish lifestyle charged with selling secrets to Russia

The 0-days have left the building

Federal prosecutors have charged a former general manager of US government defense contractor L3Harris's cyber arm Trenchant with selling secrets to an unidentified Russian buyer for $1.3 million.…

Clippy rises from the dead in major update to Copilot and its voice interface

The new Microsoft assistant is a blob named Mico, but you can turn it into everyone’s favorite paper clip.

Hands On  Microsoft’s Clippy was an anthropomorphic assistant ahead of his time, offering to help you with your Office 97 tasks when all you could do was type and click in response. Today, as part of a massive Copilot Fall Release, Redmond is bringing Clippy back – at least as an avatar for its new AI helper named “Mico”.…

Google and Anthropic wave hands about mega TPU deal worth 'tens of billions'

But AWS is still the AI upstart's primary partner

Google and Anthropic have struck a deal that will see the AI upstart gain access to up to a million of the web giant’s tensor processing units (TPUs) and involve “tens of billions of dollars.”…

Don't take AI to Thanksgiving: Bots have hidden biases

It's not a bug, it's a feature

Large language models, or LLMs, are biased in one way or another - often many. And there may be no way around that.…

Intel’s tick-tock isn’t coming back, and everything else I just learned
With Windows 10 on its last legs, Intel is looking forward to the PC industry growing more than it has in years - the most since 2021, when the covid-19 pandemic revived the industry by creating a huge surge in demand. But it seems the struggling Intel, which just received lifelines from Nvidia, Softbank, and […]
The best Sonos speakers to buy in 2025
After the self-induced tumult Sonos has gone through this year, I can understand why some people are reluctant to spend money on the company’s products. But newly appointed CEO Tom Conrad has shown that he’s determined to get back on track and revitalize Sonos as the leading whole-home audio brand. The contentious mobile app is […]
Microsoft Edge’s new Copilot Mode turns on more AI features
Microsoft is joining the AI browser wave with the official launch of a new “Copilot Mode” in Edge. The option, first announced in July, turns Copilot into your portal to the web, with each new tab opening a chat window where you can either ask a question, conduct a search, or enter a URL. Copilot […]
Playtime’s over: Crooks swipe Toys R Us Canada customer data and dump it online

What?! No complimentary credit monitoring?

The Canadian outpost of retailer Toys R Us on Thursday notified customers that attackers accessed a database, stole some of their personal information, then posted the data online.…

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