Escort's forgotten cap left techie facing rifles and a debrief
On Call Welcome once again to On Call, The Register's reader-contributed column that tells tales of your tech support misadventures.…
FTC chair: Companies could face enforcement if they give in
The head of America's consumer watchdog has issued a stark warning to some of the biggest names in the tech sphere – don't backdoor encryption or censor content at the behest of foreign governments, or there may be consequences.…
Fujitsu doesn’t have the project all to itself any more
Japanese research institution RIKEN has decided it needs GPUs for its next generation “FugakuNEXT” supercomputer and has signed Nvidia to supply them and design the systems needed to get them working.…
Radioactive decay produced a warm internal ocean
Dwarf planet Ceres, the unpleasant lump of icy rock orbiting between Mars and Jupiter, once had an environment in which microbes might have thrived.…
Also fired another AI - GitHub Copilot - after it produced ‘mixed results in utilisation and efficacy’
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has decided not to fire 45 workers it planned to replace with an AI chatbot.…
Point release retuned with new FP8 datatype for better compatibility with homegrown silicon
Chinese AI darling DeepSeek unveiled an update to its flagship large language model that the company claims is already optimized for use with a new generation of homegrown silicon.…
Pro tip: When taking revenge, don't use your real name
A US court sentenced a former developer at power management biz Eaton to four years in prison after he installed malware on the company’s servers.…
The Splinter Cell: Deathwatch animated series finally has a release date and a proper trailer, but Netflix already wants you to start thinking about what else it has coming down the pipeline. During this year’s Anime NYC convention, Netflix announced that Deathwatch is slated to debut on October 14th, and the series has added The […]
Because savvy terrorists always use public internet services to plan their mischief, right?
Anthropic says it has scanned an undisclosed portion of conversations with its Claude AI model to catch concerning inquiries about nuclear weapons.…
Better late than never after SharePoint assault?
Microsoft has reportedly stopped giving Chinese companies proof-of-concept exploit code for soon-to-be-disclosed vulnerabilities following last month's SharePoint zero-day attacks, which appear to be related to a leak in Redmond's early-bug-notification program.…
So far, 2025 has been a great year for watching new, must-see TV shows and movies on subscription services. But if you, like many of us, have more concurrent subscriptions than you care to admit, you’ll agree that keeping up with the latest stuff every month can get expensive. They may not cost as much […]
Microsoft has started testing another handheld-friendly addition to its Xbox app, allowing PC gamers to quickly install and launch third-party apps like browsers, gaming utilities, and even rival storefronts. A new “My apps” feature is being tested in the Xbox app for Windows 11, and it looks like another way to avoid having to launch […]
Underground forums now recruiting English-speaking social engineers
English speakers adept at social engineering are a hot commodity in the cybercrime job market.…
Google’s Gemini-powered tools tripped up by image-scaling prompt injection
Security researchers with Trail of Bits have found that Google Gemini CLI and other production AI systems can be deceived by image scaling attacks, a well-known adversarial challenge for machine learning systems.…
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons has announced that he’s leaving the company one decade after taking on the role. In an update on Thursday, Parsons wrote that he has “decided to pass the torch” to longtime Bungie developer Justin Truman. Parsons has worked at Bungie for over 20 years and led the studio through the launch […]
The NFL and Microsoft have extended their arrangement that makes Surface tablets a familiar fixture on gameday sidelines, but naturally, now there’s an AI-powered twist on top. While Tom Brady is no longer actively putting those slates in danger of destruction, they do have something to offer to coaches and players. Microsoft touts a GitHub […]
Google’s new Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Pixel Watch 4 may compete with Samsung, but it’s happy to let Samsung explore other parts of the Galaxy on its own. In interviews with Bloomberg, Google just revealed a lot of devices it isn’t currently working on. Here’s Bloomberg: Despite its partners Samsung and […]
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy is a senior reviewer at The Verge covering the smart home, Internet of Things, and, as she puts it, “as many kitchen gadgets as I can get my hands on.” In her four years here, she’s tested everything from smart locks, lights, and doorbells to robot vacuums (some with arms), robot lawnmowers, […]
Bill would let US President commission white hat hackers to go after foreign threats, seize assets on the online seas
It's been more than 200 years since the United States issued a letter of marque allowing privateers to attack the vessels of foreign nations, but those letters may return to empower cyber operators if a bill introduced in Congress actually manages to pass. …
If anyone’s gonna lock in Uncle Sam’s business, it'd better be us!
