Updated: 20:35 Mon, Feb 09 2026. (Last checked: 36 mins ago) |
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'Roaring cougars' lunched on OpenAI in Super Bowl ad battle, but ai.com wins the day - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:59:01 GMT)Advertising search and web meters recorded site crashing traffic for ai.comAnthropic's sensitive cubs and roaring cougars commercial trampled OpenAI's offerings in searches and site hit metrics during the Super Bowl, according to ad tracking firm EDO. However, the unknown player ai.com, which pitched the fantastical idea that “AGI is coming,” won the day.… |
Yes, backsies: Crypto exchange Bithumb claws back $40B in accidental payments to users - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:55:49 GMT)New users promised $68, but briefly saw multi-million-dollar balancesKorean crypto exchange Bithumb says it recovered nearly all of the more than $40 billion worth of funds it mistakenly handed out to customers as part of a promotional campaign.… |
More than 135,000 OpenClaw instances exposed to internet in latest vibe-coded disaster - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:23:30 GMT)By default, the bot listens on all network interfaces, and many users never change itIt's a day with a name ending in Y, so you know what that means: Another OpenClaw cybersecurity disaster.… |
Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 spends $20K trying to write a C compiler - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:05:15 GMT)AI agents build something that mostly works but worries the project's creatorAn Anthropic researcher's efforts to get its newly released Opus 4.6 model to build a C compiler left him "excited," "concerned," and "uneasy."… |
AI.com goes for $70M as crypto boss bets big on buzzword bubble - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:49:07 GMT)Latest evidence that the world has gone madIf you're running an online business, it helps to own a memorable domain. That's why a wealthy tech exec just paid $70 million to buy the hottest word you can own: AI.com.… |
Salesforce puts Heroku out to PaaSture - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:37:50 GMT)Still supported with no death date set, but no new features plannedSalesforce has decided to stop developing new features for its Heroku platform-as-a-service.… |
Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach clocks out amid job cuts and market jitters - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:19:28 GMT)Co-founder Aneel Bhusri returns to top job after turbulent yearCarl Eschenbach has stepped down as Workday CEO and been replaced by co-founder and executive Aneel Bhusri following a round of job cuts and share price volatility.… |
Dutch data watchdog snitches on itself after getting caught in Ivanti zero-day attacks - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:50:37 GMT)Staff data belonging to the regulator and judiciary's governing body accessedThe Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) says it was one of the many organizations popped when attackers raced to exploit recent Ivanti vulnerabilities as zero-days.… |
Azure power hiccup gives Windows admins a rare break from updates - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:45:59 GMT)West US datacenter incident disrupted Microsoft Store and system patching for several hoursMicrosoft suffered a service disruption over the weekend after a power incident at an Azure datacenter in the West US region affected Windows Update.… |
SpaceX back to Falcon 9 launches as Musk blathers about Moon city - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:23:02 GMT)FAA signs off on rocket's return and CEO floats ambitious lunar settlement planSpaceX resumed launching Falcon 9 rockets this weekend after last week's second stage incident. At the same time, CEO Elon Musk claimed that the company has shifted its focus from Mars to "building a self-growing city on the Moon" within a decade.… |
Europe's sovereign cloud spend set to triple as geopolitics bite - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:12:08 GMT)Gartner predicts strong uptake driven by concerns over reliance on foreign providersUpdated European spending on sovereign cloud infrastructure services is forecast to more than triple from 2025 to 2027 as geopolitical tension drives investment in homegrown services, according to Gartner.… |
Taiwan tells Uncle Sam its chip ecosystem ain't going anywhere - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:02:53 GMT)Moving 40% of semiconductor production to America is 'impossible' says vice premierTaiwan's vice-premier has ruled out relocating 40 percent of the country's semiconductor production to the US, calling the Trump administration's goal "impossible."… |
Brussels eyes crowbar for Meta's WhatsApp AI lockout - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:46:38 GMT)Euro watchdog says Zuckercorp blocked rival assistants, weighs emergency action to force 'em back inBrussels has accused Meta of breaking EU competition rules by locking rival AI chatbots out of WhatsApp, opening the door to emergency action that could force the tech giant to let competitors back onto the platform.… |
