Sci-Tech news

• Tanzania stops Malawi burning ivory

  18-09-2015 19:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tanzania obtains a court order preventing Malawi from burning 2.6 tonnes of ivory, saying it needs to use the tusks as evidence for the prosecution of suspected poachers.
  
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• Windows 11 misses the pointer while Defender cries wolf

  01-09-2026 13:15 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft ended the summer with two more Windows annoyances: Defender falsely warning that it is disabled, and reports that an August 27 update is wiping users' mouse cursor customizations. The company added both problems to its Windows release health dashboard on August 28. Microsoft has confirmed the Defender notification bug, while it is still investigating whether the Windows 11 update caused the cursor problems. Reports of the cursor issues appeared after the update was released. Microsoft
  
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• Insider: Red Hat is capping devs' bot budgets

  01-09-2026 12:45 via theregister.com
  
  EXCLUSIVE The Register has seen information that IBM’s Linux subsidiary is moderating its previously gung-ho AI stance by imposing limits on token spend. The Reg FOSS desk received a tip-off this week from a well placed company insider that a new edict has been sent down from Red Hat management to its legions of hard-working FOSS developers. The R&D department is capping developers' use of tokens: from now on, they'll need to keep it to a maximum of $300 per calendar month, and no more
  
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• AWS: DuckDB will provide 'connective tissue' across the data estate

  01-09-2026 12:00 via theregister.com
  
  Last week, AWS bought DuckLabs, the people behind the open source OLAP system DuckDB. Since the cloud giant already owns a data warehouse – in Redshift – and it doesn’t get the DuckDB intellectual property (it remains open source), then why would it bother? Andy Warfield, AWS VP and Distinguished Engineer, argued the acquisition is a major plank of AWS’s thinking when it considers the future of application building, data, and analytics. “Half of why DuckDB is percei
  
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• Brace for Storm Shaun! Met Office unveils new list of names for the UK's extreme weather events - including one inspired by the animated sheep

  01-09-2026 11:43 via dailymail.com
  
  The Met Office has unveiled the official list of storm names for the 2026-27 season - including tributes to loved ones, favourite pets and even an animated sheep.
  
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• Would you spend £420 on a toothbrush? Dyson launches its first dental device with a built-in AI camera

  01-09-2026 11:42 via dailymail.com
  
  The Dyson CameraJet is described as an 'entirely new way to clean your teeth', and features a built-in camera that uses machine learning to spot tiny gaps between your teeth.
  
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• Inside the plane revolutionising long-haul travel - with heaps more room, 19-inch TVs and even a self-serve snack bar

  01-09-2026 11:32 via dailymail.com
  
  For a more intimate flying experience - and routes to second cities and lesser-known spots - hop on board the Airbus A321XLR.
  
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• What lies beneath: Scientists discover six never-before-seen mystery structures lurking deep inside the Earth

  01-09-2026 11:21 via dailymail.com
  
  Scientists have uncovered six never-before-seen mystery structures lurking deep inside the Earth.
  
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• Next bus to Altrincham delayed by Windows Defender

  01-09-2026 11:15 via theregister.com
  
  BORK! BORK!BORK! There was a time when catching a bus meant knowing how the local network worked: a dog-eared timetable or encyclopedic knowledge of routes and numbering systems was required before you even got on board. Not anymore. Modern mapping apps now bake in bus guidance, and route data flows freely from web services. The rather excellent kit from UK Departure Boards, for instance, can show bus services just as happily as rail departures. Public transport networks have gradually grown sma
  
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• The teen Bill Gates has answers to the AI-pocalypse the 70-year-old Gates has forgotten

  01-09-2026 10:30 via theregister.com
  
  Bill Gates is worried about AI. Nobody’s preparing for a future of mass unemployment, inhumanly powerful cyber attacks, and a massive accumulation of power and wealth among emperors of tech. Yes, that Bill Gates. Really.A mere 25 years since the Redmond global octopus squeezed its tentacles tighter with Windows XP, yer man’s getting cold feet about this tech stuff. He glances nervously back at the Great Depression. Do we really want to go back there? He’s not wrong, but that do
  
