Sci-Tech news

• Keep your bathroom dry using a Raspberry Pi

  03-05-2016 18:06
  
  Program your Raspberry Pi to keep tabs on your bathroom's humidity levels with this handy tutorialBy: Gian Volpicelli, Continue reading...
  
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• OpenAI's agent chained decade-old DoS attacks to crash web servers in seconds

  04-06-2026 21:08 via theregister.com
  
  The next threat your server faces may have been helped along by a bot. OpenAI's Codex agent helped uncover a remote denial-of-service (DoS) exploit that can be launched from a single machine to render vulnerable web servers inaccessible in seconds, according to Calif security researchers. The attack works on default HTTP/2 configurations of major web servers including nginx, Apache HTTP Server, Microsoft IIS, Envoy, and Cloudflare Pingora. As of Thursday, Microsoft IIS and Cloudflare Pingora sti
  
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• Swarms of 'killer mosquitoes' released on innocent Americans reveal secret Pentagon files

  04-06-2026 21:05 via dailymail.com
  
  Unearthed files from the Pentagon reveal the existence of a secret project aimed at turning common pests into a deadly disease-carrying army.
  
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• 'Ominous blob' spotted in Gulf of America threatens multiple US states

  04-06-2026 20:29 via dailymail.com
  
  A massive blob of storms has developed in the Gulf of America, threatening multiple US states starting Friday.
  
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• Secret Pentagon files reveal US Army tested swarms of 'killer mosquitoes' as biological warfare weapons

  04-06-2026 20:02 via dailymail.com
  
  Unearthed files from the Pentagon reveal the existence of a secret project aimed at turning common pests into a deadly disease-carrying army.
  
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• AI heavyweights warn their tech could help terrorists develop bioweapons

  04-06-2026 18:48 via theregister.com
  
  The world’s AI luminaries love to warn us of impending planetary demise thanks to their creations, and they’re back with a new warning: Rapidly improving frontier AI models, combined with readily available synthetic nucleic acids, could lower barriers to biological weapons development. The open letter, published this week, calls on lawmakers to make screening of orders for synthetic nucleic acids and the equipment used to produce them mandatory. It also backs recordkeeping for synthe
  
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• Benevolent dictator Zuck will give Meta staff 30-minute breaks from keylogging privacy assault

  04-06-2026 18:28 via theregister.com
  
  Meta is reportedly backtracking on, or at least weakening, its plans to implement enhanced employee workplace monitoring following staff protests. According to the latest internal memo on the matter, first reported by Reuters, Meta is still planning to capture employees’ keystrokes as previously understood, but it will allow Metalings to switch off the monitoring for 30-minute periods, and request a total exemption. The memo was distributed to staff on Tuesday by Stephane Kasriel, veep at
  
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• AMD takes a third of server CPU market as shipments grow

  04-06-2026 17:49 via theregister.com
  
  Processor shipments declined by more than six percent during the first quarter of 2026, at least for the x86 world, with server CPUs bucking the trend and AMD in particular showing strong performance. These are the latest figures from Mercury Research’s PC Processor report, which tracks the ins and outs of the component markets. The firm says that the total volume of x86 processor chips shipped was lower during this quarter than the previous one, which is seasonally typical, but the magnit
  
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• Mysterious triangular aircraft spotted over Area 51 sparks secret tech theories

  04-06-2026 17:25 via dailymail.com
  
  A mysterious aircraft has been spotted near the highly classified Area 51 base in Nevada, raising questions about what secret technology may be taking to the skies.
  
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• The football emoji has had a makeover! Classic black and white design is replaced with a colourful ball ahead of the World Cup

  04-06-2026 16:36 via dailymail.com
  
  The standard football emoji features a classic design, with black and white hexagons stitched together. But if you send the emoji on WhatsApp from today, you'll see an entirely new ball.
  
