The Register

Congress puts the ISS on life support until 2032, orders Moon base plan Authorization Act seeks to keep lights on until commercial stations are ready The NASA Authorization Act of 2026 has been approved, and alongside a directive for NASA to establish a permanent Moon base, the legislation includes language extending the International Space Station to 2032.…

ICYMI: Congress puts the ISS on life support until 2032, orders Moon base plan

US state laws push age checks into the operating system Bad legislation, but an especially big headache for FOSS Many web sites, social media services, and other platforms require age verification on the theory that it will protect kids from seeing inappropriate content. But now some US states want to require the operating system itself to check your age and that could cause big headaches for FOSS vendors.…

US state laws push age checks into the operating system

Cisco warns of two more SD-WAN bugs under active attack Switchzilla says flaws could allow file overwrites or privilege escalation Just when network admins thought the Cisco SD-WAN patch queue might finally be shrinking, Switchzilla has confirmed miscreants are exploiting more vulnerabilities in its SD-WAN management software.…

Cisco warns of two more SD-WAN bugs under active attack

One vendor is happy RAM prices are high: VMware Memory tiering and pooled memory are having a moment because they offer the chance to use less RAM The high price of memory and solid-state storage has almost everyone worried – but not VMware, because the most innovative new feature in the Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9) private cloud suite it launched last year is memory tiering tech that allows offload of data from RAM to NVMe drives.…

FYI: One vendor is happy RAM prices are high: VMware

Office EU waves sovereignty flag with a familiar stack under the bonnet Euro productivity suite appears to be hosted Nextcloud and Collabora Online In the battle of the online office suites, a new contender has entered the ring... but under the wrestler's mask, we think there may be a familiar face.…

ICYMI: Office EU waves sovereignty flag with a familiar stack under the bonnet

Anthropic sues US government after unprecedented national security designation Brands Trump administration decision 'legally unsound' and has 'no choice but to challenge it in court' AI giant Anthropic says that it has "no choice" but to sue the US government after being officially designated a supply chain risk to national security.…

Anthropic sues US government after unprecedented national security designation

Asteroid 2024 YR4 won't smack Moon in 2032, boffins confirm Humanity and its neighbor safe from this menace at least Scientists have ruled out the possibility that the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 might hit the Moon on December 22, 2032.…

Asteroid 2024 YR4 won't smack Moon in 2032, boffins confirm

Trump administration spoiling for a fight over global satellite regulations FCC not pleased about EU space tech reqs to enter Common market, among other things The US government is consulting with the telecoms industry about "reciprocity" in satellite services, in a move that could see another dispute erupt with the European Union over regulations.…

ICYMI: Trump administration spoiling for a fight over global satellite regulations

Washington reportedly moves to tighten leash on AI chip exports Draft rules could force Nvidia and AMD to seek government approval before selling abroad The Trump administration is reportedly planning new restrictions on GPU exports, aimed not only at controlling who gets them, but at driving AI investment back into the US.…

Washington reportedly moves to tighten leash on AI chip exports

npmx package browser released as alpha to fix pain of using npmjs Project initiated by Nuxt lead Daniel Roe attracts wide support thanks to multiple issues with the official interface A new browser for the npm registry has launched in alpha, following grassroots demand for an alternative to the official npmjs.com interface.…

ICYMI: npmx package browser released as alpha to fix pain of using npmjs

Microsoft spots ClickFix campaign getting users to self-pwn on Windows Terminal Crooks tweak familiar copy-paste ruse so that victims run malicious commands themselves A new twist on the long-running ClickFix scam is now tricking Windows users into launching Windows Terminal and pasting malware into it themselves – handing the credential-stealing Lumma infostealer the keys to their browser vault.…

Microsoft spots ClickFix campaign getting users to self-pwn on Windows Terminal

UK peers warn weakening AI copyright law could hammer creative industries House of Lords committee says ministers must not trade a £124B sector for promises of future tech growth Britain's creative industries will face significant damage unless the government strengthens AI copyright law, according to a House of Lords committee.…

UK peers warn weakening AI copyright law could hammer creative industries

Microsoft Copilot to hijack your browser... for your own convenience Embeds Edge into AI assistant, ignores questions about opt-in Microsoft is rolling out a Copilot update to Windows Insiders that embeds web browsing directly into the assistant, opening links in a side panel rather than launching your default browser.…

ICYMI: Microsoft Copilot to hijack your browser... for your own convenience

Microsoft kicks new Outlook opt-out deadline down the road to 2027 Admins get another year before migration pressure ramps up Microsoft has delayed the opt-out phase for the new enterprise version of Outlook to 2027, giving administrators another 12 months to get ready for migration.…

Microsoft kicks new Outlook opt-out deadline down the road to 2027

European Space Agency and China both achieve gigabit links to geostationary satellites Raises hopes birds 40,000km away can be reprogrammed, for science or military purposes The European Space Agency and the Institute of Optoelectronics at China’s Academy of Sciences both claim they’ve achieved gigabit links to satellites in geostationary orbit.…

FYI: European Space Agency and China both achieve gigabit links to geostationary satellites

UK watchdog eyes Meta's smart glasses after workers say they 'see everything' Contractors tasked with improving AI reportedly had access to intimate footage captured through wearables Britain's privacy watchdog is asking questions about Meta's AI-powered smart glasses after reports that human contractors reviewing recordings from the devices were exposed to extremely private moments captured by unsuspecting users.…