How the GNU C Compiler became the Clippy of cryptography - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:07:02 GMT)Security devs forced to hide Boolean logic from overeager optimizerFOSDEM 2026 The creators of security software have encountered an unlikely foe in their attempts to protect us: modern compilers.… |
Follow the money: Switzerland remains Europe's top destination for tech pay - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:42:13 GMT)Average Swiss salaries dwarf those on offer across the rest of the continentEuropean techies looking for the biggest payday are far better off in Switzerland than anywhere else, with average salaries eclipsing all other countries on the continent.… |
BBC bumps telly tax to £180 as Netflix lurks with cheaper tiers - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:40:21 GMT)UK's pay-to-watch license fee gets inflation-linked hike amid funding debateBrits will soon pay more to legally watch the BBC's output than to subscribe to some of the world's biggest streaming services, after the UK government confirmed the TV license fee will climb to £180 a year from April.… |
European Commission probes intrusion into staff mobile management backend - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:37:47 GMT)Officials explore issue affecting infrastructure after CERT-EU detected suspicious activityBrussels is digging into a cyber break-in that targeted the European Commission's mobile device management systems, potentially giving intruders a peek inside the official phones carried by EU staff.… |
Matrix is quietly becoming the chat layer for governments chasing digital sovereignty - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:15:08 GMT)One-to-one and group messaging, encrypted VoIP calls, video conferencing – the open protocol handles them allFOSDEM 2026 Amid growing interest in digital sovereignty and getting data out of the corporate cloud and into organizations' ownership, the Matrix open communication protocol is thriving.… |
The Linux mid-life crisis that's an opportunity for Tux-led transformation - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 09:30:10 GMT)Sudo make me a starOpinion Thirty years is a big ol' chunk of anyone's life. It can take you from new parent to new grandparent, from bright young thing to mid-life crisis, and from shaver to graybeard. In the case of Todd C Miller, one thing hasn't changed. He's been the sole maintainer of the Linux sudo utility. He's not giving up just yet, but he needs help and no help has come.… |
Tech support chap invented fake fix for non-problem and watched it spread across the office - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 07:30:06 GMT)You can fix all sorts of things with a paperclip, but not gullibilityWho, Me? You can fool some of the people some of the time, but The Register tries to entertain all of its readers most of the time and especially early on Monday mornings, when we present a new installment of "Who, Me?" – the reader-contributed column that shares your stories of workplace mayhem and mischief.… |
Cache is king and DIMMS are bling as memory prices soar - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 06:58:28 GMT)Upgraders and home lab builders flaunt their memory-inflated wealthThe rising price of memory has produced an interesting phenomenon: technologists wondering if the memory they have installed in home labs, or bottom drawers, might make them rich.… |
Indian police commissioner wants ID cards for AI agents - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 04:08:59 GMT)PLUS: China broadens cryptocurrency crackdown; Australian facial recognition privacy revisited; Singapore debuts electric VTOL; and more!Asia In Brief The Commissioner of Police in the Indian city of Hyderabad, population 11 million, has called for AI agents to be issued with identity cards – or at least their digital equivalent.… |
Linus Torvalds keeps his ‘fingers and toes’ rule by decreeing next Linux will be version 7.0 - (pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:44:10 GMT)But first, kernel 6.19 is upon us, with many goodiesPenguin emperor Linus Torvalds has announced the next version of the Linux kernel will be version 7.0, a matter of some small interest, because it continues his convention of not using version numbers he can’t count on his fingers and toes, and perhaps cements a numbering convention that sees kernel series end with version 19.… |
Telcos aren't saying how they fought back against China's Salt Typhoon attacks - (pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 22:25:30 GMT)PLUS: OpenClaw teams with VirusTotal; Crypto kidnappings in France; Critical vulns at SmarterMail; And moreInfosec In Brief So-hot-right-now AI assistant OpenClaw, which is very much not secure right now, has teamed up with security scanning service VirusTotal.… |