It's now safe to say the gang's all here when it comes to big generative AI model makers signing dollar discount deals with Uncle Sam. Google has joined Anthropic and OpenAI, inking questionable short-term discount terms for government agencies. …
It actually happened: Silksong, the standalone sequel to Hollow Knight, has a release date. After seven years in development, and almost as many shrouded in silence, the game is coming out on September 4th. It's welcome news for the millions of Hollow Knight fans who have been impatiently waiting. But it's also part of a […]
Update boosts Microsoft file imports, adds new spreadsheet functions, and drops older Windows
LibreOffice 25.8 arrives with a tagline of "smarter, faster and more reliable." That all sounds good. So what's new?…
US pulls back from Trump's threatened 100% levy but not everyone pleased at Europe's concessions
World War Fee The US and European Union have fleshed out details on their sweeping trade deal, promising billions in AI chip sales, a 15 percent tariff cap on key sectors including autos and semiconductors, and a framework for digital rule-making that could reshape the transatlantic tech industry.…
Google on Wednesday introduced its new Pixel 10 lineup during an event in New York - complete with a very strange keynote. In case you missed it, there are a lot of similarities across the latest Pixel models - and some key additions - including the MagSafe-style Pixelsnap, Google's new Tensor G5 chip, and a […]
The first thing I did when I got my hands on the Xbox Ally was reboot it. I wanted to see exactly how Microsoft manages to hide Windows beneath the Xbox interface that's debuting on these handheld devices. After a short startup, I was met with the standard Windows login prompt. But I could use […]
YouTube Music is launching shared playlists that evolve based on the listening habits of the people who join them. The platform announced the new “taste match” playlists as part of its 10th anniversary on Thursday, and says it will refresh them with new music every day. It sounds similar to Spotify Blend, which lets you […]
But the free AI Mode itself can now take your history into account
The all-AI search mode Google introduced earlier this year has sprouted a one-trick AI agent – but only those willing to pay top dollar for the privilege.…
If you want to spend the rest of the year catching up on the movies, TV shows, and video games you missed over the summer, you should enjoy them on a really nice screen. Thankfully, you can get a 77-inch LG C5 OLED TV for around $2,496.99 ($1,203 off), its lowest price ever at Amazon, […]
Tesla is under investigation for failing to report crashes involving its partially autonomous driving technology in a timely manner. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires automakers to report crashes involving advanced driver assist features “within one or five days” of the incident, but Tesla was reporting crashes “several months or more” after they occurred, […]
Latest Windows Insider Build puts time and language options in Settings
Microsoft has continued its efforts to nudge users toward the Windows Settings app from the venerable Control Panel, with language and time settings making the jump.…
Zero Zero Robotics has announced a new autonomous drone that pairs the simplicity of its HoverAir X1 with the improved video capabilities of its HoverAir X1 Pro and, for the first time, complete waterproofing. The new HoverAir Aqua has an IP67 rating and is designed to float, take-off, and land on water instead of an […]
One of the most brilliant things about Pokémon Legends: Arceus was the way it dropped you into the wilderness to fend for yourself as wild monsters tried to kill you. It was a surprising deviation from the franchise's typically chill vibe that complimented the game's story about how humans once lived in constant fear of […]
One of the most brilliant things about Pokémon Legends: Arceus was the way it dropped you into the wilderness to fend for yourself as wild monsters tried to kill you. It was a surprising deviation from the franchise’s typically chill vibe that complemented the game’s story about how humans once lived in constant fear of […]
What testing is happening before changes hit production?