ICYMI: UK watchdog eyes Meta's smart glasses after workers say they 'see everything'

Solar superstorm gave ESA's Mars orbiters a handy science opportunity Veteran spacecraft overcome computer glitches as atmosphere 'flooded by electrons' Almost two years ago, a solar storm hit Earth, triggering auroras that were seen as far south as Mexico. The storm also reached Mars and was detected by a pair of ESA spacecraft, Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO).…

ICYMI: Solar superstorm gave ESA's Mars orbiters a handy science opportunity

Son of government contractor arrested after alleged $46M crypto heist from US Marshals FBI and French GIGN swoop on Saint Martin, John Daghita in cuffs The son of a government contractor was arrested in the Caribbean after allegedly stealing more than $46 million in seized cryptocurrency from the US Marshals Service, the FBI says.…

Son of government contractor arrested after alleged $46M crypto heist from US Marshals

Norway's Consumer Council targets enshittification Its aim is wide, covering everything from social networks to genAI Norway's Forbrukerrådet consumer council is taking aim at the creeping enshittification of modern life in a 100-page report – and a splendid four-minute video which we highly recommend.…

Norway's Consumer Council targets enshittification

Microsoft finally gets around to fixing Windows 10 Recovery Environment after breaking it in October Released from the curse of the update bork fairy Microsoft has finally fixed a Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) bug it introduced in Windows 10's final update.…

Microsoft finally gets around to fixing Windows 10 Recovery Environment after breaking it in October

UK Treasury not sure about ditching Oracle to join £1.7 billion shared services program it is funding It promised £1.15B… but finance ministry yet to show 'formal commitment' to adopt Workday SaaS, watchdog says The UK's Treasury is yet to fully commit to joining a multi-billion pound ERP and HR shared services program it has agreed to fund, potentially slashing any resulting savings, according to a report from the National Audit Office.…

UK Treasury not sure about ditching Oracle to join £1.7 billion shared services program it is funding

CERN sends AI-trained robot mice scurrying through LHC beam pipes Bots hunt deformed RF contacts inside the collider's 27 km vacuum tubes The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and CERN have jointly developed a "mouse-sized robot" to inspect parts of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that are out of reach to humans.…

ICYMI: CERN sends AI-trained robot mice scurrying through LHC beam pipes

Transport for London says 2024 breach affected 7M customers, not 5,000 Authority says attackers accessed systems holding data tied to millions of Oyster and contactless users Transport for London has confirmed that a 2024 breach exposed the data of more than 7 million people – a far larger crowd than the few thousand customers originally warned that their details might be at risk.…

Transport for London says 2024 breach affected 7M customers, not 5,000

MoJ puts Prisoner Telephony Service replacement on hold yet again Project dialed back, BT asked to keep current system for another 54 months The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will pay telco BT £94.6 million plus VAT to keep its in-cell Prisoner Telephony Service (PTS) going for another 54 months after repeatedly pushing back procurement of its replacement.…

ICYMI: MoJ puts Prisoner Telephony Service replacement on hold yet again

Google feels the need for security speed, so will ship Chrome updates every two weeks Retains eight-weekly Extended Stable releases but warns fortnightly updates are the best way to stay safe Google will halve the time between releases of its Chrome browser to two weeks, across versions of the software for desktop operating systems, Android, and iOS.…

FYI: Google feels the need for security speed, so will ship Chrome updates every two weeks

UK mobilizes lawyers to keep report on Gatwick 'drone' chaos under wraps Seven-year Freedom of Information battle heads to tribunal Exclusive  The UK's Department for Transport (DfT) is assembling government lawyers to fight the Information Commissioner's decision that it must release a document summarizing the lessons from the 2018 Gatwick drone chaos.…

UK mobilizes lawyers to keep report on Gatwick 'drone' chaos under wraps

UK still doodling digital pound while Brussels frets over payment sovereignty Geopolitical tensions turn up the pressure for European legislators The UK is still in the design phase of digital currency as the EU comes under political pressure to accelerate the development of a digital euro to bolster the bloc's sovereignty and resilience.…

ICYMI: UK still doodling digital pound while Brussels frets over payment sovereignty

Altman said no to military AI abuses – then signed Pentagon deal anyway OpenAI CEO's principles lasted about 12 hours before $200M check arrived Opinion  A week ago today, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he'd draw the same lines as Anthropic. By that night, he'd signed a Department of Defense deal that included no such AI protections. What's going on here?…

Altman said no to military AI abuses – then signed Pentagon deal anyway

Supposedly big-brained execs are outsourcing decisionmaking to AI Survey of UK bosses find 62 percent of bosses rely on LLMs for help Most business leaders in the United Kingdom appear to have outsourced a lot of their decisionmaking to machine learning models, according to a survey of 200 suits published by data streaming tools vendor Confluent. /p>…

ICYMI: Supposedly big-brained execs are outsourcing decisionmaking to AI

OpenAI says its latest model is less likely to beat around the bush The AI giant is also trying to walk back some terms of its deal with the Defense Department OpenAI says GPT‑5.3 Instant, the latest addition to its GPT-5.3 family of models, is less inclined to moralize.…

FYI: OpenAI says its latest model is less likely to beat around the bush