TheRegister
Artificial brains could point the way to ultra-efficient supercomputers
New research from Sandia National Laboratories suggests that brain-inspired neuromorphic computers are just as adept at solving complex mathematical equations as they are at speeding up neural networks and could eventually pave the way to ultra-efficient supercomputers.…
Accenture bets AI will ring up retail sales with Profitmind investment
Accenture is betting that the future of retail will run through AI with an investment in Profitmind, an agent-based platform that automates pricing decisions, inventory management, and planning. …
How hackers are fighting back against ICE surveillance tech
While watching us now seems like the least of its sins, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was once best known (and despised) for its multi-billion-dollar surveillance tech budget.…
Most devs don't trust AI-generated code, but fail to check it anyway
Talk about letting things go! Ninety-six percent of software developers believe AI-generated code isn't functionally correct, yet only 48 percent say they always check code generated with AI assistance before committing it.…
CES 2026 worst in show: AI girlfriends, a fridge that won't open unless you talk to it, and more
CES 2026 From disposable electric candy to voice-activated refrigerators without physical handles, CES was crammed full of enshittified, intrusive, insecure, and wasteful technology this year – just like it is every year. …
Meta reacts to power needs by signing long-term nuke deals
Meta is writing more checks for nuclear investment, even though the new capacity tied to those deals is unlikely to come online until around 2030. The company says it will need the new power to run its hyperscale datacenters.…
Debian goes retro with a spatial desktop that time forgot
The Desktop Classic System is a rather unusual hand-built flavor of Debian featuring a meticulously configured spatial desktop layout and a pleasingly 20th-century look and feel.…
Putinswap: France trades alleged ransomware crook for conflict researcher
France has released an alleged ransomware crook wanted by the US in exchange for a conflict researcher imprisoned in Russia.…
QR codes a powerful new phishing weapon in hands of Pyongyang cyberspies
North Korean government hackers are turning QR codes into credential-stealing weapons, the FBI has warned, as Pyongyang's spies find new ways to duck enterprise security and help themselves to cloud logins.…
Microsoft Windows Media Player stops serving up CD album info
Microsoft is celebrating the resurgence of interest in physical media in the only way it knows how… by halting the Windows Media Player metadata service.…
NASA decides to bring Crew-11 home early after astronaut health scare
NASA is bringing the Crew-11 astronauts back to Earth early after one encountered a medical issue that could not be dealt with aboard the orbiting outpost.…
Copper supplies set to peak just as tech needs more
Concerns are mounting over copper supplies, with a fresh study warning that demand will likely outstrip production within a decade, threatening to constrain global technological advancement.…
China-linked cybercrims abused VMware ESXi zero-days a year before disclosure
Chinese-linked cybercriminals were sitting on a working VMware ESXi hypervisor escape kit more than a year before the bugs it relied on were made public.…
The Microsoft 365 Copilot app rebrand was bad, but there are far worse offenders
Opinion Wait? What? I was just cruising along the information superhighway – yes, I'm old, deal with it – when I spotted a Y Combinator story announcing, "Microsoft Office renamed to 'Microsoft 365 Copilot app'." Excuse me!? I looked closer and found that, sure enough, it certainly looked like Microsoft had renamed Office to the God-awful "Microsoft 365 Copilot."…
Very tough microbes may help us cement our future on Mars
Tough microbes able to survive extreme environments on Earth could be the key to constructing buildings to allow humans to survive on Mars, according to a research paper.…
Nothing to declare at border control except a Windows 7 certificate error
Bork!Bork!Bork! Today's bork - on a UK border control wait-time screen - is doubly unfortunate. Tired passengers get no clue how long until someone checks their passport, and of all organizations that should keep security certs current, the one responsible for keeping out criminals tops the list.…
Grok told to cover up as UK weighs action over AI 'undressing'
Grok has yanked its image-generation toy out of the hands of most X users after the UK government openly weighed a ban over the AI feature that "undressed" people on command.…
Bank of England's Oracle cloud migration bill triples as project grinds on
The Bank of England has trebled the amount it is spending on its Oracle systems integrator amid efforts to migrate business applications to the cloud.…
Help desk read irrelevant script, so techies found and fixed their own problem
On Call 2025 has ended and a new year is upon us, but The Register will continue opening Friday mornings with a fresh installment of On Call – the reader-contributed column that tells your tales of tech support.…
Tech that helps people outshone overhyped AI at CES 2026
Opinion Another Consumer Electronics Show has rolled through Las Vegas, and this year vendors scrawled “AI-enabled” on all the kit they hope will find its way into your home – while airbrushing away its immaturity and downsides.…