Tuesday April 15, 2025
06:36
EU gives staff 'burner phones, laptops' for US visitsThat would put America on the same level as China for espionage The European Commission is giving staffers visiting the US on official business burner laptops and phones to avoid espionage attempts, according to the Financial Times.
03:44South Korea reports tech exports surged ahead of Trump tariffsMeanwhile in China, factories that work for Apple and HP are reportedly closing some production lines Tech manufacturers worked overtime in early 2025 to produce hardware before the US imposed tariffs that would increase the prices punters pay for product.
01:34Nvidia joins made-in-America party, hopes to flog $500B in homegrown...Blackwell production already underway in Arizona with server manufacturing coming to Texas within 15 months Nvidia wants to build and sell up to half a trillion US dollars of American-made AI supercomputer equipment over the next four years, with the help of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, aka TSMC, and its partners.
Monday April 14, 2025
22:16Don't delete that mystery empty folder. Windows put it there as a...Copilot vibe coding for OS development? Why not Canny Windows users who've spotted a mysterious folder on hard drives after applying last week's security patches for the operating system can rest assured it's perfectly benign. In fact, it's recommended you leave the directory there.
17:56Cyber congressman demands answers before CISA gets cut down to sizeWhat's the goal here, Homeland Insecurity or something? As drastic cuts to the US govt's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency loom, Rep Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the ranking member of the House's cybersecurity subcommittee, has demanded that CISA brief the subcommittee 'prior to any significant changes to CISA's workforce or organizational structure.'
15:52Ireland opens probe into Musks X over Groks AI data slurpWatchdog wants to know whether EU posts were used without consent under GDPR Elon Musk's social media outfit X is again under the regulatory microscope in Europe this time for allegedly using EU users' public posts to train its Grok AI chatbot, possibly without the transparency or legal basis required under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
13:27Windows 11 stops freaking out over wallpaper customizationSafeguard hold finally lifted as Microsoft realizes animated backgrounds aren't the end of the world The day before the release of Windows 11 24H2, Microsoft slapped a compatibility hold on devices using wallpaper customization applications. More than six months later, it is gradually removing the safeguard hold.
12:51Trump's tariff turmoil leaves IT projects in deep freezeInvestment delays are inevitable as uncertainty clouds US trade policy, warns investment bank World War Fee Trump administration tariffs are leaving the IT industry in 'limbo', with CIOs hitting the pause button on new projects as they're unsure whether budgets set today will be disrupted by taxes tomorrow.
09:32Dot com era crash on the cards for AI datacenter spending? It's a...Analysts say the bubble won't burst, but it is possible, admits world's largest colo provider Interview Those who ignore history are destined to repeat mistakes of the past and, with signs of an inflating bit barn spending bubble, comparisons are being made with the infamous dotcom bust a quarter of a century ago.
08:26Official abuse of state security has always been bad, now it's...UK holds onto oversight by a whisker, but it's utterly barefaced on the other side of the pond Opinion The UK government's attempts to worm into Apple's core end-to-end encryption were set back last week when the country's Home Office failed in its bid to keep them secret on national security grounds.
06:30Static electricity can be shockingly funny, but the joke's over when a ...If this techie had been older and slower, this never would have happened Who, Me? Returning to work on Monday often imparts a rude shock, which is why The Register opens the week with a new installment of Who, Me? It's the reader-contributed column in which you admit to your worst moments at work and explain how you survived them.
02:30China reportedly admitted directing cyberattacks on US infrastructurePLUS: India's new electronics subsidies; Philippines unplugs a mobile carrier; Alibaba Cloud expands Asia In Brief Chinese officials admitted to directing cyberattacks on US infrastructure at a meeting with their American counterparts, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sunday April 13, 2025
23:59Tech tariff turmoil continues as Trump admin exempts some electronics, ...Beijing tries to find an off-ramp but also fights back with export bans World War Fee The Trump administrations strategy to use tariffs on imports as an incentive for businesses to move their manufacturing plants to the USA took a new turn over the weekend after it announced exemptions for some goods, denied the exemptions were new, then said it plans further tariffs on high-tech goods.
07:30Pidgin is back, so let's talk about why a local chat client mattersMulti-protocol chat client is approaching version 3 In the 2020s you might be forgiven for having forgotten that such a thing as a native chat client exists, but a handful still do and they're still useful. One of these is Pidgin, the artist formerly known as GAIM.
Saturday April 12, 2025
14:58AI is making hyperscalers' sustainability pledges look more and more...Carbon capture, SMRs, fusion power - tech titans' climate strategies are packed with moon shots Comment AI's appetite for power is exploding. Hyperscalers have only just begun to adopt Nvidia's 120 kW-per-rack systems, and the GPU giant is already charting a course toward 600 kW designs.
07:29Mapping legend Ordnance Survey releases blocky Britain in Minecraft ...A thing of beauty for map fans and those with kids Have you ever wanted to explore a blocky low-resolution version of the UK? Well, you're in luck, because the Ordnance Survey has created a Minecraft representation of it, claimed to be as realistic as anything ever can be in the game.
Friday April 11, 2025
22:13Microsoft total recalls Recall totally to Copilot+ PCsRedmond hopes youve forgotten or got over why everyone hated it the first time After temporarily shelving its controversial Windows Recall feature amid a wave of backlash, Microsoft is back at it - now quietly slipping the screenshotting app into the Windows 11 Release Preview channel for Copilot+ PCs, signaling its near-readiness for general availability.
17:46PIRG's 'Electronic Waste Graveyard' lists 100+ gadgets dumped after...Consumer campaign group says 'we need lifetime transparency for tech Those well-meaning agitators at the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) are back, this time with an interactive 'Electronic Waste Graveyard' cataloging a range of devices tossed aside after software support expires or cloud connections flatline.
15:01IBM shareholders asked to back greater lobbying transparencyActivist investor finds payments groups lobbying against climate action An activist investor has called on IBM to report on its lobbying practices, which he alleges include spending dark money with organizations that campaign against climate change reporting and legislation.
12:28Bezos cost Amazon more than Jassy did in 2024 compensation stakesExec pay outlined in Proxy Statement, and things did not go well for either workforce or calls for climate transparency reports Amazon exec chairman Jeff Bezos may not have a daily operational role at the cloud and e-commerce megacorp he founded, but he still got a bigger compensation package than the person currently pulling the strings from the chief executive's office.
