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Windows 11 Poised to Surpass Windows 10 This Summer: Enterprise Upgrades Drive the Shift

2025-04-04

Windows 11 Poised to Surpass Windows 10 This Summer: Enterprise Upgrades Drive the Shift

Statcounter data reveals Windows 11's market share is rapidly growing, on track to overtake Windows 10 by summer. While Windows 10 still holds a 54.2% share, Windows 11 has reached 42.69%. The primary driver is enterprise upgrades spurred by the impending October 14, 2025, end of support for most Windows 10 versions. Despite a lack of compelling new features in Windows 11, the looming deadline is forcing the migration. This mirrors the challenge faced by AI PCs, where a lack of killer apps hinders upgrades, regardless of Microsoft's Copilot promotion.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Microsoft Kills Off Remote Desktop App, Forcing Migration to Windows App

2025-04-04

Microsoft Kills Off Remote Desktop App, Forcing Migration to Windows App

Microsoft is ending support for its legacy Remote Desktop application on May 27th, mandating a migration to the new Windows App. While the new app offers unified access to services like Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop, along with features such as customizable home screens and multi-monitor support, it also has limitations. Some proxy server environments and AD FS single sign-on are not supported, leading to user inconvenience. The move has been criticized by some as "the dumbest rebranding ever."

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

EU Plans to Backdoor Encryption by 2026: Security or Risk?

2025-04-04

EU Plans to Backdoor Encryption by 2026: Security or Risk?

The EU's new 'ProtectEU' plan aims to bolster European security, but includes a worrying proposal to backdoor encryption by 2026 or sooner. While the EU claims this is to help law enforcement access data, critics fear it could compromise Europe's cybersecurity and be exploited by other nations. Simultaneously, the EU plans to deploy quantum cryptography in critical infrastructure by 2030.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

GenAI Market Shakeup: Gartner Predicts Consolidation and Extinctions

2025-04-01

GenAI Market Shakeup: Gartner Predicts Consolidation and Extinctions

Gartner forecasts a significant consolidation in the generative AI (GenAI) market, with a potential outcome of only a few major players remaining. The current landscape sees numerous Large Language Model (LLM) providers struggling with high development and operational costs in a fiercely competitive market. Analyst John-David Lovelock predicts a cloud-like market dominance by a select few, mirroring the current AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud scenario. Businesses are increasingly opting for commercial off-the-shelf solutions rather than building their own AI software. While GenAI is experiencing explosive growth, projected to reach $644 billion by 2025, LLM developers are prioritizing market share acquisition over revenue, leading to a predicted, albeit slow, weeding out of weaker players. This won't be a rapid dot-com-like collapse, but a gradual consolidation.

(www.theregister.com)

AI Market Consolidation

China's Stealthy Talent Grab in Taiwan: A Tech War Intensifies

2025-03-31

China's Stealthy Talent Grab in Taiwan: A Tech War Intensifies

Taiwan's Investigation Bureau exposed how multiple Chinese tech companies secretly poached Taiwanese high-tech talent, particularly in chip design and manufacturing, by establishing shell companies in Taiwan to hide their Chinese connections. These companies used intermediaries in places like Singapore to circumvent Taiwanese laws, attracting engineers from companies like Intel and Microsoft to work on projects, including those supporting China's 'East Data, West Compute' strategy. This not only threatens Taiwan's tech industry but also raises concerns about the potential use of Taiwanese technology for China's military ambitions.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech talent poaching Chinese tech companies Taiwan

Nvidia's GTC Reveal: Will DGX Spark and Station Disrupt the PC Market?

2025-03-31

Nvidia's GTC Reveal: Will DGX Spark and Station Disrupt the PC Market?

