We bring you a selection of random but interesting news from around the world…
Please note that Channel Eye is not responsible for the content of external sites.
‘Merry Christmas’: 30 years of the text message
The text message is celebrating its 30th birthday – the first was sent to a mobile phone by a Vodafone engineer in Berkshire in the UK on 3 December 1992.
European Central Bank says bitcoin is on ‘road to irrelevance’
High-ranking members of Europe’s central bank said that trading the world’s most-used cryptocurrency is more like gambling.
Man wins seven-year legal battle to not have to be ‘fun’ at work
A clear win for setting workplace boundaries.
How to make the most of in-person meetings
If you’re asking remote employees to come in for a meeting, make it worth the commute.
Vast majority of people who invest in Bitcoin inevitably lose money, study shows
A Bank for International Settlements working paper also notes that people dive into crypto not because of decentralised delas, but because of rising prices.
44% of financial institutions believe their own IT teams are the main risk to cloud security
Only 30% of respondents from other industries are as concerned about the risks associated with their IT staff.
FTX: Crypto giant collapses into bankruptcy
Embattled cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed for bankruptcy in the US, seeking court protection as it looks for a way to return money to users.
Zoom launches its own email, calendar services
The teleconferencing company is also providing direct access to popular third-party email and calendar tools, coming one step closer to serving as your all-in-one productivity platform.
FTX: Cryptocurrency giant Binance walks away from bailout
Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has walked away from a bailout deal of its smaller rival FTX.
FTX: Cryptocurrency market rocked by near-collapse of exchange
The digital assets market has been rocked by the near-collapse of one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX.
Twitter asks some laid off workers to come back, Bloomberg reports
Some of those who are being asked to return were laid off by mistake. Others were let go before management realized that their work and experience may be necessary to build the new features Musk envisions.
Pantone wants $15/month for the privilege of using its colours in Photoshop
Changes have already hit some users, but communication and timing are muddled.
Can you nudge employees toward better cybersecurity?
What cybersecurity practitioners have long suspected is true: 67% of employees would try to circumvent security controls that block access to unsanctioned SaaS applications at work.
People return to offices, productivity plunges
One of the most interesting things about the pandemic, at least from an employment perspective, is that productivity didn’t suffer as a result of remote work.
Is it goodbye – finally – to the fax machine?
The fax machine is about to be pushed closer to the dustbin of history.
Europe prepares to rewrite the rules of the Internet
EU hopes DMA will force Big Tech platforms to break open their walled gardens.
Apple confirms the iPhone is getting USB-C
Apple has given its most direct confirmation yet that a USB-C-equipped iPhone will happen now that the European Union is mandating that all phones sold in its member countries use the connector if they have a physical charger.
Women in cryptology – celebrating WW2 codebreakers
The US Postal Service just issued a commemorative stamp to remember the service of some 11,000 women cryptologists during World War 2.
Cyberattackers spoof Google Translate in unique phishing tactic
The campaign uses a combination of tactics and a common JavaScript obfuscation technique to fool both end users and email security scanners to steal credentials.
Six strategies to supercharge your brain
How to best boost your brain power, including one or two ways you probably know about, but don’t use enough.
6 investors share where they draw the line when it comes to ethical issues
The venture capital industry doesn’t have the best track record when you’re talking about ethics.
World’s largest four-day work week experiment reveals increase in employee wellbeing
The workplace experiment in the United Kingdom has reached its halfway point after three months and some of the firms even plan on making the change permanent.
Demanding employees turn on their webcams is a human rights violation, Dutch Court rules
When Florida-based Chetu hired a telemarketer in the Netherlands, the company demanded the employee turn on his webcam. The employee wasn’t happy with being monitored “for 9 hours per day,” in a program that included screen-sharing and streaming his webcam. When he refused, he was fired.
Kim Kardashian pays $1.26m over crypto ‘pump and dump’
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said the reality TV star had received $250,000 for advertising the cryptocurrency, without disclosing she had been paid to do so.
