Bishopston Net consists of a number of Pentium IV 3Ghz PCs, all running the best and most stable operating system available today: FreeBSD ( Version 6.2. )

The name comes from the village of Bishopston, a village on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea, South Wales, UK.

Updated: 18:30 Thu, Feb 13 2025. (Last checked: 15 mins ago) Analysts welcome ACID transactions on real-time distributed Aerospike - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:06:07 GMT) The little database company with big users gaining fans as it adds consistency to speed and scale With its 8.0 release, distributed multi-model database Aerospike has added ACID transactions to support large-scale online transaction processing (OLTP) applications in a move it claims is an industry first.… US lawmakers press Trump admin to oppose UK's order for Apple iCloud backdoor - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 16:58:04 GMT) Senator, Congressman tell DNI to threaten infosec agreements if Blighty won't back down US lawmakers want newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to back up her tough talk on backdoors. They're urging her to push back on the UK government's reported order for Apple to weaken iCloud security for government access.… WD told to pay half a billion in patent damages before company splits - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 16:01:17 GMT) With drivemaker poised to become 2 publicly traded companies, judge says he has 'concerns' over restructuring Western Digital has less than a week to file a bond or stump up the $553 million it owes in a patent infringement case, after a federal judge on Tuesday denied the company a stay of execution while it tries to get the ruling overturned.… SAP snared in revenue trap unless it extends legacy ERP support - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:20:40 GMT) User can still push for perpetual licenses despite vendor's craving for subscription deals In the sizeable global ERP market, SAP's biggest threat is not some other software giant like Oracle. It is its own legacy software supported by other vendors.… Diversity, equity, and inclusion is not an illusion, but it soon might be - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 13:02:12 GMT) Global tech corps wrestle with policy disparity on either side of the Atlantic Google may be the latest big tech corporation to scale back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs – but Arm, HPE, and Apple are going against the current direction of travel in their hiring and training policies.… North Korea targets crypto developers via NPM supply chain attack - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT) Yet another cash grab from Kim's cronies and an intel update from Microsoft North Korea has changed tack: its latest campaign targets the NPM registry and owners of Exodus and Atomic cryptocurrency wallets.… Undergrad and colleagues accidentally shred 40-year hash table gospel - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:00:12 GMT) Student shows 'Uniform hashing is optimal' was just wishful thinking It isn't often that a decades-old assumption underpinning modern technology is overturned, but a recent paper based on the work of an undergraduate and his two co-authors has done just that.… LibreOffice still kicking at 40, now with browser tricks and real-time collab - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:15:09 GMT) Standard FOSS office suite continues to evolve in interesting new directions FOSDEM 2025 LibreOffice is a big, mature chunk of code now, but that doesn't make it impossible to teach it impressive new tricks. Some of them could make it more important than ever.… Insurance giant finds claims rep that gives a damn (it's AI) - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 09:30:16 GMT) Tech shows customers more humanity than its human staff It doesn't sleep, it doesn't eat, and it doesn't get sick of dealing with incompetent customers.… WordPress war latest: Ploy to trademark Hosted WordPress, Managed WordPress derailed - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 08:32:06 GMT) Objection from open source community heralded as 'great victory for the ecosystem' The WordPress Foundation's effort to trademark the terms HOSTED WORDPRESS and MANAGED WORDPRESS has been thwarted, for now, following a petition from a dissenting member of the open source WordPress community.… Mysterious Palo Alto firewall reboots? You're not alone - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 07:21:10 GMT) Limited-edition hotfix to get wider release before end of month Administrators of Palo Alto Networks' firewalls have complained the equipment falls over unexpectedly, and while a fix has bee prepared, it's not yet generally available.… Cisco says it’s already dug in to protect itself – and customers – if trade war breaks out - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 06:27:13 GMT) Also reckons it can dodge DOGE Cisco has prepared for trade war and thinks it can ride things out by reconfiguring its supply chain if that becomes necessary.