Nvidia unveiled two new workstations at its GTC event, the DGX Spark and DGX Station, aimed at AI developers. DGX Spark is a compact desktop, while DGX Station is a more powerful workstation-class machine, both offering significant AI compute power. While analysts believe Nvidia is attempting to expand its enterprise footprint, the high price point and niche market focus raise questions about their potential to truly "disrupt" the broader PC market. Nvidia's strategy appears more focused on empowering developers with powerful AI tools than targeting the general consumer market. Concurrently, Nvidia is aggressively expanding into software and networking infrastructure, aiming to build a complete enterprise-grade AI ecosystem.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Nvidia's AI Power Play: Moore's Law is Dead, Long Live the 600kW Rack

2025-03-31

Nvidia's AI Power Play: Moore's Law is Dead, Long Live the 600kW Rack

At Nvidia's GTC, Jensen Huang unveiled Nvidia's next three generations of GPUs, including the Blackwell and Rubin processors, and a massive 600kW rack-scale system. This reveals Nvidia's strategy to pursue massive compute power expansion by stacking more silicon, increasing memory bandwidth, and lowering precision, post-Moore's Law. However, this brings immense power consumption and cooling challenges, necessitating the construction of specialized "AI factories." Nvidia's move also paves the way for competitors, signaling a new era of ultra-dense computing in data centers.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech AI Compute

UK Gov's AI Talent Crisis: Lack of Tech Skills & Broken Hiring Processes

2025-03-28

UK Gov's AI Talent Crisis: Lack of Tech Skills & Broken Hiring Processes

A former director of data science at the UK prime minister's office revealed a critical shortage of tech talent within government data departments. Laura Gilbert testified that many government officials in data roles lack the technical skills needed, making it difficult for them to find similar jobs in the private sector. While pockets of excellence exist within the Government Digital Service (GDS), the overall skill level is inconsistent, and hiring processes fail to effectively identify truly skilled candidates. Despite a government initiative, the "Blueprint for Modern Digital Government," promising significant investment in AI talent development and technology upgrades, Gilbert highlighted the need for long-term commitment to data integration, citing the poor track record of past projects. A parliamentary report further underscored the problem, revealing that outdated IT systems hinder AI adoption and funding allocation remains an issue. This highlights the immense challenges the UK government faces in its digital transformation journey.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Government Digital Transformation AI Talent Skills Gap

IBM Layoffs: US Jobs Shifting to India

2025-03-28

IBM Layoffs: US Jobs Shifting to India

IBM's layoffs are far more extensive than previously reported, with a significant number of US employees losing their jobs, while these positions are being transferred to India. Data reveals a surge in job openings in India, contrasting with a persistent decline in the US. An IBM employee recounted being tasked with training new Indian hires, only to receive a layoff notice themselves. Many laid-off employees possessed extensive cloud experience, replaced by less experienced Indian workers, resulting in decreased quality and efficiency. This raises concerns about IBM's offshoring practices and the implications for US workers' rights and the company's future direction.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

London Met Police to Deploy Permanent Facial Recognition Cameras

2025-03-27

London Met Police to Deploy Permanent Facial Recognition Cameras

The Metropolitan Police will install two permanent live facial recognition (LFR) cameras in Croydon town center this summer to combat crime. This move has sparked privacy concerns, as the system is prone to errors and could be used to monitor individuals beyond suspected criminals, including vulnerable people and victims. While police claim high accuracy, the legality remains contested, with critics calling it a dystopian surveillance nightmare.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

VMware Sues Siemens Over Unlicensed Software

2025-03-26

VMware Sues Siemens Over Unlicensed Software

VMware is suing Siemens' US operations for allegedly using more VMware software than licensed. The dispute began when Siemens requested extended support, submitting a list of its VMware software that significantly exceeded its purchased licenses. Siemens later attempted to retract the list, leading VMware to believe they intentionally concealed unlicensed software use. This lawsuit follows VMware's recent announcement of changes to its software download process, a move aimed at better tracking license compliance.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Software Licensing

Microsoft's Outlook Versions: A User Experience Nightmare?

2025-03-25

Microsoft's Outlook Versions: A User Experience Nightmare?

Microsoft veteran Scott Hanselman recently poked fun at the plethora of Outlook versions on Bluesky, including Outlook (New), Outlook (New), Outlook (Zero Sugar), and more, sparking a heated discussion. This highlights a common problem in Microsoft software: version proliferation. For example, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Teams (Personal) often coexist. Microsoft's push for the new Outlook, built on a modern service architecture, lacks many features of the classic version, such as COM add-in support, causing inconvenience for enterprise users. While Microsoft promises support for the Classic version until at least 2029, its forced migration strategy has raised user concerns, mirroring the case of a soft drink company replacing a well-liked product with a 'new' version and renaming the old one 'classic'. Hanselman's humorous commentary reveals the potential pitfalls of having multiple, similarly functioning options, potentially confusing users and negatively impacting user experience.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Palantir Cashes In on UK's COVID-19 Response: A Data-Driven Controversy