Microsoft had a midweek meltdown on Wednesday as a chunk of its productivity suite fell out of the cloud.…
It was all just supposed to be a one-time thing. When Burning Man got canceled because of covid-19 in 2020, a number of attendees banded together to re-create the festival on the social VR platform Altspace. That virtual Burning Man experience not only attracted around 13,000 visitors, but also accolades from the Producers Guild of […]
404 Media has a report out about an underground software market that enables the Flipper Zero to be used to unlock a wide variety of vehicles, including Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, Subaru, Hyundai, Kia, and several other models. The hack works by intercepting and cloning a key fob’s radio signal using custom firmware built for the […]
Apple is raising the price of its streaming service. The company announced on Thursday that its $9.99 per month subscription will now cost $12.99 each month, marking a $3 price increase, as reported earlier by 9to5Mac and Variety. The price increase will go into effect immediately for new subscribers, while existing ones will see the […]
Hollow Knight: Silksong, the full sequel to Hollow Knight that has been in development for years, will be released on September 4th. The news was revealed as part of a “special announcement” video that debuted on Thursday. In Silksong, you play as Hornet, a character that appeared in the original Hollow Knight. The game, which […]
Everything a criminal needs for targeted attacks exposed, but telco insists 'no critical data compromised'
A significant data theft at Orange Belgium has opened hundreds of thousands of its customers to serious cybersecurity risks.…
Hello, and welcome to Decoder! This is Alex Heath, your Thursday episode guest host and deputy editor at The Verge. One of the biggest topics in AI these days is agents — the idea that AI is going to move from chatbots to reliably completing tasks for us in the real world. But the problem […]
Feds say Mirai-spawned botnet blasted 370K attacks before AWS and pals helped yank its servers
RapperBot, a botnet-for-hire blamed for hundreds of thousands of DDoS attacks, has been yanked offline by the Feds, who also hauled in its alleged Oregon-based mastermind.…
Google is putting AI Mode into Search in 180 countries and territories, allowing the AI-powered search feature to expand beyond the US, UK, and India. The expansion means more people can search for topics using a chatbot-like interface, though it’s still only available in English. Along with a global expansion, Google revealed that it’s building […]
Insta360 has announced the next version of its compact Go action camera, which helped the company differentiate itself from established competitors like GoPro several years ago. As Insta360 teased earlier this week, the new Go Ultra not only breaks from the numbered naming convention of previous iterations, but it also ditches the camera’s distinctive pill […]
Earlier this week, a bean moved into my phone. Their name is Billie Bean King, and when I'm working, they work too, knitting socks and scarves. Billie's knitted wares are more than just cozy clothes - they're currency, used to buy lo-fi decorations for their barren room. But there's a catch: Billie can only work […]
GuliKit was the first company to address the original Switch’s drifting issues with a Hall effect Joy-Con upgrade kit, and it released one of the first controllers that can remotely wake the Nintendo Switch 2. Its latest first, announced at Gamescom 2025 in Germany, is a pair of controllers with the ability to infinitely adjust […]
Google has started rolling out its latest batch of Android 16 features to beta testers, including expanded support for dark mode and themed app icons. The QPR2 beta 1 was announced yesterday alongside Google launching the Pixel 10 series, and is expected to get a full public release sometime in December, according to Google’s release […]
Another 'extremely sophisticated' exploit chewing at Cupertino's walled garden
Apple has shipped emergency updates to fix an actively exploited zero-day in its ImageIO framework, warning that the flaw has already been abused in targeted attacks.…
Worried about your data? Not to worry, we'll check the dark web for you! Yes really
A week after its services were disrupted by a cyberattack, UK telco Colt Technology Services has gone back on its initial statement to confirm that data has indeed been stolen.…
Amid a fierce debate about the environmental toll of artificial intelligence, Google released a new study that says its Gemini AI assistant only uses a minimal amount of water and energy for each text prompt. But experts say that the tech giant's claims are misleading. Google estimates that a median Gemini text prompt uses up […]
Honor has launched a new flip phone today, the Magic V Flip 2, and it arrives with a sparkly special edition in partnership with fashion designer Jimmy Choo. The former Huawei subsidiary has partnered with Choo before, for last year’s V Flip, and has kept to a similar formula this year, swapping glittery green for […]
Researcher claims extension didn't start out by exfiltrating info... while dev says its actions are 'compliant'