Morgan Stanley fined millions for selling off devices full of customer data
Morgan Stanley, which bills itself in its website title tag as the ‘global leader in financial services’, and states that ‘clients come first’, has been fined $35,000,000 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)… for selling off old hardware devices online, including thousands of disk drives, that were still loaded with personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to its clients.
Software engineers from big tech firms are paying at least $75,000 to get 3 inches taller
Workers from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are paying $75,000 to be taller. The Las Vegas surgeon can lengthen patients’ legs via a painful months-long process. He breaks the thigh bones and inserts nails that are extended every day for three months.
How to make the most of in-person meetings
If you’re asking remote employees to come in for a meeting, make it worth their commute.
What is… 5G?
Even as 4G was rolling out, engineers were already laying the groundwork for its successor: 5G, the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks.
Canva Takes On … Microsoft 365?
Canva is a great little service for those creating design elements for YouTube videos and social media. You’ll never believe what they’re doing next. It’s called Visual Worksuite.
Making batteries out of crab shells may be a great idea
Crustacean shells could provide a crucially biodegradable material for batteries
Ethereum Merge: How one big cryptocurrency is going green
The second biggest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, is about to switch over to a new operating model that uses 99.9% less energy. Ethereum currently uses as much energy as a medium-sized country.
Royal rebranding: What will happen to stamps, coins, banknotes and passports?
After 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II had become an intrinsic part of our everyday lives. We’re accustomed to seeing her portrait, profile and coat of arms on letters, in our loose change and on cereal boxes – so what will be different now?
Breaks at work boost job performance and well-being, study finds
“It’s very hard to concentrate for a full 5 hours at a time. None of us can do that,” HR consultant says.
Covid app that detects virus in your voice ‘more accurate than lateral flow tests’
Users will be required to give information about their medical history, smoking status and demographics and record some respiratory sounds, such as coughing and reading a short sentence.
Crypto.com mistakenly sent a customer $7.2 million instead of a $68 refund
The Los Angeles Lakers arena sponsoring and Matt Damon-endorsed cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com accidentally transferred $10.5 million AUD (~$7.2 million USD) to an Australian customer instead of issuing a standard $100 AUD (~$68 USD) due to a pretty unfortunate typo.
Floppy disks in Japan: Minister declares war on old-fashioned technology
Japan’s digital minister has ‘declared war’ on floppy disks and other retro tech used by the country’s bureaucrats.
Ransomware: Most attacks exploit these common cybersecurity mistakes – so fix them now, warns Microsoft
Over 80% of ransomware incidents can be traced back to misconfigured cloud services, untested security tools, and the enablement of macros.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Breaching airgap security: using your phone’s compass as a microphone
The specialist subject that suddenly popped up twice this week is: resonance.
Meta’s (Facebook) own chatbot says the company ‘exploits people’
Meta’s new prototype chatbot has told the BBC that Mark Zuckerberg exploits its users for money.
Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 encryption may damage data, Microsoft says
Microsoft has detailed a serious bug in Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022. Due to the issues outlined in Knowledge Base (KB) article KB5017259(opens in new tab), its says users of its newest desktop operating systems could experience data damage.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
SoftBank posts $21.6 billion quarterly loss on its Vision Fund, one of highest in its history
SoftBank posted one of its biggest losses at its Vision Fund investment unit for its fiscal first quarter, as technology stocks continue to get hammered amid rising interest rates.
Cryptocoin ‘token swapper’ Nomad loses $200 million in coding blunder
The service is operated by a company going by the name of Illusory Systems, Inc. Unfortunately, when it comes to cybersecurity, the word illusory seems to fit rather well.
T-Mobile to cough up $500 million over 2021 data breach
Just under a year ago, the US arm of telecoms giant T-Mobile admitted to a data breach after personal information about its customers was offered for sale on an underground forum.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Chinese Wikipedia editor spent years writing fake Russian medieval history
She pulled off one of the largest hoaxes ever seen on the platform.
