Sci-Tech news

• VANISHED GLOBAL WARMING may NOT RETURN – UK Met Office

  14-09-2015 12:01 via go.theregister.com
  
  But it might. Hey, we don't know, we're the Met Office There hasn't actually been any global warming for the last fifteen years or so - this much is well known. But is this just a temporary hiccup set to end soon? A new report from the UK's weather bureau says it just might not be.…
  
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• Mysterious flashes light up desert near California military base sparking theories of secret weapon testing

  17-08-2026 18:52 via dailymail.com
  
  Mysterious bright flashes were spotted near a top-secret military bas over the weekend, triggering speculation over what caused the unexplained bursts in broad daylight.
  
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• An AI broke Snowflake's code. Then another AI agent exploited it

  17-08-2026 18:36 via theregister.com
  
  An AI broke Snowflake’s code; then another AI, an attack agent, autonomously found the bug, exploited it, and extracted credentials without human intervention. Luckily, this wasn’t yet another case of rogue AI agents doing evil things. It was a sanctioned bug hunt, conducted through Snowflake’s HackerOne vulnerability disclosure program, and Snowflake fixed the flaw the same day Wiz reported it and rotated the affected credentials the following day. Wiz’s red agent, an AI
  
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• Mozilla adds ad blocking to Firefox for iOS

  17-08-2026 17:50 via theregister.com
  
  Firefox for iOS now includes an optional ad blocker, or it will soon. According to Mozilla, the experimental feature "is being introduced to the Firefox user base through a progressive rollout." As such, it might not have turned up for every user just yet. Off by default, the block uses a filter list based on EasyList to block ads before they load. According to the organization, this means that it covers third-party advertising networks, ad-related trackers, ads served up by websites, as well as
  
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• Radiation tests reveal new evidence that may support Bible's account of Jesus' resurrection

  17-08-2026 17:26 via dailymail.com
  
  Critics have also questioned why the image of a crucified man was never mentioned in the Bible when the disciples discovered linen inside the empty tomb.
  
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• This seemingly innocent photo sent to a loving girlfriend was all the proof she needed to know he was cheating... experts reveal telltale signs you must know

  17-08-2026 17:19 via dailymail.com
  
  A woman discovered her boyfriend was cheating after an apparently innocent message started to raise alarm bells. It soon turned out that her suspicions were justified.
  
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• GitHub has Issues as repo downloads hit 50% error rate

  17-08-2026 17:04 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft's GitHub source shack is reporting a 50 percent error rate on repository content downloads. GitHub Copilot is also "experiencing degraded availability." The problems began at 1340 UTC, when the company's status page reported "impacted performance for some GitHub services." This rapidly escalated to degraded performance across numerous services, including Issues – which was, appropriately enough, experiencing an issue of its own. GitHub is investigating and has promised an update,
  
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• $1K laser mosquito zapper promises precision strikes as backers itch for answers

  17-08-2026 17:04 via theregister.com
  
  Do you love lasers and hate mosquitoes? For $1,000, you can install your very own bug-zapping surface-to-air missile rig at home – no military-grade budget required, provided the startup behind it delivers on its promises. The Chinese company behind Photon Matrix has opened pre-orders for its consumer-grade mosquito zappers after videos of early prototypes began circulating in July 2025. The devices resemble home theater projectors in both size and appearance, and can be deployed wherever
  
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• Fears as life-threatening biblical 'plague' that causes painful ulcers spreads across wealthy East Coast enclave... as experts reveal exactly who is at risk

  17-08-2026 16:58 via dailymail.com
  
  WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. A potentially deadly disease linked by some researchers to a mysterious biblical plague has emerged in a wealthy enclave on the East Coast.
  
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• Radiation experiments reveal new clue in Bible's account of Jesus' resurrection

  17-08-2026 16:55 via dailymail.com
  
  Critics have also questioned why the image of a crucified man was never mentioned in the Bible when the disciples discovered linen inside the empty tomb.
  