2025-03-25

Palantir Cashes In on UK's COVID-19 Response: A Data-Driven Controversy

US data analytics firm Palantir profited handsomely from the UK's COVID-19 response, securing multi-million pound contracts despite legal challenges. Initially awarded a nominal contract for COVID-19 data storage, Palantir's agreements rapidly escalated. Now, they advocate for a government-wide "common operating system" for data management, raising concerns about procurement processes and Palantir's close ties to UK government agencies. The company's leveraging of a public health crisis for profit remains a point of contention.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Data Analytics Government Contracts

Tech's Great Resignation: Flexibility or Bust

2025-03-25

Tech's Great Resignation: Flexibility or Bust

A survey of over 26,000 employees reveals that 40% of tech workers quit their jobs due to inflexible work arrangements regarding hours, location, and intensity. This contradicts the growing trend of companies mandating a return to the office and longer hours. While companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google push for in-person work, citing innovation, mentorship, and productivity, the survey highlights that remote work boosts team cohesion, and a significant majority of tech workers prioritize flexible working options. Ignoring these needs could lead to continued talent loss in the tech sector.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech employee attrition work flexibility

FaunaDB Shuts Down, Going Open Source After $27M in Funding

2025-03-24

FaunaDB Shuts Down, Going Open Source After $27M in Funding

FaunaDB, a database startup that raised $27 million in funding, announced it will shut down its service at the end of May, transitioning to an open-source model. The company, boasting 25,000 developers using its serverless database which combined relational power and document flexibility, cited the capital-intensive nature of scaling a global database service and the current market environment as reasons for the shutdown. Existing customers will be transitioned off the service over the coming months. The open-source release will include the core database technology, supporting JSON documents with relational features like joins, foreign keys, and schema enforcement, along with its FQL query language. Some observers suggest that an open-source approach from the beginning might have led to greater success.

(www.theregister.com)

Development

Pentagon Axes $280M AI Project, Prioritizes 'Lethal' AI Over 'Equitable' AI

2025-03-24

Pentagon Axes $280M AI Project, Prioritizes 'Lethal' AI Over 'Equitable' AI

The Pentagon has canceled its troubled Defense Civilian Human Resources Management System (DCHRMS) project, which ran eight years over budget at $280 million. Along with DCHRMS, over $360 million in grants focused on DEI, climate change, and social programs were also cut. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth explained that the department needs "lethal" AI, not "equitable" AI, and will replan the HR system modernization. This is part of the Pentagon's Department of Government Efficiency initiative to eliminate wasteful spending.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Defense Budget AI Project Defense budget

China Tightens Facial Recognition Rules, Taiwan Infrastructure Targeted in Cyberattacks

2025-03-24

China Tightens Facial Recognition Rules, Taiwan Infrastructure Targeted in Cyberattacks

China has issued new regulations prohibiting the use of facial recognition technology without consent and restricting its use in public places. Simultaneously, critical infrastructure in Taiwan has been targeted by a suspected China-backed hacking group. Elsewhere, Zoho won India's government-backed web browser competition, while X is suing the Indian government over content takedown laws. Japan's new cybersecurity bill, which allows for offensive cyber operations, is facing privacy concerns. Finally, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute reports being targeted by Chinese online harassment.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

IBM Layoffs Hit Thousands, Cloud Classic Takes a Hit

2025-03-20

IBM Layoffs Hit Thousands, Cloud Classic Takes a Hit

IBM insiders report thousands of layoffs across the US, including a quarter of the staff in its Cloud Classic operation. While unannounced publicly, the cuts impact various teams, including consulting, corporate social responsibility, cloud infrastructure, sales, and internal systems. The layoffs are seen as part of IBM's ongoing “Resource Actions” (layoffs) and are coupled with the company's return-to-office push. Reports suggest a shift of jobs to India. The layoffs have fueled employee discontent over CEO Arvind Krishna's salary increase and comments on AI.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Dutch Parliament Votes to Ditch US Tech, Prioritize National Sovereignty