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• 'Please do not vibe f$%& up this software': Broken backups spark AI coding row in rsync project

  04-06-2026 15:45 via theregister.com
  
  Incremental backups started failing for some rsync users after a recent update, and what they found in the project's commit history quickly turned a routine bug hunt into yet another fight over AI-generated code. The controversy centers on rsync 3.4.3, a security-focused release published earlier this year to fix multiple vulnerabilities. Shortly after the upgrade, some users reported that incremental backup workflows were no longer behaving as expected, with one user saying their backup system
  
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• 'Please do not vibe f--- up this software': Broken backups spark AI coding row in rsync project

  04-06-2026 15:45 via theregister.com
  
  Incremental backups started failing for some rsync users after a recent update, and what they found in the project's commit history quickly turned a routine bug hunt into yet another fight over AI-generated code. The controversy centers on rsync 3.4.3, a security-focused release published earlier this year to fix multiple vulnerabilities. Shortly after the upgrade, some users reported that incremental backup workflows were no longer behaving as expected, with one user saying their backup system
  
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• Intel's mysterious new datacenter GPU is what Nvidia's Rubin CPX nearly was

  04-06-2026 15:00 via theregister.com
  
  COMPUTEX 2026 Intel offered new insights into its next-gen datacenter GPU codenamed Crescent Island. Alongside supporting enterprise AI deployments, the GPU could fill the void left by Nvidia's Rubin CPX GPUs, which were seemingly shelved late last year following its acquisition of Groq. As datacenter GPUs go, Intel's Crescent Island is certainly an odd duck. It'll ship in a PCIe form factor when most high-end GPUs are now using socketed designs. It also won't use HBM or even GDDR memory. Instea
  
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• Flesh-eating parasite that devours victims alive detected in US for first time in 60 years

  04-06-2026 14:44 via dailymail.com
  
  A deadly flesh-eating parasite has been detected in the US for the first time since 1966, sparking fears of a looming outbreak.
  
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• Palantir wins £9M contract to run UK firearms licensing: CIA-backed biz to hold gun, bomb, and poison records

  04-06-2026 14:30 via theregister.com
  
  Palantir has secured a £9 million ($12 million) government contract to provide software for managing firearms licensing across the UK. The US spy-tech biz will also handle Home Office licensing for explosives, explosive precursors, and poisons. The contract covers a replacement for the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS), which has been in use since the mid-2000s. According to a recently published procurement notice, the new system will help 43 Police Forces in England an
  
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• Shocking twist after America's top exorcist claims UFOs are actually demons

  04-06-2026 14:05 via dailymail.com
  
  One of America's most prominent Catholic exorcists has found himself at the center of a growing controversy after claiming that many UFO sightings are demons.
  
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• Five Eyes: Watch out for odd LinkedIn connection requests, China's back on the hunt for state secrets

  04-06-2026 13:57 via theregister.com
  
  MI5 and its international allies are once again warning that China is shopping for state secret leakers on popular recruitment platforms, including LinkedIn, Indeed, and Upwork. In a fresh advisory published on Wednesday evening, the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence agency said China is using an increasing number of platforms to recruit those who have access to classified or privileged information. Chinese military intelligence officers specifically target security clearance holders, inc
  
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• Duo who sold car crash victims' data must repay £118k

  04-06-2026 13:13 via theregister.com
  
  Two former RAC workers in the UK have three months to pay more than £118,000 ($158,500) collectively after being convicted of selling crash victims’ data, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Debbie Okparavero and Maliha Islam, of Salford and Manchester respectively, were sentenced to six-month prison stints, suspended for 18 months, and 150 hours’ unpaid work in 2024, after being found guilty of offenses under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Dat
  
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• Who will win the World Cup? Scientists calculate the chances for all 48 teams - with Spain the clear favourites to take home the trophy

  04-06-2026 12:53 via dailymail.com
  
  Experts from the University of Innsbruck have calculated the chances of winning for all 48 participating teams. And their findings will come as good news for Spain fans.
  
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• Millions of people hear a constant hum they can't explain - now scientists know why

  04-06-2026 12:41 via dailymail.com
  
  If you're constantly plagued by a bizarre humming noise, scientists now have an explanation for it.
  