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• How easy it is to hack a plane: Attackers could take over a Boeing 737 in less than a minute - using a device the size of a 10p coin, study warns

  17-08-2026 16:46 via dailymail.com
  
  Scientists from the University of California San Diego have developed a hardware device that can take over the communications between two key onboard computers.
  
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• Monster heat dome engulfs 12 US states TODAY with temperatures hotter than the Sahara

  17-08-2026 16:36 via dailymail.com
  
  Around 100 million Americans have been warned to stay inside due to dangerous conditions that will make several states bake like an oven.
  
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• Stunning new Shroud of Turin theory finally explains its description in the Bible

  17-08-2026 16:23 via dailymail.com
  
  Critics have also questioned why the image of a crucified man was never mentioned in the Bible when the disciples discovered linen inside the empty tomb.
  
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• Windows 11 movable taskbar edges closer to general release

  17-08-2026 16:01 via theregister.com
  
  Windows 11 has moved one step closer to matching Windows 10 after Microsoft slid a movable taskbar into the Release Preview Channel. The feature allows the Windows taskbar to be positioned at the top, left, or right of the screen, as well as at its default location along the bottom. Users have long requested its return after Microsoft dropped the capability from Windows 11. After floating around the Windows Insider Program for several months, the feature reached the Release Preview Channel late
  
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• Capita handed vital role in next pandemic despite civil service pension failures

  17-08-2026 15:14 via theregister.com
  
  Despite the outcry over Capita's performance on the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), the UK government has awarded the beleaguered outsourcer a £31 million contract to build a public health contact center that could be called upon during another pandemic. The government estimates that a COVID-scale emergency could increase the center's total workload to £350 million. Capita announced its contract with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) – an executive agency of the Depart
  
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• Agentic AI costs set to balloon fivefold by 2028

  17-08-2026 14:27 via theregister.com
  
  The cost of agentic AI workflows is forecast to increase more than fivefold by the end of 2028 as users adopt more complex applications of the technology. As Nvidia and other tech giants push inference and agentic AI as the next stage of the AI wave, Gartner warns that the cost of implementing these systems will rise even as foundation models become cheaper. The analyst firm has cast its eye over the nascent world of AI agents – systems designed to act independently in pursuit of a goal &n
  
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• Why your house is a magnet for pests: Horrified Brits say their homes are crawling with ants, wasps and maggots - here's what's behind the invasion

  17-08-2026 14:08 via dailymail.com
  
  Summer is well and truly here - along with a growing army of unwanted creepy crawlies that are invading Britain's homes.
  
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• Crook hawks millions of records allegedly plundered from corporate Azure tenants

  17-08-2026 13:43 via theregister.com
  
  A cybercrook claims to have siphoned millions of employee records from the Microsoft Azure environments of major companies including McDonald's, Vodafone, Kyndryl, and Tata Consultancy Services. The alleged haul spans nine organizations and is being advertised for sale by a threat actor using the name "TheHatman," according to research published by Hudson Rock. McDonald's accounts for the largest alleged dataset on TheHatman's shopping list, with 1.7 million records purportedly up for grabs. Ano
  
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• Instagram is BLASTED for its new logo - as unimpressed users call it an 'absolute abomination'

  17-08-2026 13:16 via dailymail.com
  
  Instagram has quietly changed its logo - and many users are unhappy about it.
  
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• Excel's Copilot function is headed for the Recycle Bin

  17-08-2026 12:55 via theregister.com
  
  Microsoft will retire Excel's COPILOT() function on September 14, barely a year after its preview debut. Introduced in August 2025, initially for Beta Channel users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and later for Excel for the web users through the Frontier program, the COPILOT() function let users send instructions to the company's AI assistant directly from a worksheet cell. Microsoft has now decided the Copilot side pane should be enough for anyone. Beginning September 14, 2026, the COPILO
  
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• Be a hater all you want, AI's here to stay

  17-08-2026 12:18 via theregister.com
  
  AI gets things wrong, it kills jobs, and when the bubble bursts, it will take the economy down with it. When all's said and done, however, AI will still be standing and fundamentally change our lives and work. Get used to it. I get it. There's a lot to hate about AI. Personally, I'm both an AI user and an AI hater. Yet at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much you or I dislike it. AI isn't going away, and it will end up stronger than ever. Let's start from the top, shall we? First, AI ha
  
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• Alarming warning over children's sensory toy - fears it's contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos

  17-08-2026 11:42 via dailymail.com
  
  Toy brand Kiddo World has issued a recall notice for its box of sensory toys, which includes glow-in-the-dark stones, magnetic sand and construction vehicles.
  