Security boffins at Koi Security have warned of a shift in behavior of a popular Chrome VPN extension, FreeVPN.One, which recently appears to have begun snaffling screenshots of users' page activity and transmitting them to a remote server without their knowledge – and Google has yet to take it down.…
One fetcher bot seen smacking a website with 39,000 requests per minute
Cloud services giant Fastly has released a report claiming AI crawlers are putting a heavy load on the open web, slurping up sites at a rate that accounts for 80 percent of all AI bot traffic, with the remaining 20 percent used by AI fetchers. Bots and fetchers can hit websites hard, demanding data from a single site in thousands of requests per minute.…
Medical tech company Masimo is suing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in an attempt to overturn the agency’s decision to allow Apple to restore the blood oxygen tracking feature on Apple Watches. Apple has been embroiled in legal disputes over Masimo’s blood oxygen sensor patent since 2020, disabling the feature on supported US Apple […]
Compositional risk from multiple MCP Servers highlighted by report
Microsoft has declared general availability for MCP (model context protocol) servers in Visual Studio, likely to be the second most popular IDE after Visual Studio Code and with wide enterprise use.…
Fork runs Android apps and keeps old PCs ticking over ... all without signing into an account with the mothership
FydeOS is an alternative to ChromeOS Flex, but with a few significant differences – including Google-account-free operation.…
A Microsoft employee has been arrested as part of protests at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington this week. On Tuesday, a group of current and former Microsoft employees, as well as community members, took over a plaza at Microsoft’s headquarters to protest against the company’s contracts with Israel. The No Azure for Apartheid protest […]
US policymakers should take heed, says the Electronic Frontier Foundation
opinion Implementation of the U.K.'s Online Safety Act is giving internet users around the globe – including those in U.S. states moving to enact their own age verification laws – real-time proof that such laws impinge on everyone's rights to speak, read, and view freely. …
They’re cheap and grew up with AI … so you’re firing them why?
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman has suggested firing junior workers because AI can do their jobs is “the dumbest thing I've ever heard.”…
Web giant reworks AI infra to improve utilization, with mix of chips from home and away
Chinese web giant Baidu is already breaking even with robotaxi operations in China and is confident they will be profitable once the company rolls into global markets.…
Took out all traffic to port 443 at a time Beijing didn't have an obvious need to keep its netizens in the dark
China cut itself off from much of the global internet for just over an hour on Wednesday.…
Redmond doesn't bother informing customers about some security fixes
UPDATED Microsoft has chosen not to tell customers about a recently patched vulnerability in M365 Copilot.…
Digitally enabled omniscience is neat, if you can bear the cost of being constantly monitored by an AI agent
The headline-making Harvard duo who turned a pair of Meta smart glasses into a privacy violation machine last year now have their own pair of smart specs to sell, which they tell The Register will make people "super intelligent" by listening in on their conversations 24/7 and offering unsolicited feedback. …
Sony announced a $50 price increase on all PlayStation 5 “slim” models in the US starting tomorrow, August 21st. The upcoming prices for a PS5 Digital Edition, the standard PS5, and the PS5 Pro are $499.99, $549.99, and $749.99, respectively; however, you can avoid paying the higher prices by picking up a PS5 at Amazon, […]
Ricoh is launching its GR IV compact camera in mid-September for $1,499.95, accompanied by a tiny new GF-2 add-on flash for $119.95. As initially announced in May, the GR IV will feature a 26-megapixel APS-C sensor, slightly redesigned 28mm-equivalent f/2.8 lens, new autofocus and stabilization systems, and 53GB of built-in storage to supplement its microSD […]
Google is bringing a bundle of new features to Gemini Live, its AI assistant that you can have real-time conversations with. Next week, Gemini Live will be able to highlight things directly on your screen while sharing your camera, making it easier for the AI assistant to point out a specific item. If you’re trying […]
For the past twenty years or so, I've had a clear image of what a product launch keynote is supposed to be like. A charismatic executive walks across the stage, points to some animations and pre-taped clips, a live demo or two happens, and the crowd goes wild. Clips proliferate on social media and cue […]
At 3% US market share, we don't think Cook & Co are sweating
Video In a celebrity-studded launch event on Wednesday, Google showed off its Pixel 10 hardware, including four smartphones, an updated smartwatch, and earbuds. Unsurprisingly, every gadget comes with a heavy dose of AI.…
