TechRadar News

• Microsoft could let you turn the Copilot key back into the old ‘Menu’ key
• That key brings up a context menu (like right-clicking with your mouse)
• This is useful in some scenarios, but many will want a fuller range of customization options for the key

Microsoft could soon give people whose keyboard has a Copilot key the ability to redefine it so a press of the key opens a context menu instead.

This is according to a well-known source of Windows-related rumors and happenings, PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter).

Future builds will add the option to remap the Copilot key to open a context menu.February 9, 2025

Remember, this is just a claim that Microsoft might do this in future test builds of Windows 11 – presumably based on clues found by the leaker digging around in current preview builds – and it still may not happen.

If none of the above makes much sense, and you’re scratching your head as to what’s potentially going on with the keyboard here, let us rewind a bit and explain.

What’s actually happening (or could be) is Microsoft is allowing the choice to revert the Copilot key back to what it was previously (on many laptop keyboards, anyway).

This old key that the Copilot button replaced was known as the ‘Menu’ key and it typically carries an icon with three horizontal lines (perhaps with a pointer, too), indicating that it’s used to summon the aforementioned context menu.

That context menu is the same one you invoke by right-clicking with your mouse, to give you options which are common actions in any given context (with files for example, you can click to see properties, or rename, and so forth).

Analysis: More choice is good, but…

(Image credit: Future)

Why would you want this old ‘Menu’ key that brings up the right-click context menu back, anyway? Well, it can be useful in situations where you don’t have a mouse (which is why this key is more often found on laptops) and so can’t necessarily right-click to bring up said menu. Microsoft used to have this key on its Surface devices, for example, between the ‘Alt’ key on the right and the arrow keys – but now it’s the Copilot key.

Not if you change it back by remapping, though – and if you find the context menu shortcut more useful than the Copilot key, well, apparently you might have your wish granted later this year. Albeit with the above caveats about this not even being in testing just yet.

Microsoft introduced the ability to remap the Copilot key to launch an app in preview (late last year). This move has since arrived in Windows 11, and you can switch the key to invoke a search, too, but remapping to an app comes with a notable (and annoying) catch that said software must be an MSIX-packaged application (not many apps are). This has been implemented that way for security reasons, in case you were wondering.

At any rate, a context menu option would at least be something, but I’m hoping that Microsoft will give us a lot more freedom eventually to redefine the Copilot key to do, well, anything we want (and act as a shortcut for any app at all, not just a limited selection). At least these all appear to be steps in the right direction for better customization, if only small strides.

Microsoft certainly appears to be giving up the notion that the Copilot key represented the most important introduction to the keyboard on Windows PCs since the Windows key itself.

Via XDA Developers

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• Hospital Sisters Health System files new report with the Maine Attorney General
• It confirmed more than 800,000 affected in an August 2023 breach
• Compromised people are getting a year's worth of free identity theft monitoring

Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), a nonprofit, Catholic healthcare system, suffered a cyberattack one and a half years ago, which resulted in the theft of sensitive patient data.

The firm has now filed a report with the Maine Office of the Attorney General, in which it detailed the attack, noting it discovered an “unauthorized third party” gaining temporary access to its network, on August 27, 2023.

“Upon learning of the situation, we immediately took steps to contain and remediate the incident and launched an internal investigation,” HSHS said in the filing.

Stealing sensitive data

The investigation determined that the unnamed attackers dwelled on HSHS’ network between August 16 and August 27, and during that time exfiltrated sensitive information belonging to exactly 882,782 people.

“We have since been reviewing those files and notifying individuals whose information was found in the files on a rolling basis as our review has continued,” the organization said.

While the type of information stolen varied from person to person, in general it included full names, postal addresses, birth dates, medical record numbers, limited treatment information, health insurance information, Social Security numbers (SSN), and driver’s license numbers.

This is more than enough to engage in highly personalized phishing, identity theft, or even wire fraud. However, HSHS says that at this time it has “no reason to believe” the data has been misused.

Healthcare information is highly sought on the black market because it contains sensitive personal, financial, and medical data that can be exploited for various types of fraud and cybercrimes. Unlike credit card data, which can be quickly canceled, stolen medical records provide long-term value as they include Social Security numbers, insurance details, and medical histories that can be used for identity theft, fraudulent billing, prescription fraud, and even blackmail. Additionally, the resale price of medical records is significantly higher than financial data due to their completeness and difficulty in detection.

That being said, even though there is no evidence of misuse, “out of an abundance of caution”, HSHS offered affected individuals a year’s worth of credit and identity theft monitoring through Equifax.

Via BleepingComputer

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Nintendo has done what it does best when it comes to the newly-announced Nintendo Switch 2; take an excellent piece of hardware and tweak it until it peaks, throwing in a few feature gambits along the way.

Of course, the strategy relies on the hardware being great enough to warrant a new entry (see the Virtual Boy) to begin with, and they don't always stick the landing (see the Wii U and the Nintendo 64DD).

It always surprises me, however, to see how risk-averse gamers are when it comes to Nintendo's hardware. Yes, there have been some blunders, but broadly speaking Nintendo has always been among the most creative hardware manufacturers when it comes to creating consoles that inspire new games and new ways to play.

We've had our first glimpse at the Nintendo Switch 2, and while many of the new features are shrouded in mystery, and will remain so until the Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 event on April 2, I think people have already grossly misunderstood what will make the Nintendo Switch sequel an excellent follow-up to one of my all-time favorite consoles: its rumored new mouse mode.

From a new matte coating to an additional USB-C port, a lot of long-rumored features were confirmed by Nintendo's Switch 2 announcement trailer. Among the most exciting, however, were the mysterious new system button, larger size, magnetic Joy-Con, and an improved kickstand that could finally make tabletop play more viable for the console.

The standout for me, however, was what appeared to be confirmation that the new Joy-Con will offer mouse-like control, opening new possibilities for PC game ports as well as new ways to play upcoming titles on the Switch 2.

Among the first games I purchased for the original Switch was an all-time favorite of mine; Sid Meier's Civilization VI. My excitement was short-lived; a game with this many fiddly interfaces on such a small screen just didn't gel with me, and I found myself crawling back to my gaming PC for the more enjoyable mouse input.

Of course, questions still remain; how comfortable and ergonomic can a Joy-Con be to use in this orientation? How smoothly will it work on different surfaces? Will the new and (hopefully) improved Joy-Con be robust enough for regular mouse mode use, or will we see degradation like the first-generation Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift?

We won't know the answers to these questions until we've had hands-on time with the console, but one thing that was never a question in my mind was whether or not users would be a fan of the new feature.

(Image credit: Nintendo) Put some respect on mouse mode

Turns out, not everyone is as excited as I am for the new mouse mode, and I can't really fathom why.

We surveyed our WhatsApp followers to find out which new rumored features they were most excited about, and I was pretty surprised by the results.