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• GOV.UK goes Dutch on payments as it dumps Stripe

  04-06-2026 11:47 via theregister.com
  
  The UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) has replaced Stripe with Dutch provider Adyen as its processor for many payments made through its GOV.UK Pay service. Adyen will take over GOV.UK Pay card payments for local authorities, police forces and armed forces units from Stripe, as well as pay by bank services, under a three-year contract worth up to £25.3 million. According to the tender notice published in February 2025, the contract covers around 17 percent of payments made through
  
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• The taste of the afterlife: Scientists make sourdough BREAD using yeast collected from Otzi the Iceman's mummified body - and say it's 'really good'

  04-06-2026 11:02 via dailymail.com
  
  Scientists have found signs of life in the 5,300-year-old mummy - in the form of yeast.
  
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• The ominous sign a SUPER El Niño is inching closer: Satellite image reveals how large areas of the Atlantic Ocean are 5°C hotter than usual - suggesting the unusual climate event could be imminent

  04-06-2026 10:41 via dailymail.com
  
  Large areas of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea are currently 5°C (9°F) hotter than usual, adding to mounting evidence a Super El Niño is imminent.
  
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• UK tax collector hands Capgemini £600M contact center deal, delays start of £2.4B CRM contract

  04-06-2026 10:30 via theregister.com
  
  The UK’s tax collector has chosen French consultancy giant Capgemini for a £600 million contact center deal, while pushing back the award and start of its £2.4 billion customer relationship management contract. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) awarded Capgemini’s UK unit its Contact Centre as a Service contract, worth £600 million including VAT and lasting up to 10 years, on 27 April. It received 13 bids and has also short-listed Canadian-headquartered CGI for the deal
  
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• The grains of sand that solve Stonehenge mystery after 5,000 years: Scientists uncover new evidence key stone was moved hundreds of miles by HUMANS - and not glaciers

  04-06-2026 10:10 via dailymail.com
  
  Stonehenge's most mysterious stone was transported hundreds of miles from Scotland by humans, according to a new study. 
  
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• A huge earthquake could strike in New Zealand: Scientists discover an active fault line running through Auckland - and warn it could spark a 6.8 magnitude tremor at any time

  04-06-2026 09:18 via dailymail.com
  
  Scientists have warned that a huge earthquake could strike in New Zealand - after finding an active fault line in the north of the country.
  
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• Nobody needs Mythos or 0-days to build a chaos-causing computer worm – free open source models work just fine

  04-06-2026 09:09 via theregister.com
  
  There's a lot of fear surrounding the bug-finding capabilities of super-advanced AI models like Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT 5.5-Cyber. But attackers are already using free, publicly available LLMs to hijack networks and worm through software supply chains at a much lower cost – to them at least. The latest example comes from University of Toronto researchers, who used an unnamed, publicly available open-weight model released in 2025 to develop a computer worm that they claim spread
  
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• Scientists at NIH charged with attempting to smuggle highly contagious pathogens from Africa into US

  04-06-2026 08:29 via dailymail.com
  
  Two top US government scientists have been charged with smuggling vials of viruses into the country - and then allegedly lying about it when questioned by officials.
  
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• All the passwords were stored in Active Directory description fields

  04-06-2026 07:00 via theregister.com
  
  PWNED Welcome back to PWNED, the weekly column where we talk about weak security policies and how to avoid them. Hopefully, we can learn from others’ mistakes – or at least have a good laugh at them. Have a story about someone leaving a gaping hole in their network? Share it with us at [email protected]. Anonymity is available upon request. This week, we have a tale of password passivity involving Active Directory. It comes to us courtesy of Rob Anderson, head of reactive consulting s
  
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• Tech CEOs Are Apparently Suffering From AI Psychosis

  04-06-2026 00:59 via technocracy.news
  
  What if tech CEOs are living in a bubble, separated from reality – AI psychosis? Would this throw their instrument panel into chaos? Would they start making really bad decisions, in spite of warnings from those outside their bubble?  This article rightly concludes that the “outcome of the ongoing CEO AI psychosis will simply be organizational chaos.” ⁃ Patrick Wood, Editor.There is a certain wildness in the tech industry these days that both mimics previous eras
  
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