TheRegister
Apple's 'Awe Droppings' fall close to the tree
Apple on Tuesday showed off its iPhone 17 lineup at a media event dubbed, "Awe Dropping," favoring timeworn self-adulation over a more literal pun like "Four Play."…
New cybersecurity rules land for Defense Department contractors
It's about to get a lot harder for private companies that are lax on cybersecurity to get a contract with the Pentagon, as the Defense Department has finalized a rule requiring contractor compliance with its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.…
Microserfs ordered back to the office, given 10 days to appeal
Microsoft is rolling out a new return-to-office policy that will see first Redmond, then US, and then global staff getting back on-prem at least three days a week.…
Defense Dept didn't protect social media accounts, left stream keys out in public
The US Department of Defense, up until this week, routinely left its social media accounts wide open to hijackers via stream keys - unique, confidential identifiers generated by streaming platforms for broadcasting content. If exposed, these keys can allow attackers to output anything they want from someone else's channel.…
No gains, just pains as 1.6M fitness phone call recordings exposed online
Exclusive Sensitive info from hundreds of thousands of gym customers and staff – including names, financial details, and potentially biometric data in the form of audio recordings – was left sitting in an unencrypted, non-password protected database, according to a security researcher who shut it down.…
US Army straps on another mixed-reality gamble with Anduril, Rivet
The US Army's troubled attempt at outfitting soldiers with mixed-reality headsets is getting a $354 million boost and a new pair of lead contractors as part of a second attempt to make the kit stick without making troops sick.…
Why Windows 95 left a handy power saving feature on the cutting-room floor
Microsoft vet Raymond Chen first told the story of HLT and Windows 95 more than 20 years ago. The instruction tells the CPU to effectively shut itself down until the next hardware interrupt – ideal for laptops, since power consumption would be hugely reduced.…
Everyone needs an AI phone. No, don't hang up, it's true
Generative AI will supposedly spark a smartphone renaissance, driving both unit shipments and the value of devices sold this calendar year – or so claims a rather optimistic forecast from Gartner's consultants.…
What the Plex? Streaming service suffers yet another password spill
Streaming platform Plex is warning some users to reset their passwords after suffering yet another breach.…
Microsoft inks AI infra deal with Yandex cofounder's biz for nearly $20B
As the AI frenzy shows no signs of letting up, Microsoft has signed an agreement that could be worth up to $19.4 billion with Netherlands-based Nebius Group – formerly known as Yandex N.V. – in exchange for access to its GPU infrastructure over five years.…
Atlassian's move to cloud-only means customers face integration issues and more
Atlassian is discontinuing its datacenter products, including Jira, Confluence and Bamboo, in favor of Atlassian Cloud. There is a partial exception for Bitbucket, a source code repository manager, which will have a license option covering both cloud and datacenter.…
SpaceX bulks up Starlink Direct to Cell with $17B EchoStar spectrum deal
EchoStar has agreed to sell the company's AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses to SpaceX in a transaction worth $17 billion.…
UK Home Office dangles £1.3M prize for algorithm that guesses your age
The UK's Home Office is offering £1.3 million ($1.7 million) to developers of age-determining software - a tech it wants to deploy widely across its systems.…
Nokia successor HMD spawns secure device biz with Euro-made smartphone
Finnish phone maker HMD Global is launching a business unit called HMD Secure to target governments and other security-critical customers, and has its first device ready to go.…
Anthropic's Claude Code runs code to test if it is safe – which might be a big mistake
App security outfit Checkmarx says automated reviews in Anthropic's Claude Code can catch some bugs but miss others – and sometimes create new risks by executing code while testing it.…
AI Darwin Awards launch to celebrate spectacularly bad deployments
It was bound to happen. The Darwin Awards are being extended to include examples of misadventures involving overzealous applications of AI.…
Legacy tech blunts UK top cops' fight against serious crime, inspectors find
The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) clings to legacy systems and relies on an IT strategy that lacks clarity, a policing watchdog has found.…
Microsoft veteran's worst Windows bug was Pinball running at 5,000 FPS
Former Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer has come clean and admitted that the worst bug he ever shipped was in... Pinball.…
UK toughens Online Safety Act with ban on self-harm content
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent content involving self-harm from appearing on their platforms – rather than responding and removing it – in a planned amendment to the UK's controversial Online Safety Act.…
Use it or lose it: AI may cause you to forget some skills
Using AI may cause some of your skills atrophy, and your employer therefore needs to take steps to keep you sharp.…