This dev made a Llama with three inference engines - (pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 15:00:10 GMT)Meet llama3pure, a set of dependency-free inference engines for C, Node.js, and JavaScriptDevelopers looking to gain a better understanding of machine learning inference on local hardware can fire up a new llama engine.… |
Containers, cloud, blockchain, AI – it's all the same old BS, says veteran Red Hatter - (pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 12:30:08 GMT)After decades in the trenches, this engineer is done with hype cyclesOpinion The real opponent of digital sovereignty is "enterprise IT" marketing, according to one Red Hat engineer who ranted entertainingly about the repeated waves of bullshit the industry hype cycle emits.… |
Machine learning could yield faster, cheaper lithium-ion battery development - (pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 09:25:06 GMT)Researchers claim model can cut years from testing cyclesScientists have developed a machine learning method that could dramatically slash the cost and energy required to develop new lithium-ion batteries that the modern world is becoming increasingly reliant.… |
Whether they are building agents or folding proteins, LLMs need a friend - (pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2026 15:00:14 GMT)AI pioneer Vishal Sikka warns to never trust an LLM that runs aloneinterview Don't trust; verify. According to AI researcher Vishal Sikka, LLMs alone are limited by computational boundaries and will start to hallucinate when they push those boundaries. One solution? Companion bots that check their work.… |
Study confirms experience beats youthful enthusiasm - (pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2026 12:30:13 GMT)Research shows productivity and judgment peak decades after graduationA growing body of research continues to show that older workers are generally more productive than younger employees.… |
Openreach turns up the heat to force laggards off legacy copper lines - (pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2026 09:30:10 GMT)Half a million businesses face successive price hikes ahead of PTSN shutdownOpenreach is warning British businesses that the old phone network shuts down in less than a year, with half a million commercial lines still unmigrated.… |
AI video company arouses fury by boasting about replacing creative jobs - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:45:08 GMT)Marketing stunt backfires with creatorsThe first rule of AI-generated job loss is you don't talk about AI-generated job loss ... if you're the company that caused it. Higgsfield.ai, a startup offering AI video creation tools, recently generated outrage when it claimed it had caused artists to hit the unemployment line.… |
Let there be light! DARPA seeking physics-defying photonic computers to supercharge AI - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:34:03 GMT)There’s about $35M up for grabs if your circuits can beat today’s limitsIt's no lightweight matter. DARPA is putting about $35 million in total funding on the table in the hope that it will spur researchers to work around fundamental physical constraints and build much larger-scale photonic circuits that do more of the computing with light, not electronics.… |
Four horsemen of the AI-pocalypse line up capex bigger than Israel's GDP - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:44:05 GMT)Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft eye $635B in infrastructure spendFour tech megacorps intend to collectively fork out roughly $635 billion this year on capex, much of it for datacenters and AI infrastructure – more than the entire output of Israel's economy and well beyond all global cloud infrastructure services revenue generated last year.… |
Flickr emails users about data breach, pins it on third party - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:56:29 GMT)Attackers may have snapped user locations and activity information, message warnsLegacy image-sharing website Flickr suffered a data breach, according to customer emails seen by The Register.… |
DDoS deluge: Brit biz battered as botnet blitzes break records - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:36:49 GMT)UK leaps to sixth in global flood charts as mega-swarm unleashes 31.4 Tbps Yuletide pummelingCloudflare says DDoS crews ended 2025 by pushing traffic floods to new extremes, while Britain made an unwelcome leap of 36 places to become the world's sixth-most targeted location.… |
Summoning the spirit of the BBC Micro with a Pi 500+ and a can of spray paint - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:18:00 GMT)Rhapsody in beigeAn enterprising engineer has evoked the spirit of Acorn's BBC Micro with a custom paintjob for a Raspberry Pi 500+ computer-in-a-keyboard and a natty set of replacement keycaps.… |
Supermarket sorry after facial recognition alert flags right criminal, wrong customer - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:03:30 GMT)System worked as intended, but staff then kicked out innocent bystanderA British supermarket says staff will undergo further training after a store manager ejected the wrong man when facial recognition technology triggered an alert.… |