The vast majority, understandably, said they were reserving their excitement until pricing has been confirmed. The most we know so far on that comes from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, who shared in a recent Q&A that the Switch 2 would be in line with the "affordable prices customers expect". TechRadar Gaming predicts that the cost of the Switch 2 will be around $399.99 / £349.99 / AU$699.95, or lower, which is excellent news, if true.

The next-most popular answers were a tie, as of writing; unsurprisingly, the larger screen (and Joy-Con) ranks highly among prospective Switch 2 owners, but I was floored to see the mysterious new right Joy-Con system button take the lead over mouse mode.

(Image credit: Future / Meta WhatsApp) Pushing imaginary buttons

For one thing, we have no confirmation whatsoever as to what this button does. Nintendo gave us some solid visual cues for many of the new additions, including mouse mode, but we saw nary a click of the new button.

Rumors have been whirling for months since Joy-Con prototype images leaked online about what this button may be for, especially given earlier iterations featured a 'C' label which birthed all kinds of rumors. Does the 'C' stand for capture, or chat, perhaps? Or was it simply a label for prototype units?

Its placement suggests that it's more likely a system button than one used in gameplay, and given there's still a capture button for screenshots and short gameplay snippets, I'd hedge my bets that it's likely either for in-game text chat or quick control for voice chat.

And sure, that's fun; I used the Nintendo Switch Online-exclusive voice chat feature a lot during the pandemic when I was in the throes of my Animal Crossing: New Horizons grind, and shared frustrations with many Nintendo fans that online gaming features have been significantly lacking in the current-generation console.

Still, I fail to see how this could possibly inspire excitement more than Joy-Con mouse control.

(Image credit: Nintendo) Keeping it casual

In the weeks since the announcement, I've seen countless comments from readers and viewers seething with unfounded rage that the hardware won't be on par with other handheld gaming devices, comparing the Switch 2 to the likes of the Lenovo Legion Go, the Steam Deck, and the Asus ROG Ally X; which is about as fruitful of a comparison as apples to oranges.

Even when it comes to mouse control, it's a false equivalency; the Steam Deck trackpads offer a different form factor and experience, as does the Legion Go's FPS mode. The simple fact of the matter is we won't know until we've tried it, but I for one am incredibly excited to see how Nintendo might use the feature to allow for more whacky, whimsical, and wonderful games on the Switch 2.

Consider the success of the Wii and its motion controls. Were they new to the market? No; at the time, motion control was all the rage in gaming. What Nintendo did was make it more accessible, opening the market out to families and casual gamers with a piece of moderately priced hardware.

That is where Nintendo thrives. Performance and power are never the focus, and it boggles my mind when I so frequently see gamers misunderstand and misrepresent the very clear – and successful – price point strategy Nintendo opts for.

However, they do need to make games cheaper; I'll give the haters that one.

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Moore’s law, named after Gordon E. Moore, the co-founder of Intel, states that the number of components on a single chip doubles every two years at minimal cost. It’s not exactly hard science, but his simple observation of how rapidly chip technology was progressing back in 1965, has proved to be pretty useful for predicting where technology will be in the years to come.

In his latest blog post, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT, just stated that ‘ Moore’s law changed the world at 2x every 18 months; this is unbelievably stronger. ‘ Altman was referring to the massive price drop we've seen for AI usage. For developers, this is measured in token cost, and the token cost to use AI has been falling about 10x every 12 months. Between early 2023 to mid-2024, the price per token for using ChatGPT has dropped about 150x.

AGI is coming

Technically, Altman got it wrong by writing “18 months” instead of “about two years”. The 18 months figure is a common misquote since there was a separate prediction by Moore’s colleague, Intel Executive David House that Moore’s Law would mean that chip performance would double every 18 months, with no increase in power consumption. So, a forgivable slip.

However, Altman’s point is that the falling cost of using AI is another indicator that artificial general intelligence (AGI) is “coming into view”. AGI is an artificial intelligence that is on a par with, or smarter than, human intelligence, and developing it is the whole reason that companies like OpenAI exist because the benefits of AGI could be truly world-changing, despite the dangers that we keep getting warned about.

It’s worth reading the whole of Sam Altman's blog post because it very much reads like a warning that the future is coming sooner than we think and that we really start to need to prepare for how the world is going to change. Altman’s predictions are certainly mind-blowing. His three key predictions for the immediate future are:

• Scientific progress will likely be much faster than it is today
• The price of many goods will eventually fall dramatically
• The price of luxury goods and a few inherently limited resources like land may rise even more dramatically

Altman doesn’t predict these changes happening in 2025, but since he’s already gone on record saying that humanity will achieve AGI this year, the changes would appear to be right around the corner.

His message is also that we have some tough choices coming up regarding AGI and how freely it should be used, because one possible future, “we can see is AI being used by authoritarian governments to control their population through mass surveillance and loss of autonomy.”

In Altman’s vision, ensuring that the benefits of AGI are broadly distributed is critical to prevent this from happening.

He ends with a quite astonishing prediction: “Anyone in 2035 should be able to marshall the intellectual capacity equivalent to everyone in 2025; everyone should have access to unlimited genius to direct however they can imagine.”

It’s hard to know how to process the breadth of Altman’s vision right now. Companies like OpenAI are committed to developing AGI, but the dangers inherent in who controls this technology are something that Altman is urging us to start considering and talking about right now.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to revolutionize supply chain operations by enhancing demand forecasting, optimizing inventory management and streamlining logistics, to create more resilient and agile operations. However, to gain a competitive advantage, many companies are implementing AI before ensuring their supply chain systems are secure.

Without the proper data safeguards in place, AI-enabled systems can lead to significant vulnerabilities, including data breaches, biased decision-making and increased cost. These vulnerabilities can disrupt critical operations, damage reputations, and erode customer trust, causing long-term harm to the business. According to Gartner (hyperlink first link in link section), “Attacks on the software supply chain, including both proprietary and commercial code, pose significant security, regulatory and operational risks to organizations. A source estimates costs from these attacks will rise from $46 billion in 2023 to $138 billion by 2031.”

Organizations that are not already doing so should consider using cybersecurity as criteria for third-party transactions. This is especially important as items like order details, payment information and other confidential details move throughout a global supply chain – reaching third party suppliers and logistics partners.

To protect data integrity and maintain customer trust, organizations should approach AI with a security-first mindset. These three tactics can help.

1. Conduct a risk assessment to understand data security

A risk assessment will identify the systems and intellectual property that are most valuable to your company. Additionally, the risk assessment will identify what data is critical to your organization and where it’s located. Once defined, cybersecurity risks can be prioritized based on the likelihood of occurrence and the impact on your business. Then, your list of prioritized risks can be used to establish effective response protocols.

