Adrian Taylor

In mid-November, I agreed to an experiment. Anthropic had tested a vending machine powered by its Claude AI model in its own offices and asked whether we'd like to be the first outsiders to try a newer, supposedly smarter version. Claudius, the customized version of the model, would run the machine: ordering inventory, setting prices and responding to customers-aka my fellow newsroom journalists-via workplace chat app Slack. "Sure!" I said. It sounded fun. If nothing else, snacks! Then came the chaos. Within days, Claudius had given away nearly all its inventory for free— including a PlayStation 5 it had bron talked into buying for "marketing purposes." It ordered a live fish. It offered to buy stun guns, pepper spray, cigarettes and underwear. Profits collapsed. Newsroom morale soared.

Oh my god…

.indupitably()

Apple Announces $2 Million Bug Bounty Reward for the Most Dangerous Exploits With the mercenary spyware industry booming, Apple VP Ivan Krstić tells WIRED that the company is also offering bonuses that could bring the max total reward for iPhone exploits to $5 million.

As Apple expands its bug bounty, I spoke with VP Ivan Krstić about the significance + recent big swings like Memory Integrity Enforcement. These steps protect all users, but particularly those targeted by spyware: “We feel a great moral obligation to defend those users” www.wired.com/story/apple-...

OK, I love this. tl;dr using knowledge of your allocator, speed up linked list traversal by adding a branch that guesses where the next linked list element is and pre-populates the "next" variable to eliminate stalls if the allocations are well-behaved.

If you appreciate the Liam Neeson line: “What I have is a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you”, you will love this post from @mjg59.bsky.social

mjg59.dreamwidth.org/73317.html

maps.app.goo.gl/pdANhmjy81Ds...

My fenland legs used to enjoy mountain biking down Jacob’s Ladder with the rest of CamMTB!

Journey to becoming a basic instructor About a year ago, one of our professional instructors David Williams planted a seed in my brain - perhaps I should aim to become an instructor myself. At tha

www.camgliding.uk/journey-to-b... Journey to becoming a basic instructor – Cambridge Gliding Centre

Met Office graphic with the heading 'DID YOU KNOW?' and an illustration of a light bulb. Text reads: '100 years ago today, the BBC broadcast the very first Shipping Forecast, produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.' Includes the hashtag '#WhenItMatters'. On the right, a photo shows rough ocean waves under a cloudy sky.

Did you know? 100 years ago today, the BBC broadcast the #ShippingForecast for the very first time, produced by the Met Office for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

More than just a lifesaver, it’s become a beloved part of Britain’s cultural identity. Learn more: bit.ly/4kg877D 🛳️🌊

“Whenever I see a bagel, I think ooh it’s a donut, and then I get closer and see it’s only a bagel“ - Eddie

🎶 Ther ys a place biyonde the wyrmhole
A place onlye to loveres knowne -
The brave, the hopeful, the lost, the worthye,
Peraventure me and thee!
Will not thou wende wyth these fooles and dreameres
To the planete we calle home?
We hope we wil greete thee soone
On Sanctuarye Moone 🎶

South Cambridge Gliders On Wednesday I was lucky enough to host a gliding evening for my very friendly running club, the South Cambridge Striders. (They were kind enough to come along

Gliding evening for my running club www.camgliding.uk/south-cambri... #cambridge #gliding

Behold my favorite weird Chrome security bug of 2025 so far!

A jaw-dropping URL / omnibox spoof via ligatures, specifically the googlelogo ligature.

issues.chromium.org/issues/39178...

www.camgliding.uk/sightseeing-... - I didn’t mention how proud I am of overcoming my fear of weeing in a glider

Citation needed

I'm excited about this program! Chromium isn't necessarily easy, but I know there are great engineers out there who would love to get paid for improving it!

Aye

Scratch - Imagine, Program, Share Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

Consider scratch.mit.edu

I think we’re getting closer to an answer about the severity of CVSS @fugueish.bsky.social

Those are four weaknesses you’ve named right there. I think you’ve just proven how useful it is.

Memory safety for web fonts  |  Blog  |  Chrome for Developers Learn how and why the Chrome team has replaced FreeType with Skrifa.

We will have memory safety… it will take many steps forward, over the long haul. Here’s an update from Chrome on replacing FreeType with a Rust based alternative. developer.chrome.com/blog/memory-...

Memory safety for web fonts  |  Blog  |  Chrome for Developers Learn how and why the Chrome team has replaced FreeType with Skrifa.

New blog post up on the Rust font loader now shipping in Chrome. I only had a small part in this personally but am proud of the team's work. developer.chrome.com/blog/memory-...

Me doing some silly running thing

Did my first half marathon today. I enjoyed it, which I'd never thought would be possible. It helps that it was ridiculously sunny.

Come join my team…literally.
Product Security is a small sub-team in Chrome Security.

We’re hiring a mid-level Security Engineer to lead wrangling of our security reviews process && pitch in on some other security work. Role is in-office/hybrid, based in SF.

www.google.com/about/career...

An absurdly pretty weekend climbing in Dorset. Portland specifically.

RAM: the forgotten history We owe computers not to Charles Babbage, but to the invention of electronically-controlled working memory.

lcamtuf.substack.com/p/memory-the... is a very good read

MORSE is continuing to grow it's UK team. If you're interested in Windows Security and breaking things.. this is remote work within the UK. jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...

Here's what I was doing last week: www.camgliding.uk/lleweni-parc...