… Have I Been Pwned likely to ban resellers from buying subs, citing ‘sh*tty behavior’ and onerous support requests - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 04:59:12 GMT) ‘What are customers actually getting from resellers other than massive price markups?’ asks Troy Hunt Troy Hunt, proprietor of data breach lookup site Have I Been Pwned, is likely to ban resellers from the service.… Feds want devs to stop coding 'unforgivable' buffer overflow vulnerabilities - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 01:29:47 GMT) FBI, CISA harrumph at Microsoft and VMware in call for coders to quit baking avoidable defects into stuff US authorities have labelled buffer overflow vulnerabilities "unforgivable defects”, pointed to the presence of the holes in products from the likes of Microsoft and VMware, and urged all software developers to adopt secure-by-design practices to avoid creating more of them.… Sophos sheds 6% of staff after swallowing Secureworks - (pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:34:57 GMT) De-dupes some roles, hints others aren't needed as the infosec scene shifts Nine days after completing its $859 million acquisition of managed detection and response provider Secureworks, Sophos has laid off around six percent of its staff.… Larry Ellison wants to put all America's data, including DNA, in one big Oracle system for AI to study - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 23:55:39 GMT) From the billionaire who said real-time surveillance is good for keeping us in check If governments want AI to improve services and security for their citizens, then they need to put all their information in one place – even citizens’ genomic data – according to Larry Ellison, the Oracle database tycoon.… IBM return-to-office order hits finance, ops teams amid push to dump staff for AI - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 22:24:58 GMT) Demand described as a 'soft layoff' IBM has begun what a source describes as a soft layoff for its Finance & Operations business unit, in the form of a return-to-office (RTO) order.… Trump’s cyber chief pick has little experience in The Cyber - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 21:14:13 GMT) GOP lawyer Sean Cairncross will be learning on the fly, as we also say hi to new intelligence boss Tulsi Gabbard President Trump has reportedly chosen a candidate for National Cyber Director — another top tech appointee with no professional experience in that role.… Arizona laptop farmer pleads guilty for funneling $17M to Kim Jong Un - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 20:30:15 GMT) 300+ US companies, 70+ individuals hit by the fraudsters An Arizona woman who created a "laptop farm" in her home to help fake IT workers pose as US-based employees has pleaded guilty in a scheme that generated over $17 million for herself... and North Korea.… Ransomware isn't always about the money: Government spies have objectives, too - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:30:12 GMT) Analysts tell El Reg why Russia's operators aren't that careful, and why North Korea wants money AND data Feature Ransomware gangsters and state-sponsored online spies fall on opposite ends of the cyber-crime spectrum.… DARPA skips the lab, will head to orbit to test space manufacturing tech - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:01:15 GMT) Previous NOM4D experiments have gone so well, says project leader, that it's time to get real After several years of lab-testing ideas for orbital manufacturing technology, the US Department of Defense's research arm has decided to head into orbit for the latest round of experiments. … Russia's Sandworm caught snarfing credentials, data from American and Brit orgs - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:00:08 GMT) 'Near-global' initial access campaign active since 2021 An initial-access subgroup of Russia's Sandworm last year wriggled its way into networks within the US, UK, Canada and Australia, stealing credentials and data from "a limited number of organizations," according to Microsoft.… James Webb Space Telescope to size up asteroid 2024 YR4 before it rocks our world - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT) 40 m or 90 m? The difference matters in the case of impact The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is to be pointed at asteroid 2024 YR4 to reduce uncertainty regarding the chances of the object impacting Earth in the coming years.… Running hot? Server shipments forecast to cool in 2025 - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:27:27 GMT) Supply chain and regulatory hurdles likely to shrink figures US tech sanctions and supply chain readiness for racks of Nvidia's latest gear will likely cause AI server sales to cool-off in 2025.… SpaceX Crew Dragons swapped so ISS crew can go home early - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:00:30 GMT) 'Stranded' Starliner astronauts set for a March homecoming The crew of the Boeing Starliner test mission is set to return to Earth ahead of schedule after managers decided to swap the Crew Dragon originally planned for the Axiom-4 flight with Crew-10.