7 cybersecurity tips for your summer vacation
We answer the most common travel questions that people either [a] worry about instead of informing themselves before they set off, or [b] don’t think about at all until it’s too late.
How to recycle almost any household electronic device
Ideas for donating, recycling, or even repurposing your old devices, gadgets, and appliances.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Embattled crypto lender Celsius files for bankruptcy protection
Celsius made headlines a month ago after freezing customer accounts, blaming “extreme market conditions” and joins a list of other high-profile crypto bankruptcies.
France’s great Dijon mustard crisis
A triple catastrophe has left chefs and ordinary shoppers scrambling to source the prized condiment
Heathrow tells airlines to stop selling summer tickets
Heathrow Airport has told airlines to stop selling summer tickets, as the UK’s biggest airport struggles to cope with the rebound in air travel.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
The Uber files
A global investigation revealing how Uber broke the law, duped police and regulators, and secretly lobbied governments across the world.
Bernie Ecclestone to be charged over alleged fraud
Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone will be charged with fraud by false representation following an investigation into overseas assets believed to be worth more than £400m.
Security warning after sale of stolen Chinese data
President Xi Jinping has urged public bodies to “defend information security” after a hacker offered to sell stolen data of one billion Chinese citizens.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Elon Musk pulls out of $44bn deal to buy Twitter
Elon Musk is seeking to end his $44bn (£36bn) bid to buy Twitter, alleging multiple breaches of the agreement.
Microsoft 365’s dirty little secret
Did you know that Microsoft has a dirty little secret? It is not responsible for backing up the data you share and manage across its various services.
Crypto platform Vauld suspends withdrawals, trading and deposits amid financial challenges
Vauld, a Singapore-headquartered crypto lending and exchange startup, has suspended withdrawals, trading and deposits on its eponymous platform with immediate effect as it navigates ‘financial challenges,’ it said Monday.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Missing Guernsey homing pigeon Bob found 4,000 miles away in Alabama
A confused pigeon has turned up thousands of miles away in the US after getting lost racing back to Tyneside.
TV ad breaks could get longer as rules are reviewed
Advertising breaks on UK television channels could get longer and more frequent as part of a review of broadcasting rules by regulator Ofcom.
Japanese man loses USB stick with entire city’s personal details
For many, after-work drinks are a common way of relaxing after a busy week. But one worker in Japan could be nursing a protracted hangover after he lost a USB memory stick following a night out with colleagues.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Six strategies to supercharge your brain
How to best boost your brain power, including one or two ways you probably know about, but don’t use enough.
Trillion-dollar crypto collapse sparks flurry of US lawsuits – who’s to blame?
Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather among those being sued, but prosecuting fraud in the crypto arena is notoriously difficult.
UK plan to scrap cookie consent boxes will make it ‘easier to spy’ on web users
Privacy campaign group warns against government’s proposals to move to an ‘opt-out’ model.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Japan makes ‘online insults’ punishable by one year in prison in wake of reality TV star’s death
Japan’s parliament on Monday passed legislation making “online insults” punishable by imprisonment amid rising public concern over cyberbullying sparked by the suicide of a reality television star who had faced social media abuse.
Google engineer put on leave after saying AI chatbot has become sentient
Blake Lemoine says system has perception of, and ability to express thoughts and feelings equivalent to a human child.
A Google Cloud employee set a new record calculating the 100 trillionth digit of pi
Emma Haruka Iwao has seen further than any previous human into the never-ending number.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Drop that fork! Why eating at your desk is banned in France
Eating a salad at your desk may not be the most memorable kind of lunch, but at least you can get some work done. In France, that’s forbidden.
World’s largest four-day work week experiment begins
Thousands of UK employees will work 80% of the traditional work week while maintaining 100% of their salaries.
Know your enemy! Learn how cybercrime adversaries get in…
How do they do it? In theory, the crooks can (and do) use any and all of thousands of different attack techniques, in any combination they like.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
UK will not copy EU demand for common charging cable
The UK government says it is not “currently considering” copying European Union plans for a common charging cable.