2025-03-20

Dutch Parliament Votes to Ditch US Tech, Prioritize National Sovereignty

The Dutch parliament unanimously passed eight motions urging the government to replace US-made technology with homegrown alternatives. Driven by concerns about data sovereignty and the potential for US tech giants to exert political pressure, the motions call for a range of actions, including halting migrations to American cloud services, creating a Dutch national cloud, and repatriating the .nl top-level domain. MP Barbara Kathmann argued that over-reliance on US tech weakens the Netherlands' digital sovereignty and expertise. While non-binding, the overwhelming support for these motions puts significant pressure on the government to act, potentially setting a precedent for other European nations.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech tech decoupling Netherlands

Amazon Kills Local Alexa Processing: Privacy Concerns Rise with AI Push

2025-03-18

Amazon Kills Local Alexa Processing: Privacy Concerns Rise with AI Push

Starting March 28, 2025, Amazon will eliminate the local voice processing option for some Echo devices, sending all voice requests to the cloud for analysis. Amazon claims this is necessary for new generative AI features, but the move has sparked privacy concerns. While users previously could choose not to send voice recordings, transcripts were still sent to Amazon's cloud even with this option enabled. This change forces users to choose between privacy and full Alexa functionality, as disabling recording storage disables many personalized features. Amazon assures users this doesn't compromise privacy, but its past record, including using voice data for targeted ads and security breaches, raises doubts.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Eight-Year Espionage Campaign Leveraging Unpatched Windows Shortcut Vulnerability

2025-03-18

Eight-Year Espionage Campaign Leveraging Unpatched Windows Shortcut Vulnerability

Trend Micro discovered an eight-year-old espionage campaign exploiting a vulnerability in Windows .LNK shortcut files. Attackers embed malicious code by obscuring commands within megabytes of whitespace in the command-line arguments. Despite Trend Micro reporting this to Microsoft last September, Microsoft considers it a low-priority UI issue, not a security vulnerability, and refuses to patch it. This vulnerability has been used in attacks targeting governments, private sectors, and financial institutions, with 46% of attacks originating from North Korea. Trend Micro decided to publicly disclose the vulnerability, as even local code execution, combined with other exploits, easily compromises systems. Microsoft stated they will consider addressing this in a future feature release, advising users to exercise caution when downloading files from unknown sources.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Windows vulnerability espionage

SourceHut Slams AI Crawlers for Overwhelming Its Servers

2025-03-18

SourceHut Slams AI Crawlers for Overwhelming Its Servers

Open-source Git hosting service SourceHut is battling a wave of aggressive AI web crawlers that are overwhelming its servers. The company has deployed countermeasures, including a 'tar pit' called Nepenthes, and has blocked several cloud providers like Google Cloud and Azure due to excessive bot traffic. This isn't a new problem; SourceHut faced similar issues in 2022 with Google's Go Module Mirror, and other open-source projects have also been affected. While some AI companies have pledged to respect robots.txt, abuse persists, with sites like iFixit, Vercel, and Diaspora reporting issues. The situation is further complicated by sophisticated spoofing, with bots masquerading as legitimate crawlers like OpenAI's GPTBot. This makes log analysis difficult and highlights the growing challenge of managing AI crawler traffic. Ad metrics firm DoubleVerify reported an 86% increase in invalid traffic in the second half of 2024, with 16% attributed to AI scrapers.

(www.theregister.com)

Development AI Crawlers Data Scraping

UK Probes Data Brokers' National Security Risks

2025-03-18

UK Probes Data Brokers' National Security Risks

The UK government is seeking expert input on the data brokerage industry and its potential national security risks to inform new data-sharing legislation. The inquiry specifically invites organizations using and supplying data to brokers, as well as brokers themselves, to participate. The government aims to understand brokers' operations, security practices, and clientele to shape policy. Data brokers, facing increasing criticism for collecting and selling personal data, are a target for both marketers and cybercriminals. This investigation seeks to balance the convenience of data sharing with national security concerns, differentiating between data brokers and data intermediaries.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech data brokers

Former DOGE Aide Violated Treasury Policy by Leaking Unencrypted Database

2025-03-18

Former DOGE Aide Violated Treasury Policy by Leaking Unencrypted Database

Marko Elez, a former aide to DOGE (a Trump-aligned unit run by Elon Musk), violated US Treasury policy by emailing an unencrypted database containing personal information to two Trump administration officials. A lawsuit filed by New York's Attorney General and 18 other state AGs alleges unauthorized access to the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS), which handles trillions of dollars annually. The investigation revealed Elez violated Treasury regulations by sending an unencrypted database containing personally identifiable information without prior approval. Elez subsequently resigned following the discovery of hateful tweets. While analysis showed Elez didn't alter payment systems, his sending of the unencrypted database still violated BFS policy.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Medusa Ransomware: Triple Extortion and Exploding Infections