… Crimelords and spies for rogue states are working together, says Google - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:29:34 GMT) Only lawmakers can stop them. Plus: software needs to be more secure, but what's in it for us? Google says the the world's lawmakers must take action against the increasing links between criminal and state-sponsored cyber activity.… EU plans to 'mobilize' €200B to invest in AI to catch up with US and China - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:32:07 GMT) Captain's Log, Stardate 3529.7 – oh yeah, Commish also withdrawing law that would help folks sue over AI harms European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU will top up a continental AI push to hit €200 billion ($207 billion).… Why SAP may be mulling 2030 end of maintenance for legacy ERP - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:46:13 GMT) Users' sluggish migration of critical apps mean current deadline not workable, says analyst By 2030, 40 percent of SAP customers currently using its legacy ERP systems will still not have migrated to the latest software, prompting the business apps giant to rethink its support deadline.… UK government insiders say AI datacenters may be a pricey white elephant - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:02:07 GMT) Economy-boosting bit barn? Not in my back yard, some locals expected to say The British government is pressing ahead with "AI Growth Zones" amid fears the rush to build datacenters to power AI could backfire and leave the countryside littered with expensive high-tech "white elephants."… AI summaries turn real news into nonsense, BBC finds - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:15:07 GMT) Research after Apple Intelligence fiasco shows bots still regularly make stuff up Updated Still smarting from Apple Intelligence butchering a headline, the BBC has published research into how accurately AI assistants summarize news – and the results don't make for happy reading.… Murena boss says customers about to wake up from its cloud storage nightmare - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 09:30:12 GMT) Four months since cloud drive kicked the bucket, but resolution comes today... hopefully Interview How long can a cloud storage outage continue before customers finally give up the ghost? Management at Murena – /e/OS maker – must have wrestled with this at night, though they hope a fix is around the corner.… Oxford researchers pull off quantum first with distributed gate teleportation - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:42:10 GMT) Einstein’s spooky action at a distance just got an upgrade Oxford University researchers have taken a significant step toward large-scale distributed quantum computing by demonstrating the first successful quantum teleportation of a controlled quantum gate between two modules.… Ignorance really is bliss when you’re drowning in information - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:01:13 GMT) If only the joy of missing out was easier to achieve Column I've never seriously accepted the maxim "ignorance is bliss". Now I'm less sure.… After Copilot trial, government staff rated Microsoft's AI less useful than expected - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 04:59:15 GMT) Not all bad news for Redmond as Australian agency also found strong ROI and some unexpected upsides Australia’s Department of the Treasury has found that Microsoft’s Copilot can easily deliver return on investment, but staff exposed to the AI assistant came away from the experience less confident it will help them at work.… February's Patch Tuesday sees Microsoft offer just 63 fixes - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 02:58:11 GMT) Don't relax just yet: Redmond has made some certificate-handling changes that could trip unprepared admins Patch Tuesday Microsoft’s February patch collection is mercifully smaller than January’s mega-dump. But don't get too relaxed – some deserve close attention, and other vendors have stepped in with plenty more fixes.… A win at last: Big blow to AI world in training data copyright scrap - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 01:45:01 GMT) You gotta fight ... for your Reuters ... to party Thomson Reuters has won a partial summary judgment in a copyright case against shuttered AI firm Ross Intelligence, a decision that disallows fair use as a defense for training models on proprietary data without permission.… Microsoft wants to quit building Army VR goggles, hand contract to Anduril - (pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 01:03:08 GMT) Will the Pentagon get Luckey with a new IVAS vendor? Microsoft plans to quit developing augmented-reality headsets for the US Army and have Oculus founder Palmer Luckey's Anduril Industries take over the gig.… Probe finds US Coast Guard has left maritime cybersecurity adrift - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 23:44:07 GMT) Numerous systemic vulnerabilities could scuttle $5.4T industry Despite the escalating cyber threats targeting America's maritime transportation system, the US Coast Guard still lacks a comprehensive strategy to secure this critical infrastructure - nor does it have reliable access to data on cybersecurity vulnerabilities and past attacks, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns.… Yup, AMD's Elba and Giglio definitely sound like they work corporate security - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 23:22:47 GMT) Which is why Cisco is adding these Pensando DPUs to more switches Cisco is cramming into more of its switches Pensando data processing units (DPUs) from AMD, which will be dedicated to handling security, storage, and other tasks.… 'Key kernel maintainers' still back Rust in the Linux kernel, despite the doubters - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 22:15:48 GMT) Rustaceans could just wait for unwelcoming C coders to slowly SIGQUIT... The Rust for Linux project is alive and well, despite suggestions to the contrary, even if not every Linux kernel maintainer is an ally.… Triplestrength hits victims with triple trouble: Ransomware, cloud hijacks, crypto-mining - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 20:42:51 GMT) These crooks have no chill A previously unknown gang dubbed Triplestrength poses a triple threat to organizations: It infects victims' computers with ransomware, then hijacks their cloud accounts to illegally mine for cryptocurrency.… UK, US, Oz blast holes in LockBit's bulletproof hosting provider Zservers - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 18:26:07 GMT) Huge if true: Brit Foreign Sec says Putin running a 'corrupt mafia state' One of the bulletproof hosting (BPH) providers used by the LockBit ransomware operation has been hit with sanctions in the US, UK, and Australia (AUKUS), along with six of its key allies.… Final cumulative update for Exchange Server 2019 lands at last - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 17:45:15 GMT) End of the road in sight for venerable server Administrators rejoice! The 2025 H1 Cumulative Update (aka CU15) for Exchange Server 2019 has finally arrived, marking the end of an era for the server application.… Man who binned 7,500 Bitcoin drive now wants to buy entire landfill to dig it up - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 17:02:07 GMT) More than a decade on, waste experts say the odds of finding those coins are next to nil Denied permission to excavate a landfill in search of his missing Bitcoin, Newport, Wales resident James Howells has a new plan: buy the soon-to-be-capped dumping site outright from the city council.… Man who SIM-swapped the SEC's X account pleads guilty - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 16:15:08 GMT) Said to have asked search engine 'What are some signs that the FBI is after you?' An Alabama man is pleading guilty after being charged with SIM swapping the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) X account in January last year.… Oracle makes Fusion apps available on EU Sovereign Cloud - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 15:30:07 GMT) GDPR-compliant service pitched for public sector orgs who can't pipe data offsite Oracle is launching a Fusion Cloud Applications Suite (FCAS) on its Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud in a move designed to offer app users greater assurance in compliance with the region's data law.… I'm a security expert, and I almost fell for a North Korea-style deepfake job applicant …Twice - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 14:01:12 GMT) Remote position, webcam not working, then glitchy AI face ... Red alert! Twice, over the past two months, Dawid Moczadło has interviewed purported job seekers only to discover that these "software developers" were scammers using AI-based tools — likely to get hired at a security company also using artificial intelligence, and then steal source code or other sensitive IP.… Google confirms Gulf of Mexico renamed to appease Trump – but only in the US - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 13:15:08 GMT) So now everyone's happy Updated Google has changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps to comply with a Donald Trump whim – but only for American users.… Microsoft open sources PostgreSQL extensions to muscle in on NoSQL - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 12:26:09 GMT) But will it set a real standard for MongoDB alternatives? Analysis When Microsoft rolled out an open source extension stack for PostgreSQL to handle document-style data, it wasn't just taking aim at MongoDB – the dominant NoSQL player – but also blurring the lines between relational and non-relational databases, according to one expert.… DeepMind working on distributed training of large AI models - (pubDate>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:46:10 GMT) Alternate process could be a game changer if they can make it practicable Is distributed training the future of AI? As the shock of the DeepSeek release fades, its legacy may be an awareness that alternative approaches to model training are worth exploring, and DeepMind researchers say they've come up with a way of making distributed training much more efficient.… Search the internet Search bishopston.com Search bishopston.net