EU sets date for common phone charge cable
The days of hunting through cables to find the right charger may be coming to an end.
Bristol mayor flies nine hours for TED climate conference
The UK’s first city mayor to declare a climate crisis has been questioned for flying nine hours to attend a conference to urge leaders to cut CO2.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Great developers aren’t automatically great managers
In the current climate, it’s never been more difficult to attract and retain tech talent. Nearly 75% of digital workers have their eyes on new positions, with advancing their careers the main driver for 63% of those planning to move on.
Clearview AI fined in UK for illegally storing facial images
Facial recognition company Clearview AI has been fined more than £7.5m by the UK’s privacy watchdog and told to delete the data of UK residents.
Canada to ban China’s Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks
Several nations – including the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand – have already put restrictions on the firms.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
FBI: Email fraud keeps getting worse. Here’s how to protect yourself
Business email fraud just keeps getting worse for victims and cryptocurrency transfers have exploded.
NFT and Crypto firm endorsed by Rangers, Hibs and Premier League stars ceases trading
An NFT and cryptocurrency company that had sponsorship deals with Rangers and Hibernian and was endorsed by three top Premier League players has ceased trading tokens after their value crashed.
How phantom forests are used for greenwashing
Capturing carbon by increasing forest cover has become central to the fight against climate change. But there’s a problem. Sometimes these forests exist on paper only – because promises have not been kept, or because planted trees have died or even been harvested.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Bitcoin becomes official currency in Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) has approved Bitcoin as legal tender – just the second country to do so. CAR is one of the world’s poorest countries, but is rich in diamonds, gold and uranium.
Google, Meta, and others will have to explain their algorithms under new EU legislation
‘The Digital Services Act will re-shape the online world’
Why Argentina is embracing cryptocurrency
In Argentina, there are traces everywhere of distrust and even trauma related to the economy.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
QNAP warns of new bugs in its Network Attached Storage devices
QNAP, the makers of Networked Attached Storage (NAS) devices that are especially popular with home and small business users, has issued a warning about not-yet-patched bugs in the company’s products.
Netflix hints at password sharing crackdown as subscribers fall
Netflix has hinted it will crack down on households sharing passwords as it seeks to sign up new members following a sharp fall in subscribers.
NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet struggles to sell
The buyer of a non-fungible token (NFT) of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet says he “may never sell it” after receiving a series of low bids.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Microsoft analysed how the working day has changed. You might not like what it discovered
A new ‘three peak’ working day is on the rise. But is this more efficient or more likely to burn you out?
The Consultant’s Craft: Becoming More Than a Programmer
As developers, we all like to believe we’re more than just “code monkeys” — those interchangeable, expendable cogs in the software-making machine.
Cryptocurrency: UK Treasury to regulate some stablecoins
The Treasury has announced that it will regulate some cryptocurrencies as part of a wider plan to make the UK a hub for digital payment companies.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Small businesses receive 350% more social engineering attacks than enterprises
An average employee of a small business with less than 100 employees will receive 350% more social engineering attacks than an employee of a larger enterprise.
Solving the challenges of robotic pizza-making
A new technique could enable a robot to manipulate squishy objects like pizza dough or soft materials like clothing.
AI adoption in the enterprise 2022
Interesting results from O’Reilly’s survey.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Ronin Network: What a $600m hack says about the state of crypto
Thousands, if not millions, of people could have lost money in the second largest crypto hack in history.
World Backup Day: 5 data recovery tips for everyone
31st March 2022, and the last day of March is World Backup Day… which is a good time for us to remind you of a little saying that we like.
White House shares checklist to counter Russian cyberattacks
The White House is urging organizations to shore up their cybersecurity defences after new intelligence suggests that Russia is preparing to conduct cyberattacks in the near future.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
War in Ukraine: Facebook to allow calls for violence against Putin
Meta says it has temporarily made allowances for some violent speech, like “death to the Russian invaders,” that would usually break its rules.