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• If hardware price squeezes make you sad, VMware says it will all end in tiers

  01-09-2026 07:06 via theregister.com
  
  VMware is working to find new roles for its memory tiering technology, in the expectation that memory and hardware prices will remain high for years and users will therefore look for ways to put off server purchases. Memory tiering moves data out of DRAM and onto another storage medium that’s fast enough that CPUs can still access info at speeds that don’t slow application performance. VMware’s implementation works by looking for “cold pages” in DRAM – chunks
  
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• Pax Silica: The Fine Print Comes Due

  01-09-2026 06:59 via technocracy.news
  
  I called this Technocratic colonization before the ink on the declaration was dry. On January 16, 2026, I wrote that Pax Silica was the actualization of Pillar III of the White House AI Action Plan — the pillar that extends the domestic Technocratic agenda to the rest of the world by exporting American AI frameworks, hardware standards, and regulatory templates to allied nations. I said the goal was to cement a global regime of expert rule, dressed up as partnership. People who wanted to b
  
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• Mystery island the size of TWO football fields suddenly appears in Canadian lake... then vanishes

  01-09-2026 06:19 via dailymail.com
  
  Officials were initially skeptical that the island was real, but satellite images confirmed its existence. Efforts to take new satellite images of it have been unsuccessful, however.
  
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• AI adoption at work is broad but shallow

  01-09-2026 01:43 via theregister.com
  
  Economists have taken another stab at assessing the impact of generative AI adoption on different occupations and have found that adoption is broad but not very deep. While generative AI reaches 80 percent of occupations and more than 40 percent of tasks, in most of these occupations fewer than half of workers adopt it. Occupational use is high in professions where you'd expect – in management and professional occupations, particularly those that are related to finance, business, and compu
  
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• Nvidia is building an IP licensing empire on the back of NVLink

  01-09-2026 00:54 via theregister.com
  
  The proliferation of custom AI ASICs, or XPUs, from OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and others has led many to question Nvidia's grip on the market. After all, if everybody's building their own, who needs the GPUs the AI arms dealer has made its fortune on? But Nvidia isn't concerned in the least and has instead invited its competition to raid – or, rather, license – the GPU giant's IP holdings, particularly those related to networking. On Monday, MediaTek became the latest to embrace Nvidi
  
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• Healthcare cyberattacks hit pacemakers and millions of patient records

  01-09-2026 00:10 via theregister.com
  
  Two major healthcare businesses, Boston Scientific and McKesson, disclosed more details over the weekend about separate cyberattacks that disrupted global operations and resulted in stolen patient data, respectively. Medical-device maker Boston Scientific, whose IT systems were hacked by unknown intruders last week, said the cyberattack remains ongoing. It also noted that pacemakers and other heart devices implanted after the August 25 breach cannot provide remote monitoring and data transmissio
  
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• VMware uses Nvidia-favored 'AI factory' brand to build something with rival AMD

  31-08-2026 22:48 via theregister.com
  
  Nvidia has for years advanced the idea of an “AI Factory,” and now its partner VMware has created a product with the same name that does most of the same things, but with one vastly important difference: it uses AMD hardware. VMware was an early supporter of Nvidia in the enterprise and long ago created tools to virtualize GPUs. Nvidia needed that help because its hardware was very expensive even before the generative AI boom, so using virtualization to allow higher utilization rates
  
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• Sprouts recall expanded after multiple deadly bacteria found in more batches

  31-08-2026 22:37 via dailymail.com
  
  A nationwide sprouts recall has been expanded after life-threatening pathogens were found on even more batches. There have been 55 illnesses and four hospitalizations linked to the outbreak.
  
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• Tropical storm warnings for US coast with landfall TOMORROW... and a hurricane can't be ruled out

  31-08-2026 22:32 via dailymail.com
  
  Tropical storm warnings have been issued in two US states as forecasters warn the system will make landfall on Tuesday and a hurricane can't be ruled out.
  
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• Tropical storm warnings issued along US coast with landfall TOMORROW

  31-08-2026 22:21 via dailymail.com
  
  Tropical storm warnings have been issued in two US states as forecasters warn the system will make landfall on Tuesday and a hurricane can't be ruled out.
  