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• Could a £2.50 animal BONE be the secret to wrinkle-free skin and life without diabetes? Experts reveal if celeb favourite bone marrow is worth the hype

  17-08-2026 11:27 via dailymail.com
  
  Once a cheap wartime food, a way of nose-to-tail eating, bone marrow was popularised by chef Fergus Henderson in the 1990s and has since become a staple of high-end dining.
  
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• Revealed: All the times Emergency Alerts have gone WRONG - and how to turn them off on your phone once and for all

  17-08-2026 11:14 via dailymail.com
  
  Over the last few years, there have been several incidents in which emergency alert systems have gone wrong.
  
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• Long-lost battlefield where the Anglo Saxons DESTROYED a Viking army is discovered in Devon - including the burial mound of notorious Northman Ubbe Ragnarsson

  17-08-2026 11:13 via dailymail.com
  
  A long-lost battlefield where Anglo-Saxon forces delivered a devastating defeat to a Viking army could finally have been found.
  
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• Code fixers have fired up the AI warp drive. Strange new worlds await

  17-08-2026 11:04 via theregister.com
  
  It is the best of times, it is the worst of times – especially if your job is keeping systems patched and up to date. Microsoft has gone from 60-90 Windows security fixes per month last year to a record of 600+ this July. Oracle and Linux are following the same path, and they are very much not alone. The good news is that a lot of bad things are getting fixed very quickly. The bad news is that patches can bring side effects of their own. There are two mechanisms at work, both driven by the
  
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• Black Hat and DEF CON are AI conferences now, too

  17-08-2026 09:30 via theregister.com
  
  KETTLE Our cybersecurity editor Jessica Lyons spent last week in Las Vegas for the Black Hat and DEF CON security conferences, and at both events there was only one thing on everyone's mind: AI agents and their growing threat to cybersecurity defenders. You can listen to the latest episode of The Kettle right here on this page, as well as on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. Those platforms also let you subscribe to Kettle, so you are always notified when the latest episode goes live. As Jess wr
  
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• Part didn't fit so techie got out his screwdriver. Then something flew off the motherboard

  17-08-2026 08:30 via theregister.com
  
  WHO, ME?Is it a mistake to return to work on Monday? While you ponder that question, pause a minute to read this installment of "Who, Me?" – The Register's week-opening column that shares your stories of workplace errors and escapes. This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "James," who told us that in the early 2000s he worked in the biology department of a famous American university. "We custom-built all our PCs from the cheapest available parts at the time we ordered," James wrote. Wh
  
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• Linux 7.2 debuts, Linus Torvalds says ‘new normal’ means he had to do it now ... or never?

  17-08-2026 08:01 via theregister.com
  
  Linus Torvalds has decided version 7.2 of the Linux kernel is ready for release, albeit in a “new normal” state that he seems not to entirely love. The kernel boss announced the debut of a new kernel in his weekly development status update, which on August 16 opened with the observation that “this last week of the release was – once again – bigger than I would have wished for.” He attributed that uncomfortable size to what he last week described as “the
  
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• Sainsbury's staff eject wrong shopper after facial recognition alert – again

  17-08-2026 06:21 via theregister.com
  
  UK supermarket giant Sainsbury's temporarily suspended live facial recognition (LFR) at one of its stores after staff wrongly ejected a shopper in response to an alert – the second such incident this year. Matt Arnold, 46, was ejected from the chain's store in East Dulwich, London, on August 6 after staff responding to a Facewatch LFR alert apparently mistook him for a suspected thief. The comedy promoter told the BBC that he was using a self-service checkout and called an assistant over t
  
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