Attackers can force Amazon Echos to hack themselves with self-issued commands
Popular “smart” device follows commands issued by its own speaker. What could go wrong?
Microsoft identifies and mitigates new malware targeting Ukraine “within 3 hours”
Beyond malware detection and mitigation, Microsoft is also combatting “state-sponsored disinformation” by removing content from Russian state media.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
EU looks to end data hoarding by companies
With companies reaping increasing amounts of data from consumers and firms, the EU is looking at wrestling back access to that digital information under a Data Act proposed Wednesday by the European Commission.
Credit Suisse denies wrongdoing after big banking data leak
Credit Suisse has hit out after a massive data leak has brought to light the hidden wealth of several clients of the bank.
Royal Jubilee souvenirs have ‘Platinum Jubbly’ misprint
A spelling mistake on thousands of pieces of Platinum Jubilee merchandising, calling it the “Platinum Jubbly”, is proving a challenge for souvenir sellers.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Wordle: New York Times buys popular word game
The New York Times has purchased the popular word game Wordle for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
Bankers’ Libor interest rate ‘rigging’ not criminal, says US
A US appeals court has overturned the convictions of two former Deutsche Bank traders who were prosecuted for rigging interest rates.
New laws to tackle misleading crypto-asset adverts
New UK laws will be passed to deal with misleading crypto-asset promotions, the UK Treasury has announced.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Serious Security: Linux full-disk encryption bug fixed – patch now!
Lots of people “run Linux” without really knowing or caring – many home routers, navigational aids, webcams and other IoT devices are based on it; the majority of the world’s mobile phones run a Linux-derived variant called Android; and many, if not most, of the ready-to-go cloud services out there rely on Linux to host your content.
Kosovo bans cryptocurrency mining after blackouts
Kosovo has banned the mining of cryptocurrencies to curb electricity use as it grapples with an energy crisis caused by soaring global prices.
University loses 77TB of research data due to backup error
The Kyoto University in Japan has lost about 77TB of research data due to an error in the backup system of its Hewlett-Packard supercomputer.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
End of the line is finally coming for BlackBerry devices
Key services, including network provisioning, will shut down January 4th.
Online password manager, LastPass users warned their master passwords are compromised
Many LastPass users report that their master passwords have been compromised after receiving email warnings that someone tried to use them to log into their accounts from unknown locations.
This cool looking Fisher-Price retro phone has IoT Bluetooth security issues
It is not only a real Fisher-Price product, released in the second decade of the 21st century, but is also officially not a toy!
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
This guy’s hard drive with $500 million in bitcoin is lost at a dump
…and local officials won’t let him retrieve it.
Meta (formerly Facebook) releases social VR space Horizon Worlds
Meta has released its social virtual reality space, Horizon Worlds, after more than a year in private test mode.
Bitcoin price news – live: Crypto market enters ‘extreme fear’ following crash panic
The crypto market has entered a period of “extreme fear”, according to one metric, after the price of bitcoin and several other leading cryptocurrencies suffered a severe crash at the end of last week.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Cryptocurrency startup fails to subtract before adding, loses $31m
Two weeks ago, after three software audits and three months of live testing, a cryptocurrency startup called MonoX introduced what it described as ‘the premier bootstrap decentralized exchange, Monoswap’.
Free textbook ‘The Joy of Cryptography’
The Joy of Cryptography is a free undergraduate textbook that introduces students to the fundamentals of provable security.
Australia to introduce new laws to force media platforms to unmask online trolls
Australia will introduce legislation to make social media giants provide details of users who post defamatory comments, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Indian government set to ban cryptocurrencies
India is set to go ahead with its plan to ban most cryptocurrencies in the country under a long-awaited bill.
Crypto US constitution bidder refunds hit by high fees
The people behind a failed bid to buy a rare original copy of the US constitution are facing an avalanche of refunds – up to $40m for 17,000 donors.
Climate change causing albatross divorce, says study
When relationships end it might be because the spark has disappeared, or maybe you just can’t make time for one another.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
El Salvador Bitcoin city planned at base of Conchagua volcano
El Salvador plans to build a Bitcoin city at the base of a volcano, with the cryptocurrency used to fund the project, its president has announced.