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• Orbify.eu pitches warped Inception-style 3D maps for navigation

  31-08-2026 21:52 via theregister.com
  
  Orbify.eu, a two-year-old Norwegian startup, wants people to see the world in a new way – through a warped lens that bends rendered map scenes into the dream sequence perspective seen in Christopher Nolan's movie Inception. The geospatial biz, co-founded by Karsten Huitfeldt, is developing image processing software that folds a 3D map model onto a curved surface. The technique, showcased in Inception, combines a near-field street-level perspective that ramps into an overhead view at distan
  
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• OpenClaw 2.0 pours glitter on slow-burning security dumpster fire

  31-08-2026 21:13 via theregister.com
  
  OpenClaw has unveiled what its makers call its largest ever update – large enough to earn a 2.0 moniker – with usability taking center stage, along with some security updates that critics are suggesting will be insufficient. The OpenClaw foundation announced the release of version 2.0 of its AI agent harness on Sunday, describing it as something with far more scope than they ever intended it to have. “This update touches every part of OpenClaw,” Foundation community manag
  
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• The chilling personality type more dangerous than a psychopath, according to a former FBI agent

  31-08-2026 20:44 via dailymail.com
  
  A retired FBI agent says one personality type is more dangerous than a psychopath, and it is far more common.
  
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• Attack hides malware in PNGs and drops custom reverse tunnel on victims' machines

  31-08-2026 20:26 via theregister.com
  
  An unknown miscreant is using "TerminalFix" to trick unsuspecting users into running PowerShell commands that infect their computers with a reverse tunnel granting attackers access to their networks. Some of the malware is even hidden inside PNG graphics the PC downloads. TerminalFix is the latest variant of the wildly popular ClickFix initial access method for attackers. This type of social engineering technique tricks users into running malicious commands by promoting them with a phony fix or
  
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• Noah's Ark could finally be found after tests uncover telltale signs at potential resting place

  31-08-2026 19:40 via dailymail.com
  
  Scientists investigating a mysterious boat-shaped formation high in the mountains of Turkey have uncovered new clues that Noah's Ark could be buried beneath it.
  
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• Noah's Ark could finally be found after signs of ancient wood are detected deep underground

  31-08-2026 18:52 via dailymail.com
  
  Scientists investigating a mysterious boat-shaped formation high in the mountains of Turkey have uncovered new clues that Noah's Ark could be buried beneath it.
  
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• Broadcom pledges to lock down open source Python, Java libraries

  31-08-2026 18:32 via theregister.com
  
  Broadcom has decided to take responsibility for the security of some important open-source software, namely the Spring Java application framework and RabbitMQ. Australian developer Rod Johnson created the precursor to Spring in 2002, then found collaborators to tread the well-worn path towards monetizing open source software by starting a company called SpringSource to offer support and services for their creation. VMware acquired SpringSource and made it part of its Pivotal Software joint ventu
  
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• Anthropic cracks down on hijacked user accounts mining AI tokens

  31-08-2026 18:03 via theregister.com
  
  Rather than paying for their own Claude usage, crims are using malware to steal access to other people's accounts. Aware of this issue, Anthropic has signed at least one affected user out and removed the saved payment method to stop stolen sessions being abused. According to an email shared by Reddit user WorriedAssociate7029, who sent a copy to The Register, Anthropic has been keeping an eye on a threat actor using infostealer malware to hijack Claude login details, session cookies, and other i
  
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• Animals in traveling petting zoo test positive for rabies... potentially putting hundreds at risk of exposure

  31-08-2026 17:49 via dailymail.com
  
  Multiple animals in traveling petting zoo have tested positive for rabies, health officials have announced, potentially putting thousands of visitors at risk of the deadly infection.
  
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• Flood alerts issued for 7 million as 'raging killer currents' threaten multiple US states TODAY

  31-08-2026 16:12 via dailymail.com
  
  Flood watches have been issued for nearly seven million Americans as torrential rain threatens to unleash sudden walls of water with little warning.
  
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