By understanding how cyber-attacks can impact your business, you will be able to recommend time-sensitive actions to be used in a multi-layer defense protocol. Think of it like breaking into Fort Knox: if a malicious actor breaks through the first line of security and no other safeguards are in place, they have free reign to cause unmitigated damage. However, with a multi-layer defense response in place, you can reduce the harm.

While considering data, it is important to understand how data flows, and where it is located. For example, items listed on Amazon’s marketplace could be sold and shipped by third parties. When this happens, important customer data is routed to the seller/supplier, who may have less secure data security, which could increase the threat of a breach or other attacks.

2. Implement security testing to develop immediate response protocols

Cyber-attacks are constant and unpredictable. As a result, constant monitoring and testing is necessary. When vulnerabilities are detected, automation can trigger predefined responses – such as isolating infected systems, notifying personnel and initiating remediation processes to ensure that future attacks are prevented.

Scanning tools can monitor transactions, communications, and activities in the supply chain to identify suspicious behavior faster. By scanning software, hardware and network infrastructure, companies can identify weaknesses, like unpatched systems that could be exploited. These efforts help build a more resilient and adaptive defense against malicious actors. Through proactively identifying and patching weaknesses before they are breached, many intrusions can be reduced or eliminated.

In addition to scanning, you can use penetration testing to locate vulnerabilities and red teaming to simulate offensive attacks, to see how your systems would respond to potential cyber-attacks. Together, these tests will uncover hidden weaknesses and assess the effectiveness of your current security.

3. Promote a security-first culture

To protect your company, your employees, and your customers, it is critical for companies to make security a cultural pillar. Companies should provide training to ensure that employees are aware of its importance and are actively engaged in maintaining high security standards.

In a supply chain where sensitive information travels between numerous parties, every employee and vendor should be considered as being a part of the security process. Efforts to foster a security-first environment include training on security threats, simulated phishing attempts with incentives for employees who demonstrate best practices, or the development of a security policy that includes IT, legal and procurement team members at every stage of the supply chain.

By promoting a security-first culture, you increase overall awareness and vigilance, making every individual a part of the security solution. A top-down commitment ensures that the right resources are allocated to cybersecurity, reducing the likelihood of lapses that can compromise the supply chain.

Putting it all together

With assessments that highlight areas of vulnerability, automated testing and monitoring, and championing a security-first culture, companies can cover nearly every phase of their operations and stay ahead of constantly evolving threats long into the future.

AI paves the way for new opportunities and technological advancements, revolutionizing industries and enhancing everyday life. By prioritizing robust security measures, your company can protect sensitive data and maintain customer trust, ensuring that both your business and customers reap the full benefits of AI safely and responsibly.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• Trimble warns Cityworks is being abused in RCE attacks
• The company released a patch to address the issue
• CISA warns users to apply patch as soon as possible

Hackers are hijacking government software to access sensitive servers, experts have warned.

The warning comes from software vendor Trimble, whose product seems to have been used in the attack. In a letter sent to its customers and partners, Trimble said it observed cybercriminals abusing a deserialization vulnerability in its Cityworks product to engage in Remote Code Execution (RCE) and deploy Cobalt Strike beacons on Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) servers.

Trimble Cityworks is a Geographic Information System (GIS) asset management and permitting software designed to help local governments and utilities manage infrastructure, maintenance, and operations efficiently. It was found to have been vulnerable to CVE-2025-0994, a high-severity deserialization bug allowing for RCE, given a severity score of 8.6 (high).

Patching the flaw

“Following our investigations of reports of unauthorized attempts to gain access to specific customers’ Cityworks deployments, we have three updates to provide you,” the company said in the letter. To tackle the threat, Trimble updated Cityworks 15.x to version 15.8.9, and 23.x to 23.10. It also warned about discovering some on-prem deployments having overprivileged IIS identity permissions, and added that some deployments haid incorrect attachment directory configurations.

All of these should be addressed at the same time, to mitigate the threat and resume normal operations with Cityworks.

We don’t know how big the attack is, or if any organizations were compromised as a result, but the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a coordinated advisory, urging customers to apply the patches as soon as possible, BleepingComputer has found. “CISA reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to deploying defensive measures,” it was said in the advisory.

“Organizations observing suspected malicious activity should follow established internal procedures and report findings to CISA for tracking and correlation against other incidents.”

Via BleepingComputer

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• Captain America 4's creative team has responded to rumors about its development
• The Marvel movie is said to have received poor audience reactions during initial screeners and subsequently undergone various reshoots
• Its director and one of its producers say the speculation has been blown out of proportion

Captain America: Brave New World's creative team has responded to rumors surrounding the Marvel movie's protracted development.

The Marvel Phase 5 film is set to fly into theaters this Friday (February 14), aka Valentine's Day. However, there's no *ahem* love lost between those working on the superhero flick and industry insiders, with the latter claiming that Captain America 4's development cycle has been difficult. From reports of poor audience reactions during initial test screenings, to the rumors that it underwent significant reshoots across three different time periods, you'd be forgiven for thinking Brave New World's production was anything but troubled.

Speaking to TechRadar at the film's UK junket, though, director Julius Onah and producer Nate Moore played it off as nothing more than idle gossip. Indeed, the pair insisted that one of 2025's most exciting new movies only underwent one period of extensive reshoots in a bid to make it the best film possible.

No, Marvel didn't sneakily reshoot large portions of Brave New World on multiple occasions (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

"They're not as significant [the reshoots] as the reports say they are," Moore told me. "It's actually less than what we've done on other Marvel projects.

"Our goal is to make the best movie – always," he continued. "And our task is to keep turning over the stones until it's as good as we think we can make it. The blessing of working at a place like Marvel is we have the resources to do that, so why not take that opportunity?"

Our task is to keep turning over the stones until it's as good as we think we can make it

Nate Moore, Captain America 4 producer

When I put the same question to Onah in a separate interview, the director of Captain America's latest big-screen adventure, which stars Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson as Steve Rogers' successor, said: "Every movie of this scale has additional photography baked into the creative process. There are things you're going to refine and the story is going to evolve.

"Like every single MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] movie, we had one period of reshoots, so whatever the reports might have been out there, that's not the reality of how this movie was made. When you're making something of this scale with action, visual effects, and different plot threads and characters, you have to take your time. You have to make sure you're creating the best experience for the audience. But, yes, we had one singular additional photography process and then utilized that to make this film the best it could be."

I’ve consistently heard CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD is OK-to-pretty good. Those expecting a disaster are gonna be disappointed.February 9, 2025

That answers speculation about Cap 4 requiring more than one spell of reshoots to get it right, but what about the conjecture that Brave New World's original cut was given the thumbs down by fans who were lucky enough to see it early? For that, we go back to Moore.

"The test screenings have been over-reported as well," he replied. "We're aware of what people are talking about a lot of the time, but there's no use in us raising our hands when those reports come to say 'well, that's not correct'. We really want the film to do the talking and, now that it finally can, I think people are going to be surprised and impressed. I can't wait for everyone to see it."

