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Initially announced in May 2024, the controversial AI tool was branded a privacy and security nightmare right out of the gate due to how the feature stored the data it collected locally on the PC.This resulted in Microsoft being forced to pull Recall from launch just days before it was supposed to. The company has since worked to address the security issuesWindows Recall is a feature that captures everything you do on your PC via snapshots, and stores them securely on your PC.The Recall app lets you triage and view these snapshots, going as far back as you like. The...

Recently, I learned of two phenomena: that people today actually publish books almost entirely written by artificial intelligence and that AI programs, rather than admitting ignorance, may sometimes “hallucinate” a plausible sounding answer. I’ve now experienced both. My journey into Münchhausen’s AI Syndrome began with my own very flawed human memory. Many years ago I read a short science fiction story in an old anthology that is now long lost. It made a deep impression on me, but I’m unable to recall the title or author. Suddenly the thought struck me, perhaps Elon Musk’s synthetic AI brainchild Grok could collate...

PC repair chap turned pet detective to diagnose the defectiveOn Call The unconditional love of a pet is often a solace, and perhaps never more so than at the end of a busy working week. Which is when The Register competes with the animal kingdom for your affection by delivering a new edition of On Call, our Friday column in which we share your stories of scratching out a living delivering tech support. This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Walt" who fixes computers. "One day a client came in and complained that her laptop would not turn on."...

In a new advancement for brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, Brad Smith, the first nonverbal patient to receive Neuralink’s brain implant, has demonstrated how he edited and narrated video footage using only his brain signals. Smith is currently living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that impairs voluntary muscle control. In the video posted on YouTube last month, he demonstrated how he relies on Neuralink for all forms of communication. Smith is now the third person in the world to receive Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip, and the first with ALS. In January, Musk seemingly confirmed Smith’s participation...

His last retweet, on April 14, slams the Trump administration's deportation of undocumented migrant and Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. The post reads: 'Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?' Pope Leo XIV also shared several articles that address Catholic JD Vance's stance on immigration. One of them is titled: 'JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others.'

The co-founder of the open-source company Nextcloud reminds us that the free software philosophy that’s the foundation of open source is much more than a software development model.Installfest hosted by the Rutgers University Student Linux Users’ Group in 2005.Open Source has won. Seriously. The Linux Foundation found in a study in 2022 that 70-90% of all code bases are made up of open source. Black Duck reported in 2023 that 96% of all software projects contain at least some open source. So we’re everywhere, we’re done.Cue the famous XKCD dependency comic.This picture is sadly very realistic. The median open source...

Apple is going to add AI search providers to the Safari browser on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Bloomberg reports Apple SVP Eddy Cue made the disclosure in court testimony today, stating “we will add them to the list — they probably won’t be the default” in reference to providers like Perplexity and Anthropic. Cue also revealed that the number of searches through Safari fell for the first time ever in April, suggesting users are looking to AI sources as alternative ways to find information. Through its lucrative deal with Google and other search engines, Apple gets a cut of ad...

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With Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 in October 2025, millions of Windows 10 users will be left behind by the company. Upgrades to Windows 11 may be out of the question, due to stricter system requirements. While these can be bypassed, many Windows 10 users may lack the expertise to do so. This leaves Microsoft's recommendation to buy a new Windows 11 PC or subscribe to one year of extended security updates as the only options that Microsoft highlights in its recommendations. There are at least two additional options available to users, but Microsoft makes no mention of them....

Chinese tech giant Huawei is reportedly ready to test a new artificial-intelligence chip to compete with Nvidia — but the U.S. chipmaker shouldn’t be too concerned, according to one analyst. Huawei is looking to test its Ascend 910D chip with fellow homegrown tech companies and is expected to get its first samples of the chips next month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people described as familiar with the matter. The Chinese company, which was added to the U.S. Entity List in 2019, reportedly is aiming to take on Nvidia Corp.’s H100 chips, which are used to train some...

Despite its dark image, the dark web is not entirely criminal. Human rights organizations use the platform to circumvent government censorship and spread life-saving information.As social media networks continue to attract more users and as we get increasingly addicted to them, a new phenomenon is emerging: new underground movements that are changing cities and raising concerns. While most people are busy documenting every detail of their lives, some are heading in the opposite direction. In the streets of Tel Aviv, New York, and Berlin, secret communities have been sprouting in recent years – groups of activists and change-seekers who prefer...

A bit of a surprise for you as you enter your weekend: somewhere around 20% to 30% of Microsoft’s code in “repos”, according to CEO Satya Nadella, is written by artificial intelligence (AI). This is, perhaps, not quite as surprising as it could be—at Meta Platforms , it is actually closer to half—but it still made investors take notice. Shares of Microsoft gained nearly 2.5% in the closing minutes of Friday’s trading. While at LlamaCon, Nadella noted the figure in question, and noted that that number was not standing still, either. In fact, the proportion of code written by AI...

Microsoft is optimistic that our reliance on passwords is coming to a close. Microsoft is once again moving closer to a passwordless future. In a bold step toward embracing passkeys – which uses cryptography to better protect data from hackers and phishing scams – new Microsoft accounts will now be passwordless by default. Instead, the company will issue a prompt to set up passkeys as part of an effort to make the process more secure. The need to get a better grasp on password protection comes at a time when many big tech companies are pushing to eliminate passwords altogether....

I'm wondering how many FReepers could be described this way?

China Tariffs Are Coming for Your Cart—These 10 Groceries Will Cost More See the slide show for dummies.... Tilapia Apple juice Garlic Spices Crustaceans - shrimp

Next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS)—the same technology which is powering the development of tailor-made medicines, cancer diagnostics, infectious disease tracking, and gene research—could become a prime target for hackers. A study, published in IEEE Access, highlights growing concerns over how this powerful sequencing tool—if left unsecured—could be exploited for data breaches, privacy violations, and even future biothreats. Led by Nasreen Anjum from the University of Portsmouth’s School of Computing, this is the first comprehensive research study of cyber-biosecurity threats across the entire NGS workflow. NGS is a cornerstone of modern biotechnology, enabling rapid and cost-effective DNA and RNA sequencing that supports...

Open source AI models are more likely to recommend men than women for jobs, particularly the high-paying ones, a new study has found. While bias in AI models is a well-established risk, the findings highlight the unresolved issue as the usage of AI proliferates among recruiters and corporate human resources departments. "We don't conclusively know which companies might be using these models," Rochana Chaturvedi, a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois in the US and a co-author of the study, told The Register. "The companies usually don't disclose this and our findings imply that such disclosures might be crucial...

Eric Trump talks to World Liberty Financial’s Zach Witkoff and Tron creator Justin Sun about how the institutional banks will be left ‘in the dust’ if they fail to embrace crypto. On May 1 during Token2049’s fireside chat session, Eric Trump opened up about how he and his family were “canceled” by the modern financial system, which led him to discover the world of cryptocurrency. “Modern finance is absolutely broken. And so when the banks came after our family, I’ll never forget it, we became the most canceled people in the world all because we’re associated with politics in the...

Jury shown video of ‘Sycamore Gap tree being felled’ Footage shown in Newcastle trial of two men accused of chopping down tree on Hadrian’s Wall in September 2023 Mark Brown North of England correspondent Wed 30 Apr 2025 09.13 EDT Share A jury has been shown footage of what prosecutors say is the moment the Sycamore Gap tree crashed to the ground after being felled by a shadowy figure wielding a loud, revving chainsaw. A court heard that the video was taken on the Apple iPhone 13 of Daniel Graham, one of two men accused of illegally cutting down the...

As Planned Parenthood has expanded its so-called “gender-affirming care” over the past decade, detransitioners who obtained hormones from the corporation have publicly repudiated Planned Parenthood’s dangerous transgender practices. Planned Parenthood disproportionately targets young people aged 18-22 with its so-called “gender affirming care.” As can be observed by reading stories of detransitioners, most describe having been vulnerable and even struggling with mental illness when they sought “treatment” for gender dysphoria from Planned Parenthood. The cross-sex hormones left some of them with permanent issues. Though the number of people negatively affected by Planned Parenthood’s “gender affirming care” will never be known, some...