Microsoft starts the countdown for the end of Exchange Web Services - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:51:21 GMT)Windows giant might try turning it off and on again to see who noticesMicrosoft has laid out a timeline for the disablement and shutdown of Exchange Web Services (EWS) in Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online.… |
CISA orders federal agencies to rip out EOL edge kit before cybercrooks move in - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:18:23 GMT)A year to replace end-of-support firewalls, routers, and VPN gatewaysAmerica's federal agencies have been told to hunt down and rip out aging firewalls, routers, and other network gatekeepers before attackers use them as skeleton keys into government systems.… |
Romanian rail workers accused of bribery turned to ChatGPT for legal tips - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 11:39:43 GMT)Corruption probe takes detour as staff facing trial reportedly asked AI if seat-blocking scams caused financial damageMore than 30 Romanian railway employees accused of running a bribery and ticket resale racket allegedly tried to crowdsource their legal strategy from ChatGPT.… |
Smartphones cleared for launch as NASA loosens the rulebook - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 11:15:51 GMT)Crew-12 and Artemis II astros may soon snap, shoot, and share from orbitNASA's Administrator has stated that smartphones will accompany the Crew-12 and Artemis II astronauts on their missions.… |
DWP considers chatbot work coaches as AI-fueled job losses loom - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 10:53:59 GMT)Benefits system trials automation amid growing interest in universal basic incomeAI-pocalypse Britain's welfare system is experimenting with AI to manage Universal Credit claimants – even as evidence piles up that artificial intelligence may soon be pushing more people onto benefits in the first place.… |
UK council digs deeper into capital assets to keep Oracle project afloat - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 10:15:10 GMT)West Sussex plans to triple use of property sales as ERP budget blows past original estimatesIn a budget-busting leap from SAP to Oracle, West Sussex County Council is trebling its raid on capital assets such as buildings to fund its "transformational" ERP project.… |
Summer in Australia means beers, beaches, and bork - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 09:30:07 GMT)Supermarket printer error gets holiday off to a shabby startBORK!BORK!BORK! When this vulture excuses himself from The Register's Australian eyrie for a little rest and recreation, I first avoid pyromaniac birds and carnivorous koalas, before settling into a bucolic beach town to catch a few waves, read a few books, and tune out from the world of tech.… |
New hire fixed a problem so fast, their boss left to become a yoga instructor - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 07:30:08 GMT)Poking around in deep menus found a fault that flummoxed old handsOn Call Change is a constant – and so is On Call, the reader-contributed column The Register runs every Friday to share your tech support tales.… |
Pakistan to test students for real-world skills before they graduate from IT degrees - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 05:22:15 GMT)Government decides theoretical knowledge vs. experience debate is worth settlingPakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) has introduced a competency test for students who take degrees in IT, to assess whether they emerge with skills employers will find useful.… |
Atlassian swears it can handle AI without blowing out costs, or being swamped - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:45:26 GMT)CEO feels under-appreciated amid year-long value slumpAtlassian has assured investors it can add AI to its services without blowing out its costs or shrinking margins.… |
Amazon can't build AI capacity fast enough, throws another $200B at the problem - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 02:13:16 GMT)'As fast as we install this AI capacity, we are monetizing it,' says Amazon CEO Andy JassyAWS has an open cash spigot for AI infrastructure, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy telling investors the company has been monetizing compute capacity as fast as it brings it online and it plans to double capacity by the end of 2027.… |
Ad blocking is alive and well, despite Chrome's attempts to make it harder - (pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:39:52 GMT)The end isn't nigh after allChrome's latest revision of its browser extension architecture, known as Manifest v3 (MV3), was widely expected to make content blocking and privacy extensions less effective than its predecessor, Manifest v2 (MV2).… |
OpenClaw reveals meaty personal information after simple cracks - (pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:32:52 GMT)Skills marketplace is full of stuff - like API keys and credit card numbers - that crims will find tastyAnother day, another vulnerability (or two, or 200) in the security nightmare that is OpenClaw.… |