I'll be covering Brave New World in much more detail leading up and after the superhero movie's launch. Ahead of more exclusive coverage heading your way, find out more about the film in my Captain America: Brave New World guide and read my Captain America 4 cast and character piece to see who's joining Mackie on the screen for this one.

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Data has exploded over the last decade. People generate more than 402.74 million terabytes of new unique data every day in 2024. Amounting to 147 zettabytes of data this year. This figure is even more remarkable if you consider that an estimated 90% of the world's data was generated in the last two years alone.

The growth of data is overwhelming enterprises, leading to challenges in processing, transferring, and storing vast amounts of information efficiently. This often results in increased costs, data management complexities, and the need for advanced infrastructure and analytics solutions to handle the influx.

In today's digital landscape, data processing can occur either at centralized locations like data centers and on-premise servers or at the edge, where data is generated and used, such as in the field or in factories. The choice between these two approaches is becoming increasingly critical due to the sheer volume of data being produced.

Processing data centrally can lead to significant transmission delays, impacting decision-making times. This latency makes edge computing, which processes data closer to its source, an attractive solution. By reducing the distance data needs to travel, edge computing can enhance real-time processing and responsiveness. However, despite its advantages, edge alone isn’t enough — security should be at the forefront of these technological advancements.

The benefits of edge computing

Edge computing effectively shortens the distance data has to travel, removing the need to send data to a central processing location, thereby alleviating a tremendous strain on network resources. It also represents a significant reduction in transactional and transmission delays, enabling devices and users to use data more efficiently and securely and make faster decisions.

The emergence of the hybrid work model has delivered benefits, but it has also come with inefficiencies, sometimes requiring employees to travel back and forth more frequently. Edge devices can, in some cases, reduce the need for a worker to make a repair call or check the status of a piece of equipment on a factory floor. By processing IoT data closer to devices, edge computing can help enhance bandwidth and deliver near-real-time data.

Thus, one of the UK ports that acts as a vital hub for global trade, has significantly enhanced its operational efficiency and safety by deploying a Private 5G network. By using already developed solutions from Verizon Business, the port’s network now supports advanced technologies such as IoT sensors, autonomous vehicles, AI-powered logistics, and augmented remote assistance, enabling real-time asset tracking and environmental monitoring. These innovations have helped position the port as a leader in port innovation, delivering substantial operational improvements and efficiencies across its ports and harbors.

Synergy with 5G

Edge computing shows tremendous potential to introduce compelling new use cases, but as applications become increasingly immersive and graphics-intensive, they also become increasingly data-intensive. In other words, for enterprises to take full advantage of these applications and to make use of emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence and machine learning, they’ll need a robust network infrastructure.

With more advanced solutions comes a need for more processing power. With more endpoints and devices at the edge, built-in network security is increasingly important. Among other things, 5G can enhance security for edge computing which can allow edge computing to be fully realised. 5G can deliver increased bandwidth that can scale on demand; the reliability needed to support the continuous availability of mission-critical applications; end-to-end data encryption and can power advanced cybersecurity tools; the ability to increase network capacity to support more devices; and a network agile enough to support rapid changes and demands.

However, with the promise of more connected devices, especially IoT devices, comes an increased risk. Securing these devices in a 5G-enabled world is not just a technical challenge – it’s a fundamental requirement for building trust and ensuring that this innovation is sustainable. Securing IoT devices requires a multilayer approach: strong authentication methods, data encryption both at rest and in transit, and constant updates to keep devices secure against new threats. But it’s not enough to secure the devices in isolation. IoT security must be integrated into the broader network, with tight access controls and continuous monitoring to detect and respond to threats. This is the promise of 5G: not just faster speeds or more devices, but a safer, more secure foundation for the next wave of innovation.

Enterprises need to adapt

With innovative technologies knocking on enterprises’ doors daily, the latter face constant mounting pressure and challenges to deploy the technologies to keep up with the pace of global development. However, organizations must ensure their current ecosystems, internal policies and tech stack are ready for the deployment of edge computing technologies. Simply, outdated connection hardware could cause havoc in the warehouse of the manufacturing department or old cybersecurity protocols could expose retailers’ vulnerabilities making it a sweet spot for hackers.

To avoid such a nightmare on a mundane Friday afternoon, businesses should follow a step-by-step guide to preparing their operations for the deployment of 5G edge computing technologies:

1. Upgrading the company’s tech stack: For enterprises, this could mean upgrading the WAN, while for smaller businesses, it may begin with migrating to a VoIP communication solution to prepare to streamline mobility, video conferencing and online meetings.
2. Making the company’s tech stack policies agile: These behind-the-scenes efforts help make IT more agile and efficient, such as adopting a software-defined WAN to better meet changing service demands via policies that help a network adapt on the fly.
3. Elevating existing tech solutions: technological transformation is critical to digital transformation. For example, a logistics company could update its supply chain software with next-generation fleet telematics that reduces blind spots and improves on-time delivery rates with new smart IoT sensors. 5G-powered computer vision can make these processes even more valuable.
4. Anticipating the forthcoming innovations: Innovation goes beyond operation, addressing value-added solutions that drive the business forward. These innovations help businesses get noticed in a crowded market—especially those that can anticipate the needs of their customers ahead of time.
5. Becoming the tech disruptor: The fifth and final state of transformation is being ready to disrupt. These organizations have begun to adopt tools like augmented and virtual reality and other new technologies to design revolutionary experiences, changing the way the business approaches.

Securing the Edge

However, the decentralized nature of edge computing introduces unique vulnerabilities such as increased exposure to cyber-attacks, unauthorized access, and tampering due to the diverse environments in which edge devices operate. Unlike centralized systems, edge devices operate across diverse environments, increasing exposure to security risks. As data is processed closer to the source, devices may become targets of cyber attacks, unauthorized access, or tampering. Implementing a layered security strategy is critical to address these challenges. This includes robust authentication measures, endpoint security solutions, and encryption protocols to protect data both in transit and at rest.

Storing and processing data at the edge also raises important privacy concerns, especially when housing sensitive information such as health and financial data. Organizations must design their infrastructures with privacy always being front of mind, adhering to regulations such as GDPR and deploying encryption and anonymization strategies. Regular audits and strong governance ensure data stays protected, proving edge computing can balance both innovation and compliance.

In a world where security is only as strong as its weakest link, zero-trust architecture and network segmentation aren't just options but real imperatives. Every device, every user, and every request must be verified. By isolating sensitive assets and controlling access, businesses can limit the damage of potential future data breaches. This interconnected approach ensures that security measures are comprehensive and cohesive, addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by edge computing.

The explosion of data over the last decade has overwhelmed enterprises, leading to challenges in processing, transferring, and storing vast amounts of information efficiently. Centralized data processing can cause significant transmission delays, impacting decision-making times. Edge computing, which processes data closer to its source, offers a solution by enhancing real-time processing and responsiveness. However, to fully leverage these technologies, enterprises must ensure their tech infrastructure and policies are compatible and that the necessary security measures are in place.

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• Zotac has fired up a scheme via its US Discord channel
• Active community members can enter a raffle to win the chance to buy an RTX 5090 or 5080
• It looks like this plan is helping in the good fight to beat scalpers

The scramble for Nvidia’s new graphics cards has been an unpleasant affair (once again), especially with the RTX 5090, as stock of the flagship GPU has been even more scarce than the RTX 5080 – but Zotac has a plan to help genuine buyers (as opposed to scalpers) in the US.

VideoCardz reports that Zotac’s Discord channel in the US is running a “priority access campaign exclusively for our loyal community” to offer active members an opportunity to purchase an RTX 5090 or 5080 graphics card.

It’s a raffle system, with a chance to buy as the prize, and there are some conditions attached, as you might expect. Notably a clause that any Discord member must have been actively engaged in discussions, challenges, and the like, to be eligible. Anyone joining to spam a few three-word-messages in the hopes of getting a purchase won’t (or shouldn’t) be considered.

Any kind of “manipulation” or “cheating” won’t be tolerated either, Zotac says. Furthermore, the board maker will keep an eye on reselling activity, with serial numbers of GPUs that are bought being recorded, and a threat of publicly exposing any scalper who does resell their graphics card.

(Image credit: Zotac) Analysis: Zotac shows the way

Quite how Zotac might police the entire playing field for resellers isn’t clear, and probably not feasible, but still – I’ve got to admire the stance taken here against scalpers and bots.

These nefarious characters make any low-stock hardware launch much more of a nightmare than it should be, so efforts such as the scheme Zotac has concocted here must be applauded.

Wondering how Zotac plan has played out so far? According to the Reddit thread that VideoCardz picked up on this development through, Zotac’s Discord channel has witnessed a flood of folks signing up since the announcement.

So, it’s certainly going to drive more traffic for the channel, clearly, but if all a new member does is spam rubbish, they should be weeded out and be ineligible for the Blackwell purchase raffles.

Those who were active members before the announcement have apparently got a private channel with separate raffles to the main ones, with much greater chances of winning (like 25%, compared to less than 1% for the main raffles, we’re told, though take that with some seasoning).

It all sounds well enough organized, in short.

Why don’t all graphics card makers go down this route? Well, as VideoCardz points out, Zotac is one of the smaller outfits of the larger manufacturers (if you get what I mean), and it’s probably much more of a headache for some of the biggest operations in the GPU sphere to run a scheme such as this.

Still, shoring up defenses against scalping more broadly when it comes to popular launches like the RTX 5000 GPUs is well worth giving some more thought to, for both retailers and Nvidia’s board-making partners alike. Sadly, what we’ve seen elsewhere is official asking prices from graphics card makers themselves creeping up, or even jumping up, as a reaction to thin supply in the face of huge demand – so, what’d be a start is not doing this, please.

We’re trying to help as best we can, through our guides on where to buy an RTX 5080 today and also our RTX 5090 graphics card finder too. Best of luck out there, GPU hunters, but of course if you’re already on the Zotac Discord, you need to get yourself in the lottery there.

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• Nvidia is investigating reports of crashes plaguing RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs, with possible driver issues maybe hitting RTX 4000 models too
• Nvidia's RTX 5080 has dethroned AMD's RX 7900 XTX at the same price – but good luck finding one
• The end of the Nvidia RTX 4000 series is nigh – with the RTX 4070 expected to sell out in weeks

• Tech sector layoffs rose from 98,000 (3.9%) to 152,000 (5.7%) in just one month
• Software development and white-collar jobs could be most at-risk
• In-person and skilled roles remain competitive

New Wall Street Journal reporting has revealed an alarming trend within the tech sector – much like sceptics anticipated years ago, artificial intelligence looks to be displacing human workers and leading to higher unemployment rates.

The report found IT sector unemployment rates rose from 3.9% in December to 5.7% in January, or from 98,000 to 152,000 Janco Associates analysis of the US Department of Labor data.

More broadly, 143,000 new jobs were added in January 2025 to the US economy, albeit at a slower rate than optimal.

AI is costing IT jobs

In fact, white-collar and knowledge workers are seen as the most at-risk when it comes to AI-induced job displacement. Jaco Associates CEO Victor Janulaitis commented: “Jobs are being eliminated within the IT function which are routine and mundane, such as reporting, clerical administration.”

Companies are also reducing their reliance on programmers and system designers in the hope that artificial intelligence can deliver further cost savings. The number of software development job posts dropped 8.5% year-over-year in January 2025.

Although last year's pattern was considerably lower than 2023, when layoffs.fyi tracked 264,000 tech sector redundancies, as estimated 152,000 tech workers still lost their jobs in 2024 – nearly as many as the 165,000 workers who lost their jobs in 2022.

Recent notable job losses include Sonos (12% of its headcount), Meta (5%), Microsoft, Amazon and Google.

The report also suggests that further corporate investment in artificial intelligence could serve as an early sign that future job cuts could come – a trend described as “cost avoidance.”

However, while certain jobs may be at risk, others remain in high demand. The report reveals that certain in-person and skilled roles are in greater demand than many white-collar positions – the 'in-person' element of that trend is particularly interesting, given the widespread return-to-office mandates that have been enacted post-pandemic.

It's not all bad news though – Janulaitis revealed that January’s figures, which paint a negative picture for the year ahead, could indeed be artificially inflated by many companies who are looking to implement this year’s cost-cutting measures now, rather than later.

Regardless, with a further 10,800 job cuts actioned in the first five weeks of 2025 across the industry, many workers are faced with an uncertain future.

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• Millions of devices, likely infected with malware, are being used in a hacking campaign
• Researchers spotted brute-force attacks against VPN and other internet-connected devices
• The majority of the IP addresses are located in Brazil

A wide range of Virtual Private Network (VPN) and other networking devices are currently under attack by threat actors trying to break in to wider networks, experts have warned.

Threat monitoring platform The Shadowserver Foundation warned about the ongoing attack on X, noting someone is currently using roughly 2.8 million different IP addresses to try and guess the passwords for VPNs and similar devices built by Palo Alto Networks, Ivanti, SonicWall, and others.

Besides VPNs, the threat actors are going for gateways, security appliances, and other edge devices connected to the public internet.

Brute force

To conduct the attack, the threat actors are using MikroTik, Huawei, Cisco, Boa, and ZTE routers and other internet-connected devices, likely compromised with malware, or broken into themselves, thanks to weak passwords.

Speaking to BleepingComputer, The Shadowserver Foundation said that the attack recently increased in intensity.

From those 2.8 million, the majority (1.1 million) are located in Brazil, with the rest split between Turkey, Russia, Argentina, Morocco, and Mexico.

This is a typical brute-force attack, in which threat actors try to log into a device by submitting an enormous amount of username/password combinations, until one succeeds. Brute-force attacks are usually successful against devices protected with poor passwords (those that don’t have a strong combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols). The whole process is automated, making it possible on a grander scale.

The automation part is made possible through malware. Usually, the devices used in the attack are part of a botnet, or a residential proxy service. Residential proxies are IP addresses assigned to real devices by internet service providers (ISPs). They make it appear as though the user is browsing from a legitimate residential location rather than a data center, which makes them a major target for cybercriminals.

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After a year of speculation, months of rumors, and weeks of post-announcement waiting, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is finally here – the first Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra units have hit store shelves and customer’s doorsteps. The wait is finally over.

If you’re like me, though, and always on the lookout for a great tech deal, then you may have been waiting for a piece of news about a different Galaxy smartphone – for the past few weeks, I’ve been holding out hope that we might see an official price reduction for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in the wake of the Galaxy S25 Ultra going on sale.

It’s standard practice for phone makers to reduce the price of their older models as new flagships take center stage, in recognition that these erstwhile pack-leaders are no longer at the cutting edge of technology or the company’s smartphone lineup.

However, at the time of writing, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra remains on sale from Samsung directly at full price in the US and UK.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (Image credit: Future / Roland Moore-Colyer)

Personally, I’m a little confused by this decision. Is Samsung suggesting the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Ultra are of equal value? That wouldn’t make much sense if it wants people to see the Galaxy S25 Ultra as the shiny, new, bucket-of-AI device that it is.

Perhaps Samsung is banking on more selective customers, who prefer the sharper design and exclusive colors of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, being willing to shell out to get these features. But that doesn’t quite add up either, as Samsung is now drastically undercut on the Galaxy S24 Ultra by third-party retailers.

I hate to say it, but the continued listing of the Galaxy S24 Ultra at full price could also just be a last minute cash grab as stocks dwindle. Though Samsung doesn’t leave any signs of this on the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s various international landing pages, the absence of certain storage configurations suggests a “while stocks last” situation is afoot.

From this perspective, I have to raise some concerns about Samsung’s approach. Is leaving the Galaxy S24 Ultra up at full price really the fairest thing to do for those who may not be up-to-date on the latest tech releases? On the phone’s UK landing page, there’s no mention of its successor being available. I’m not sure that’s the most considerate way to do things.

Is it just the S Pen?

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (Image credit: Peter Hoffmann)

As we previously covered, the Galaxy S24 Ultra does have a stylus-shaped ace up its sleeve over the Galaxy S25 Ultra – a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s stylus is able to function as a remote control for One UI, the camera app, and other gesture-based commands – but the Galaxy S25 Ultra cut this connectivity, leaving many Samsung fans dismayed.

A petition to bring back Bluetooth connectivity to the S Pen was signed thousands of times in its first few days online.

I’m not seriously suggesting that Samsung is charging a premium for the Bluetooth S Pen by keeping the Galaxy S24 Ultra at full price, but this sole example of the older phone having a hardware advantage does highlight the feature disparity between the two evenly-priced devices.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes equipped with the blazing-fast Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, gets a new 50MP ultra-wide camera, and has the new Personal Data Engine hardware core for AI and security.

In comparison, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and no such core. The phones are otherwise very similar hardware wise.

In any case, if the “while stocks last” theory holds, we may not have to worry about this conundrum for much longer – though if you are looking to buy a top-end handset directly from Samsung, be sure to take a look at our Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review and our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review to make sure you’re really getting the one you want.

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• HPE begins notifying those affected by the 2023 Midnight Blizzard attack
• So far, at least a dozen people have received their breach notification letters
• We don't know exactly how many people were affected

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has started sending out breach notification letters to people who were affected by the 2023 data breach, with TechCrunch reporting the company has notified at least a dozen individuals so far, citing a review of breach notices filed with two US state attorney generals.

HPE reported Russian state-sponsored threat actors known as Midnight Blizzard breached its IT systems in 2023 and stole sensitive data from its employees’ email inboxes. In an 8-K submission filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the time, the company said the attack started in mid-May 2023, and that it spotted it on December 12.

The investigation uncovered that Midnight Blizzard (also known as Cozy Bear, or Nobelium) had access to “a small percentage” of HPE’s cloud-based email inboxes. Newer reports claim the crooks took Social Security numbers, driver’s license information, and credit card numbers, as well.

No material impact

HPE said the attackers used “a compromised account to access internal HPE email boxes in our Office 365 email environment.” Later, the company clarified the mailboxes belonged to HPE employees in cybersecurity, go-to-market, and business departments.

The exact number of compromised individuals is not known. The company told TechCrunch the data was “limited to information contained in the users’ mailboxes,” suggesting a relatively small number.

That being said, HPE doesn’t believe the attack will have a material impact on the company, or that it will disrupt its operations.

“Upon undertaking such actions, we determined that such activity did not materially impact the Company,” HPE said in the filing. “As of the date of this filing, the incident has not had a material impact on the Company’s operations, and the Company has not determined the incident is reasonably likely to materially impact the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.”

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• EVision Auto demoed its tech earlier this year
• Customized front bumper features a large, wraparound LED display
• Price will range between $2,500 and $3,000, company says

A number of automotive manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers have been toying with ways of making our cars instantly customizable, whether it’s E Ink dashboards or BMW’s madcap iVision Dee concept of 2023 that turned the entire body of a car into a digital canvas.

But EVision Auto believes it can already offer this technology with its front-end display unit that has been designed to fit seamlessly onto the outgoing Tesla Model Y.

The electric display, which is built into a Model Y front bumper and then fitted to the vehicle, features a high-resolution LED panel that can be personalized and customized via a dedicated Android and iOS smartphone app.

Showcased in a corner of the Las Vegas Convention Center at this year’s CES, EVision Auto demonstrated how the display could showcase a series of colorful static artworks, from Manga characters to bright landscapes.

In addition to this, the Model Y’s front end could be made to look like a Bugatti (or Bugiit, Bugtart or Bighaun for legal reasons), don Ferrari’s Prancing Horse logo or even replicate a sort of AI-generated version of a Maserati or Rolls-Royce grille and headlights.

Naturally, there are rather large question marks hanging over the legality of driving around with such a thing slapped on the front of your car – let alone the impending copyright lawsuits – while the durability of the LED unit needs to be second-to-none seeing as it is mounted in such a vulnerable place.

That said, EVision Auto claims the fully customizable grille will cost between $2,500 and $3,000 (around £2,200 / AU$4,400), with installation taking around two hours, according to CarScoops.

The company also says it plans to roll out the technology to other EV brands in the near future.

The future of car customization or flashy vaporware?