Framework, the modular computer company, just released its first delightful tiny desktop PC, on top of its smallest laptop yet. But it’s already teasing its next big live announcement on YouTube for August 26th at 8am PT / 11am ET, saying it’ll reveal how “something big just got better.” While that may seem like a […]
Move along, nothing to see here
Amazon has quietly fixed a couple of security issues in its coding agent: Amazon Q Developer VS Code extension. Attackers could use these vulns to leak secrets, including API keys from a developer's machine, and run arbitrary code.…
Have a complaint? Need a benefit? Agentforce now has a bot for that
American citizens seeking help from the federal government may soon find themselves being assisted by an AI agent, if Salesforce's new public sector offering is a success.…
The team working on the next BioShock game is losing a third of its staff. According to Bloomberg, Take-Two is laying off more than 80 people at Cloud Chamber, which has been working on a new BioShock title, and the game has been delayed from a planned launch in late 2026 or early 2027. The […]
Things just keep going wrong for Analogue’s take on the Nintendo 64. The company announced today that the shipping date for its next console, the Analogue 3D, has been delayed until sometime in Q4 of this year. The announcement comes a little over a month after the console’s previous delay, which would’ve seen it ship […]
Dragging DNS into the modern age. And if that means fewer people need to buy IPv4, so much the better
A pair of networking researchers have proposed that the Internet Engineering Task Force define support for IPv6 as a best practice for operators of DNS resolvers – the servers that translate URLs into IP addresses – and one of them hopes adoption of the idea will accelerate the demise of IPv4.…
Nothing’s Headphone 1 hit the scene back in July, and they’re already being discounted. Right now, you can pick up the brand’s first pair of over-the-ear headphones for an all-time low price of $269 ($30 off) at Amazon and Nothing’s online storefront. What makes the Headphone 1 unique is their retro-transparent design that Nothing introduced […]
Rival Brave flags prompt injection vulnerability, now patched
To the surprise of no one in the security industry, processing untrusted, unvalidated input is a bad idea.…
Microsoft is testing out a Windows 11 update that lets you use AI to search through your files and images directly from the Copilot app. This test is currently rolling out to Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs and allows you to use more descriptive language when conducting your search. You can currently use the […]
Google has officially announced the Pixel 10 lineup, and there’s a lot to dig into. Like last year, there are four devices — the Pixel 10, the Pixel 10 Pro, the Pixel 10 Pro XL, and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold — and the phones have some nice improvements and new features that might be […]
No phone is waterproof. No phone is dustproof. Your phone’s sealants wear away over time; when they’re exposed to salt or chlorine in your swimming water; or when they’re dropped, dented, or cracked. Your warranty doesn’t cover liquid damage; if companies find water in an IP68 phone, it’s proof you damaged it! But while these […]
Snarfing up config files for 'thousands' of devices…just for giggles, we're sure
The FBI and security researchers today warned that Russian government spies exploited a seven-year-old bug in end-of-life Cisco networking devices to snoop around in American critical infrastructure networks and collect information on industrial systems.…
Qi2 is good because magnets are good. If you're gonna preserve food in metal cans, you should probably have a way to open them up again. And if you're going to rely on induction coils to transfer electricity, you gotta make sure they line up right. It took almost half a century after the invention […]
Google announced its entire Pixel 10 generation of phones at a jam-packed Made for Google event this week. The familiar four-phone lineup includes the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. All of them have received processor bumps and other technical improvements, along with a commitment by Google […]
GSA AI chief says market can do better but the feds needed a kickstart
The Trump administration just launched a detailed, AI-pushing platform for federal agencies last week, but a government leader is already promising to kill it. …
At its latest Made by Google event, the search giant officially revealed four new phones: the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. That's a lot of devices, especially when you consider the different colors and storage configurations. And we can't forget about the Pixel 9A from April, […]
Plessey sold to Haylo Labs, financed by $100M Goertek loan
The UK's Plessey Semiconductors has been acquired by Haylo Labs, using funding supplied by a Chinese company, Goertek Inc. The move was cleared by the British government.…
Google’s annual hardware event kicked off today. It seemed like pretty much everything was announced an hour early, but we’ll cover any additional news from the event below. In the meantime, check out some highlights of what we’ve already posted: Read below for all of the news and updates from Made by Google 2025.