Atom Bank introduces four-day working week without cutting pay
The online bank Atom Bank has introduced a four-day work week for its 430 staff without cutting their pay.
GoDaddy security breach exposes WordPress users’ data
Web hosting company GoDaddy Inc said that email addresses of up to 1.2 million active and inactive Managed WordPress customers had been exposed in an unauthorized third-party access.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Apple announces self-service repair scheme in win for campaigners
Apple has announced a ‘self-service repair’ programme so “customers who are comfortable” can fix their own devices.
Crypto bid to buy US constitution print raises millions
A crowd-funded effort to buy a rare 1787 copy of the US constitution at auction claims to have received more than $13m (£9.6m) worth of cryptocurrency donations.
Facebook changes its name to Meta in major rebrand
Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Banking scam uses Docusign phish to thieve 2FA codes
This one is being sent to Channel Islands law firms – be vigilant!
Ofcom orders phone networks to block foreign scam calls
Major [UK] phone networks have agreed to automatically block almost all internet calls coming from abroad if they pretend to be from UK numbers, Ofcom has confirmed.
Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink
Canon USA is being sued for not allowing owners of certain printers to use the scanner or faxing functions if they run out of ink.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Microsoft shutting down LinkedIn in China
Microsoft is shutting down its social network, LinkedIn, in China, saying having to comply with the Chinese state has become increasingly challenging.
Bitcoin: Bank of England deputy calls for urgent crypto regulation
Cryptocurrencies need regulation as a ‘matter of urgency’, according to Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe.
Banksy’s Love is in the Bin sells for record £16m
A Banksy artwork which shredded itself at a previous auction has fetched a record £16 million.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Sky launches streaming TV with no satellite dish
British broadcaster Sky is launching a TV that streams content via the internet, removing the need for a satellite dish.
Understanding how Facebook disappeared from the Internet
“Facebook can’t be down, can it?”, we thought, for a second.
Fuel supplies: Mortar tanker tailed by drivers looking for petrol
A tanker driver has told how he was tailed by about 20 drivers who were dismayed to discover he was not transporting petrol.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
‘Google’ is most searched word on Bing, Google says
The top entry on Microsoft’s Bing search engine is for its rival Google, Google has said.
British firm claims quantum-computing breakthrough
A UK start-up says it has made one of the world’s smallest quantum computers.
China declares all crypto-currency transactions illegal
China’s central bank has announced that all transactions of crypto-currencies are illegal, effectively banning digital tokens such as Bitcoin.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
AI cannot be the inventor of a patent, appeals court rules
Artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be the inventor of new patents, the UK Court of Appeal has ruled.
EU rules to force USB-C chargers for all phones
Manufacturers will be forced to create a universal charging solution for phones and small electronic devices, under a new rule proposed by the European Commission.
Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones
Consumers should throw away their Chinese phones and avoid buying new ones, Lithuania’s Defence Ministry has warned.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Sir Clive Sinclair: Computing pioneer dies aged 81
Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, who popularised the home computer and invented the pocket calculator, has died at his London home aged 81.
Upgrade and protect your iPhone now – Apple rushes to block ‘zero-click’ iPhone spyware
Apple has issued a software patch to block so-called “zero-click” spyware that could infect iPhones and iPads.
What it was like inside Microsoft during the worst cyberattack in history?
Microsoft president Brad Smith describes the chaos inside the tech giant during the SolarWinds hack.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Researchers find a way to check that quantum computers return accurate answers
Quantum computers become ever more powerful, but how can we be sure that the answers they return are accurate?
Bitcoin crashes on first day as El Salvador’s legal tender
Angry protests, technological glitches and a plummet in value marked the first day of El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal tender.
Bosses turn to ‘tattleware’ to keep tabs on employees working from home
The pandemic prompted a surge in the use of workplace surveillance programs – and they’re not going away any time soon.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Bitcoin: El Salvador divided over legal tender law
There is growing scepticism in El Salvador as the country prepares to be the first in the world to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender on 7 September.
Microsoft ending support for Windows Thin PC on October 12, 2021
Back in 2011, Microsoft introduced Windows Thin PC to help customers repurpose their PCs as thin clients, thereby driving down the cost of VDI.
‘We hire old people’: Job posting for software developer sparks a viral conversation about ageism
A colourfully worded ad becomes a jumping-off point for older workers to discuss their experiences.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Japanese cryptocoin exchange robbed of $100,000,000
Another week, another cryptocurrency catastrophe.
China passes new personal data privacy law, to take effect November 1st
China’s National People’s Congress on Friday officially passed a law designed to protect online user data privacy and will implement the policy starting November 1, according to state-media outlet Xinhua.
College student made his own processor in a home garage
Sam Zeloof isn’t your ordinary teenager. While still a senior in high school in 2018, he made the first homemade (lithographically-fabricated) integrated circuit.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Copyright scammers turn to phone numbers instead of web links
Copyright scams aren’t new – we’ve written about them many times in recent years.
Sri Lankan teenager builds solar-powered tuk-tuk from scraps
A 15-year-old from Sri Lanka has spent his Covid lockdown building a solar-powered tuk-tuk. The best part is that Suntharalingam Piranawan used scraps for his homemade vehicle – and it works.
Norton and Avast are merging into an $8 billion antivirus empire
The deal comes just as ransomware is becoming a big issue.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Home and small business routers under attack – how to see if you are at risk
According to reports from researcher at Juniper, cybercriminals are already probing the internet for vulnerable devices. So, if you’re affected by this bug, or think you might be, we urge you to check for updates as soon as you can.
Nuisance call-blocking firm fined £170,000 for making almost 200,000 nuisance calls
A firm that sells nuisance call-blocking systems is itself nursing a £170,000 fine from the UK’s data watchdog, ironically for cold calling almost 200,000 people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Hackers steal $600m in major cryptocurrency heist
Hackers have stolen some $600m (£433m) in what appears to be one the largest cryptocurrency heists ever.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Legacy IT: Saving money by holding onto old tech is costing us all billions
Nearly half the money the UK is spending on IT goes on supporting legacy IT systems – to the tune of £2.3bn a year.
Texas Instruments Adds Python to Its Latest Graphing Calculator
Graphing calculators have always been a fun way to get started with programming, though mostly in the form of games and cheat sheets. But now Texas Instruments is introducing a new TI-84 graphing calculator that supports programming in Python.
Amazon Gets Record $888 Million EU Fine Over Data Violations
Amazon.com Inc. faces the biggest ever European Union privacy fine after its lead privacy watchdog hit it with a 746 million-euro ($888 million) penalty for violating the bloc’s tough data protection rules.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Older Kindles may lose internet connection, Amazon warns
Some older Kindle e-readers will soon no longer be able to connect to the internet to download new books, Amazon has said.
No More Ransom saves almost €1 billion in ransomware payments in 5 years
The No More Ransom project celebrates its fifth anniversary after helping over six million ransomware victims recover their files and saving them almost €1 billion in ransomware payments.
Printer ink pricier than champagne
A study by consumer watchdog Which? has found that branded printer ink remains ‘staggeringly’ more expensive than third-party alternatives.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Now Salesforce officially owns Slack
The $27.7 billion acquisition has closed.
Do you answer emails outside work hours? Do you send them? New research shows how dangerous this can be
The creep of digital communications into our entire lives is not as harmless as we think.
Microsoft announces Windows 365, a subscription cloud PC
Microsoft has announced a new “cloud PC” product where users can stream a Windows device from anywhere. It is being sold to businesses to begin with, as many firms move to a mix of office and remote working.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Technology breakthrough could bring colour e-paper to match LCD quality with long battery life
A new colour e-paper display could bring LCD-style quality but without the need for a power-hungry backlight.
Casio calculator hacked to run a webserver
Please excuse the geekiness of this one, but the page the link takes you to is actually running on a Casio fx-9750GII calculator.
Donald Trump Jr. mocked for trying to crowdfund legal fees for his dad to sue Facebook, Twitter, and Google
Donald Trump Jr. was mocked after he asked followers to donate money to support his father’s class-action lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Where do all those cybercrime payments go?
When a ransomware victim hands over a largely anonymous, mostly untraceable quantity of Bitcoin, for example, to pay off a multi-million dollar blackmail demand in the hope of recovering their unusable files… what happens to that money?
Dua Lipa sued for putting paparazzi photo of herself on Instagram
According to US court documents, the star was snapped queuing at an airport in February 2019 and later shared the shot with her fans ‘without permission or authorisation’.
Student gets Windows 11 running on a Windows phone
Microsoft’s new OS on Microsoft’s old phones.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Trump sues Twitter, Google and Facebook alleging ‘censorship’
Former US president Donald Trump has announced plans to sue tech giants Google, Twitter and Facebook, claiming that he is the victim of censorship.
LinkedIn breach reportedly exposes data of 92% of users, including inferred salaries
A second massive LinkedIn breach reportedly exposes the data of 700M users, which is more than 92% of the total 756M users. The database is for sale on the dark web, with records including phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data, and inferred salaries.
FCA bans world’s largest crypto-currency exchange Binance
Binance, the world’s biggest crypto-currency exchange, has been banned by the UK’s financial regulator.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11 with Amazon’s Appstore
Android apps will run natively on Windows 11 and will be downloadable from Amazon’s Appstore, via the new Windows store that’s included in the operating system.
Bitcoin tumbles below $30,000 on China crypto-crackdown
Bitcoin has fallen below $30,000 for the first time in more than five months, hit by China’s crackdown on the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.
Zoom meetings ban sees Middlewich Town Council convene in car park
A town council has held a meeting in a car park after legislation which allowed it to meet virtually expired.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Cardboard ‘in people’s garages causing shortage’
Cardboard boxes being stored in people’s garages is continuing to cause shortages of the material, the boss of a major packaging company has said.
Turkmenistan’s capital tops list of most expensive cities for expats
The capital of Turkmenistan in Central Asia has been named as the world’s most expensive city for foreign workers.
The perfect number of hours to work every day?
Research shows that five work hours a day can improve productivity and bolster wellbeing. There’s only one thing holding companies back
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Ikea France fined €1m for snooping on staff
A French court has ordered Ikea to pay a fine of €1m (£860,000; $1.2m) after the Swedish furniture chain was found guilty of spying on staff in France.
This is how fast a password leaked on the web will be tested out by hackers
Half of accounts compromised in phishing attacks are manually accessed within 12 hours of the username and password being leaked, as cyber criminals look to exploit stolen credentials as quickly as possible.
Trump’s solution for ransomware attacks: Just ditch computers altogether
Donald Trump has called for the United States government and other administrative bodies to go back to using paper records in an effort to stop the growing cybersecurity attacks.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
Attackers want to exploit and abuse your AI data
AI is just software and data, and like other software and data, it can be attacked for profit and malice. As the importance of AI to an organization goes up, so do the stakes for security problems.
El Salvador set to become first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender
El Salvador may soon become the first sovereign nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele announced Saturday.
Turn your Apple iWatch into a custom Commodore 64 that lets you code in BASIC on your wrist!
I assumed there was very little I couldn’t do with my Apple Watch given it has its own well-stocked app store, but Nick Bild has shown me the error of my ways with this delightful Commodore 64-themed C64 Watch that not only has a retro-inspired watch face but a built-in BASIC interpreter too for coding on the go.
Apple debuts iOS 15, bringing huge changes to the iPhone
The changes to the operating system that powers millions of iPhones around the world include new notification settings, improvements to Messages, changes to Photos, and more. Here are the biggest changes coming to your iPhone with iOS 15.
Sign-up for our (free) daily news email here