(Image credit: EVision Auto)

Although EVision Auto had a presence at this year’s CES, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the technology will soon be seen on a Tesla near you.

We reached out to the company to ask a number of questions, chiefly surrounding the screen’s legality and how many units the company had sold to date, but we are still awaiting an official response.

Much of the imagery and video on the company’s website is AI-generated, which doesn't bode well. There’s no doubt that the technology exists and the use of exterior displays will be something we see more of in the future – despite it splitting opinions.

Continental, for example, showcased a Window Projection Solution in Las Vegas this year, which beamed imagery from a projector mounted inside the car onto a side windscreen.

Chinese automaker Baojun also has a model with a digital display at the rear that can be customized to look like a watch face or feature emoji-esque graphics, while the HiPhi Z features programmable digital lighting at the front and 1,314 LEDs on the flanks to display messages to the outside world.

China seems to be driving this sort of technological change in the automotive sector and with more brands starting to make headway in Western markets, we might start to see vehicles winking, displaying images of Spider-Man or sending messages to passers-by. Whether you like it or not.

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• The first iOS 18.4 developer beta could land sometime within the next week
• Rumors predict that the beta will drop "in the coming days"
• The update is expected to give Siri "on-screen awareness" and more

iOS 18.3 recently brought Visual Intelligence upgrades and more to our iPhones, but developer beta testers will soon get to test-drive iOS 18.4, according to new rumors. It's expected to be a major update, and contain a Siri boost I've been waiting for since WWDC 2024.

The iOS 18.4 beta will arrive "in the coming days", according to Bloomberg's generally reliable Mark Gurman, writing in his Power On newsletter. To be more precise, Gurman thinks the update will roll out "sometime between the middle of this week and the next one", ahead of a public version in April.

The big feature of this update is expected to be a more personalized Siri that can tap into your personal data to answer queries. That's not all, with the iOS 18.4 beta also likely giving us our first taste of Siri with on-screen awareness and app control.

While Siri's latest brain upgrade will be iOS 18.4's main highlight, the update is also expected to bring a few other handy features. We'll likely see Priority Notifications (which uses AI to highlight your most important notifications), and the new emojis that were recently announced by the Unicode Consortium – yes, expect to see a new 'fight cloud' emoji and more for your iMessage chats.

But it's the Siri upgrade I'm most looking forward to – even if Gurman has tempered expectations by warning that "Apple is still well behind in this area"...

A better way to navigate your iPhone?

The Apple Intelligence rollout has been painfully slow, with many of the features highlighted at WWDC 2024 last June still not available on our iPhones. But I'm looking forward to seeing Siri finally break out of its straitjacket and become more of a personal assistant than a voice-activated timer.

We've already seen Siri get a few smaller updates in the last six months. iOS 18.1 gave us the ability to ask it follow-up questions, while iOS 18.2 plugged Siri into ChatGPT for the first time (although this is something I've used sparingly, due to ChatGPT's propensity to hallucinate).

But it was the next-gen Siri promises from WWDC 2024 last year (the video above jumps straight to them) that I've been most looking forward to. Apple showed demos of "on-screen awareness" and "in-app actions" that look genuinely useful – and they won't be limited to Apple's own apps, thanks to the App Intents API for developers.

There will likely be a delay until third-party apps tap into these powers, and we'll have to see if the experience lives up to Apple's lofty promises. But I could actually see Siri becoming my default way of navigating my iPhone if it works well, particularly as it's now possible to type to Siri (by double-tapping the base of your home screen) when you don't want to talk to it audibly.

The full version of iOS 18.4 won't be landing for a few weeks yet, with rumors point to an April release, but this developer beta will give us an idea of whether or not Siri will be capable of fulfilling the promise shown in its WWDC 2024 previews.

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• Nokia President and CEO Pekka Lundmark steps down after 4.5 years
• Intel Data Center & AI exec Justin Hotard will replace him
• Lundmark will advise Hotard until the end of the year

Nokia CEO and President Pekka Lundmark has confirmed he will be stepping down from the role in just a few weeks, and the telecoms giant has already confirmed its next leader.

Justin Hotard, who will be taking over from Lundmark from April 1, 2025, will move on from his year-long role as Intel's EVP and GM for Data Center & AI Business Group.

Prior to that, Hotard spent eight-and-a-half years at HPE – his last three years at the company was spent leading its HPC & AI Business Group.

Nokia’s next CEO comes from Intel, HPE

“[Hotard] has a strong track record of accelerating growth in technology companies along with vast expertise in AI and data center markets, which are critical areas for Nokia’s future growth," commented Sari Baldauf, Chair of Nokia’s Board of Directors.

Hotard, who has spent time working across the US in cities like Santa Clara, San Francisco, New York and Houston, as well as international locations like Beijing and Tokyo, will now be based at Nokia’s headquarters in Espoo, Finland.

The new CEO added: “I am honored by the opportunity to lead Nokia, a global leader in connectivity with a unique heritage in technology. Networks are the backbone that power society and businesses, and enable generational technology shifts like the one we are currently experiencing in AI.”

Shares rose 1.6% after the announcement, around 3.5x higher than the broader Helsinki stock exchange (via Reuters).

Lundmark indicated his intention to retire from similar roles: “Although I do not plan to stop working, I want to move on from executive roles to work in a different capacity, such as a board professional.”

After stepping down as CEO from March 31, 2025, he will continue to serve as an advisor for Hotard until the end of the year.

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Giving a little extra personality to your Microsoft Teams chats could soon be a lot quicker, thanks to a new update that's in the works,

The video conferencing service has revealed users will soon be able to add emojis into chats in a much more straightforward method than before - "making it quicker to express yourself," Microsoft says.

The update will mean Microsoft Teams users can insert emojis directly from your keyboard "without any distractions", the company added.

Microsoft Teams "add emoji"

In a Microsoft 365 roadmap post, the company noted the addition will give users more personalization communication options within their chats, as it will include custom emoji created by the user.

The tool is still listed as being "in development", but has an expected rollout start date of April 2024, from when it will be available to Microsoft Teams users across the world on Windows desktop and web.

First announced in May 2024, custom emoji and reactions are familiar to those who have to use a variety of collaboration tools at work, as it has been part of Slack for many years.

Up to 5,000 custom emojis able to be added on Microsoft Teams, forming part of Microsoft Teams' ongoing push to boost customization and personalization options on the platform.

This includes the recent addition of the option for users to select their preferred skin tone for Microsoft Teams reactions.

First introduced in January 2021, Microsoft Teams reactions give users a quick and easy way to show their approval (or not) to chat messages and on calls, covering a range of emojis and symbols such as a thumbs up, frowning face or even a love heart.

Microsoft Teams has also launched virtual avatars, offering users more customization options while also livening up the look and feel of calls, alongside new visual effects including animated frames and video hue altering, on top of existing tools that allow users to blur backgrounds and soften the video feed to mask and obscure blemishes.