Researchers disclosing their findings said 'it's as bad as it sounds'
Researchers at watchTowr just published working proof-of-concept exploits for two unauthenticated remote code execution bug chains in backup giant Commvault.…
It’s finally happening: Google Assistant in the home is getting its Gemini glow-up. “Gemini for Home” is an all-new voice assistant for Google Home, set to arrive later this year, the company announced today. This new voice assistant, powered by Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence, will eventually replace Google Assistant on Google’s Nest smart speakers and […]
iiNet breach blamed on single stolen login, with emails, phone numbers, and addresses exposed
Aussie telco giant TPG Telecom has opened an investigation after confirming a cyberattack at subsidiary iiNet.…
Google’s Pixel phone lineup isn’t the only thing getting an upgrade in the coming weeks. The company also took the time during its recent Made by Google event to introduce the forthcoming Pixel Watch 4, which starts at $349 and hits shelves on October 9th. Thankfully, if you’re looking to secure one at launch, you […]
ESPN is showing off its overhauled app ahead of the launch of its live sports streaming service. On Wednesday, ESPN detailed all of the new features coming to the ESPN app, including a TikTok-style vertical video feed. ESPN’s long-awaited live sports streaming service costs $29.99 per month and puts all 12 of the network’s linear […]
Finally, a foldable to take to the beach. The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is official, matching last year's starting MSRP of $1,799, and it comes with an IP68 rating. That means full water and dust resistance, which is something that no other foldable maker has figured out yet - and no small feat for […]
Four years after launching the original Pixel Buds A-series, Google's back with the Pixel Buds 2A. The new budget buds are $30 more expensive at $129.99, but add some notable updates like an upgraded chip, Gemini access, a replaceable battery, and most importantly, active noise cancellation. The 2A also adds a Tensor A1 chip, which […]
Google has formally announced the Pixel 10, 10 Pro, and 10 Pro XL, and their hardware upgrades can be summed up in two letter/number combinations: G5 and Qi2. Otherwise, there's not much to see on the outside of the phones. They mostly cost the same as last year's devices - $799 for the Pixel 10, […]
At The Verge, we like to ask "What is a photo?" when we're trying to sort out real and unreal images - especially those taken with phone cameras. But I think there's another question that we'll want to add to the mix starting right now: what is a camera? With the introduction of the Pixel […]
The original Pixel Watch was late to the game. For years, there had been rumors of a Google smartwatch that never materialized. Then, when it finally arrived, it was a quintessential first-gen device, with thicc bezels, dismal battery life, and a host of quirks that needed ironing out. My DMs were full of people wondering […]
I'm not a fan of AI health and fitness features. Not only do they regurgitate Captain Obvious-level summaries of what you just did, but the "insights" are so generalized that a Google search is often more helpful. So it was with great skepticism that I walked into a demo to learn about Fitbit's forthcoming AI-powered […]
Google just announced its new budget Pixel Buds 2A, but it didn’t forget about the earbuds it launched last fall. Owners of the Pixel Buds Pro 2 will get an update in September that will deliver a few new AI-powered features. One of them, Adaptive Audio, automatically adjusts the volume based on the noise in […]
There's a persistent belief that in order for sharks to breathe underwater, they must keep on swimming. While this is partly true for a few species, the myth likely stems from how certain types of fishes (bony fish, if you want to know) need to breathe through constant motion, inhaling and pushing a huge amount […]
No word yet on when any homegrown hardware production begins
Texas fabless chip firm Cirrus Logic has announced a new partnership with GlobalFoundries on next-generation bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) and gallium nitride (GaN) parts.…