2025-03-16

Medusa Ransomware: Triple Extortion and Exploding Infections

A joint advisory from the FBI, CISA, and MS-ISAC warns of the escalating threat of Medusa ransomware, a RaaS operation exploiting vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-1709 and CVE-2023-48788, and phishing campaigns. Medusa employs a double extortion tactic, now evolving into a 'triple extortion' scheme where attackers demand further payments after receiving the initial ransom. Victims span critical infrastructure sectors, including healthcare, education, and legal, with at least 300 infections in the first two months of 2025. The advisory recommends multi-factor authentication, prompt patching, and other security measures to mitigate the risk.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Google Chromecast Brick: An Expired Certificate Causes Havoc

2025-03-14

Google Chromecast Brick: An Expired Certificate Causes Havoc

Millions of older Google Chromecast devices suddenly stopped working due to an expired device authentication certificate. This isn't a simple software glitch; it involves complex digital signatures and certificate chains. While Google acknowledged the issue and promised a fix, the repair process could take weeks, potentially requiring coordination across multiple teams to update apps. Experts estimate Google might need over a month to build and test a new Chromecast update to renew expired certificates or coordinate multiple teams to release new app versions. The incident highlights shortcomings in Google's device security and maintenance, raising concerns about product lifecycles and security updates.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech expired certificate

My Decade-Old MacBook Pro Died, Can My iPad Pro Replace It?

2025-03-12

My Decade-Old MacBook Pro Died, Can My iPad Pro Replace It?

The author's decade-old MacBook Pro died, prompting an attempt to replace it with an M2 iPad Pro. However, the experience proved vastly different. This isn't just a matter of habit; it's a fundamental difference in operating systems and hardware design. The iPad's touch interface contrasts sharply with the Mac's keyboard and mouse experience, and the lack of a terminal, root access, and development tools like Python severely limits the iPad's capabilities for software development. Furthermore, restrictive policies from Apple and Microsoft limit device flexibility—Microsoft, for example, refuses to let older Surface Go devices run Windows 11. The author ultimately decides to purchase an M4 MacBook Air and expresses concerns about the future evolution of operating systems and services, questioning whether AI can resolve these issues.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Allstate Sued for Exposing 190K New Yorkers' Driver's License Numbers

2025-03-12

Allstate Sued for Exposing 190K New Yorkers' Driver's License Numbers

New York State is suing Allstate Insurance for poorly designed websites that exposed the personal information of nearly 190,000 New Yorkers. The vulnerability, residing in Allstate's National General unit's quote-generating websites, allowed attackers to easily obtain driver's license numbers, used subsequently for fraudulent claims. The lawsuit alleges that Allstate prioritized profit over security, failing to implement adequate safeguards and neglecting to notify affected individuals. The state is seeking penalties and an injunction to prevent future violations.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Vodafone Mandates 8 Days a Month in Office, Sparks Backlash

2025-03-11

Vodafone Mandates 8 Days a Month in Office, Sparks Backlash

Vodafone UK is requiring all employees to work at least eight days a month in the office starting in April, or face disciplinary action. This mandate, despite recent office space reductions and offshoring, has angered employees who report that even in-office work largely consists of video calls, negating the purported benefits of collaboration. This follows a trend among tech companies pushing for return-to-office policies, though studies suggest such mandates don't improve productivity and can negatively impact morale and satisfaction.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech Vodafone

Meta Faces Legal Trouble Over AI Training Data Copyright

2025-03-11

Meta Faces Legal Trouble Over AI Training Data Copyright

Meta is facing a lawsuit alleging it illegally removed copyright management information (CMI) from material used to train its AI models. Authors Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman, and Christopher Golden accuse Meta of using their work to train its neural networks without permission and removing CMI to obscure its actions. A judge ruled that Meta must answer to claims of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), signaling that the copyright implications of AI model training data are set to face more legal scrutiny. While some claims were dismissed, the case's progression could set a precedent for other similar lawsuits, with the Tremblay lawsuit against OpenAI being amended with new evidence.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

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