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• Most white-collar jobs could be affected by artificial intelligence
• Organizational and analytical tasks are more at-risk, IPPR report finds
• AI policies should focus more on AI adoption

New research from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has revealed how profound the effects of AI are on knowledge workers, with more than two-thirds of tasks in white-collar roles at risk of being affected by artificial intelligence.

The report specifically details how generative AI is transforming jobs that rely on computer-based tasks, such as project management, marketing and administrative support.

It found up to 70% of the 22,000 analyzed tasks could be either “transformed” or “replaced” by AI.

White-collar jobs are at risk of AI transformation

“Organisational and strategic tasks” and “repetitive and non-repetitive cognitive and analytical tasks” were revealed to be among the most likely to see productivity and efficiency enhancements from AI, however now that AI is evolving from a novelty to a genuine aid, the IPPR is calling for better guidance.

The report’s author and IPPR’s Head of AI, Carsten Jung, said too many policies focus on either accelerating AI adoption or ensuring its safety, but very few actually set out a clear and purposeful direction for AI adoption.

“The launch of ‘AI agents’ shows AI is different from past technologies," Jung commented, "AI technology could have a seismic impact on economy and society: it will transform jobs, destroy old ones, create new ones, trigger the development of new products and services and allow us to do things we could not do before.”

IPPR is urging governments to set clear policies, establish measurable targets, partner with private sector and civil society to guide development and to ensure that AI advancements remain aligned with public interest.

Jung added: “Politics needs to catch up with the implications of powerful AI. Beyond just ensuring AI models are safe, we need to determine what goals we want to achieve.”

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• PSN has just recovered from a 24-hour outage
• Sony says the downtime was caused by an “operational issue” with network services
• Compensation is 5 free days of service for PlayStation Plus members

Sony has informed us of the compensation that PlayStation owners – well, PlayStation Plus members – will receive due to the major outage that struck PSN this weekend, which is thankfully now in the rearview mirror.

The PlayStation Network outage ran for 24 hours in the end, blotting out Saturday online gaming sessions across the globe (or Friday night in some places).

Finally, we were given a reason for the service dropping out, namely an “operational issue” with network services as explained by the PlayStation North American support account on X.

Network services have fully recovered from an operational issue. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank the community for their patience. All PlayStation Plus members will automatically receive an additional 5 days of service.February 9, 2025

The post on the social media outlet also apologized and gave us details on the compensation that’s going to be provided: “All PlayStation Plus members will automatically receive an additional 5 days of service.”

Not so smooth operator

Predictably, there’s quite a bit of unhappiness around the response here. Just a cursory glance through the replies to the announcement from Sony support gives you a good flavor of the disgruntled gamers out there. The main theme is ‘just five days, what about a month?’ – or ‘why aren’t you giving us a free game instead?’

Okay, the latter is pushing it, but I must agree that five days feels like, how can I put this tactfully… a minimal gesture?

I think Sony could have done better than that in mitigating what was clearly a lot of bad feeling from the broad PlayStation community around this weekend-spoiling (for some) outage.

Heck, even non-PlayStation gamers are chipping in on X and saying this feels stingy from Sony.

It’s worth noting that far from everyone has received the five-day bonus yet, and it’s likely in the pipeline for many.

(Image credit: Nattawit Khomsanit / Shutterstock) Communication breakdown

The other frustrating element during this PSN outage was the lack of any communication as to what was going on from Sony.

Everything was down – all PlayStation services on the status dashboard, which was nothing but red lights – and yet not a peep was heard from official channels about the cause (or suspected fault), or an estimated delivery time for the fix to the PlayStation Network.

In some ways, that’ll doubtless have been about the fear of getting something else wrong – giving false hope of a ‘fix soon’ that then doesn’t appear, and which only makes PlayStation owners angrier – but still, it wasn’t a good situation.

The final verdict emerging as just an “operational issue” is not much of a reason, either, and that term feels very vague. Yes, apparently it was a large spanner in the works with the network infrastructure somewhere – but what kind of gremlin was crawling about in there? A little more of a clue wouldn’t hurt, in terms of: how did this happen, and how might Sony guard against this in the future?

In fairness, a fuller explanation could be coming shortly. And service downtime happens – it’s inevitable, of course. But I feel it’s clear enough that the response during the outage, and this final outcome and compensation, could – and should – have been better from Sony.

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• AMD’s MI400 APU lands in 2026, boosting AI, HPC, and compute efficiency
• New design features two AIDs with eight XCDs, doubling MI300’s density
• Multimedia IO Die offloads IO tasks and may integrate Xilinx FPGA tech

AMD’s Instinct MI400 APU is set to arrive in 2026 - designed for AI, machine learning, and HPC workloads, the MI400 will build on Team Red’s chiplet-based modular architecture and is expected to increase compute density, power efficiency, and scalability.

It may also play a role in future supercomputing projects, including a possible successor to El Capitan, but so far, AMD has only confirmed that the MI400 will use the CDNA "Next" architecture.

However,ut a patch updating the API header for MES (MicroEngine Scheduler) v12, spotted by Coelacanth’s Dream (and reported by VideoCardz), provides some insight into its chiplet configuration.

Multimedia IO Die

According to the patch, the MI400 will feature two Active Interposer Dies (AIDs), each containing four Accelerated Compute Dies (XCDs), for a total of eight XCDs. This doubles the XCD count per AID compared to the MI300. By integrating more compute dies into fewer interposers, AMD could reduce latency and improve efficiency while increasing data throughput, which is critical for AI and HPC workloads.

However, as Coelacanth’s Dream points out, “if the MI400 follows a similar CPU Complex Die (CCD) and AID partitioning as the MI300, where some AIDs are dedicated to CPUs rather than accelerators, then the maximum number of XCDs in some configurations could be limited to four, potentially reducing the XCD count compared to the MI300A APU.”

An intriguing addition to the MI400 is the Multimedia IO Die (MID), which separates the multimedia engine from the AIDs. The MID will likely manage memory controllers, media engines, and interface logic, allowing the compute dies to focus on processing tasks. The patches suggest support for up to two MIDs, probably assigning one per AID.

This new component could be AMD’s first integration of Versal/Xilinx FPGA technology into its accelerator lineup. AMD announced in 2022 that it planned to incorporate Xilinx’s FPGA-powered AI inference engine into its CPU portfolio. It could also be an Alveo series data center acceleration card.

The patches additionally reference a Register Remapping Table (RRMT), allowing firmware to direct register transactions to specific AIDs, XCDs, or MIDs.

AMD has not yet released any official renders or specifications for the MI400 series, but with the accelerator expected to launch in 2026, following the arrival of the Instinct MI350 series (built on the CDNA 4 architecture) later this year, more details will hopefully emerge soon.

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