Haiku beta 4: BeOS rebuild / almost ready for release / A thing of beauty [Thu Jan 12 2023]

Hi {NAME}, Daily Headlines - 12 January 2023 ***************************************************************** Haiku beta 4: BeOS rebuild / almost ready for release / A thing of beauty Open source reimplementation could be even better than the original in its prime ***************************************************************** On-Prem * Draft climate law threatens fines for datacenters that don't cut their carbon count Legislation also puts cryptocurrency farms in the crosshairs * FAA grounds all US departures after NOTAM goes down 'Damaged database file' blamed, no evidence of cyberattack found, as air travel chaos continues * PC sales slump to pre-pandemic level in Q4. 'Boom' is over, says IDC Vendors lower prices to stimulate demand but inflation, fears of recession trump discounts * Government tech spending in England more than doubles in five years Researchers see pandemic boom in computer-related tech spend Security * Royal Mail, cops probe 'cyber incident' that's knackered international mail Don't go postal and call it a cyberattack because nobody knows (yet) what knocked out key system * AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing Did a criminally minded robot write this? In part, yes. * Microsoft fixes Windows database connections it broke in November January Patch Tuesday update resolves issue caused by Patch Tuesday update late in '22 * German cartel watchdog objects to the way Google processes user data Not transparent, not specific, and too easy to say yes to * Swiss Army's Threema messaging app was full of holes – at least seven At least the penknives are still secure * Health insurer Aflac blames US partner for leak of Japanese cancer policy info Zurich’s Japanese outpost also leaks a couple of million records * Privacy on the line: Boffins break VoLTE phone security Call metadata can be ferreted out Software * Scientists tricked into believing fake abstracts written by ChatGPT were real Study warns tool could be used to create fake research papers for paper mills * Native Americans urge Apache Software Foundation to ditch its name Open source org called out for ignoring own code of conduct * Fedora 38 is finally taking shape New Budgie and Sway spins, Xfce 4.18, and initial support for Unified Kernel Images * That NHS England patient data platform procurement, FDP, is live. And worth up to £480m References to Palantir use cases, 'unique tools' litter the tender docs as critics mull legal action * Meta develops AI targeting system to show housing ads to wider range of users Part of a settlement with US Department of Justice after ads discrimination case * Haiku beta 4: BeOS rebuild / almost ready for release / A thing of beauty Open source reimplementation could be even better than the original in its prime * New software sells new hardware – but a threat to that symbiosis is coming Complex software packages need ever gruntier specs... and Koomey’s Law awaits * Asia’s digital divides mean some can’t afford tech upgrade they need to compete International Monetary Fund report suggests 'diffusion' - a kind of tech trickle-down - might sort things out * Microsoft to move some Teams features to more costly 'Premium' edition Wants around $10 a month for stuff you get free today, plus plenty more new features * Citrix and Tibco staff report sweeping redundancies Future is cloudy at the Cloud Software Group Offbeat * Stranded ISS astronauts are getting a new Soyuz to ride home The coolant-deprived vessel that got them there will return to Earth alone * Robot seal tested for stress relief on pretend Mars mission Anything to avoid interacting with Elon Musk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This email was sent to {EMAIL} You can update your preferences here: or unsubscribe from this list: Situation Publishing Ltd, 315 Montgomery Street, 9th & 10th Floors, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA The Register and its contents are Copyright © 2023 Situation Publishing. All rights reserved. Find our Privacy Policy here: