The Register Kettle

With the continuing fallout from Snowflake now hitting over 100 million AT&T customers we discuss quite what is to be done. Constant vigilance is a given, but there's always the himan factor that ensures even the best security systems can be rolled over due to a single slip up. Then there's the promise of AI, or possibly the lack of promise. Machine learning was touted as a possible savior of the security industry, but - as with so much AI hype - the reality is looking somewhat less rosy. You can see the full discussion below. On this week's show we have Tobias Mann, Brandon Vigliarolo, The Register's security editor Jessica Lyons and your host Iain Thomson.

It's been a busy week in space, with Boeing's test pilots still stuck on the International Space Station thanks to their faulty capsule, and then being forced to take shelter from space debris. The debris came from RESURS-P1, a decommissioned Russian satellite launched in 2013, which broke up this week into over 100 observable pieces, all traveling at around 17,000mph. As the debris field approached the ISS astronauts were forced to take cover in a hardened safety chamber. Not that the station has long left, as NASA awarded a contract this week to deorbit the platform in 2030. By then there may be a replacement, and there'll almost certainly be a rival in the form of China, which is building its own space station. It's also been a good week for the Middle Kingdom, with the Chang'e-6 re-entry capsule bringing back the first samples from the far side of the Moon. You can see the full discussion below.

On Thursday the US government effectively banned Kaspersky security software on US servers on national security grounds, or at least made it useless given the lack of updates come September. Then, as we were filming this week's Kettle, 12 members of Kaspersky's C-suite were sanctioned as well - although not the Russian business' eponymous CEO Eugene. So what on earth is going on? Is this overreach by the US government or is there something more sinister going on? Joining us on this week's Kettle is our security editor Jessica Lyons to give us the full story, along with Tom Claburn to add in wisdom on the software side. As ever The Register's editor Chris Williams has pithy comment and your host is Iain Thomson, with producer Nicole Hemsoth Prickett turning chat into gold.

The tech world has been gathering in Taipei for the annual extravaganza that is Computex and all the chip makers have been strutting their stuff - one in particular. Nvidia didn't even book a spot at the show and instead host its own keynote where Jensen Huang, just crowned CEO of the world's second most valuable corporation, reflected on a stellar year and told us what's coming down the line. He then, rather bizarrely, wondered off to sign a young lady's chest. Such shenanigans weren't seen from other CEO. A fired-up Pat Gelsinger touted Intel's return to form and bought a new chip along with him. AMD, Qualcomm and Arm were also showing off the fruits of their labor and what OEMs have done with them. You can see the full discussion below and the squid discussed is here - although the image may haunt your dreams. On this week's show our man on the spot Simon Sharwood is joined by Joining us this week is Chris Williams and Tobias Mann, with your host Iain Thomson.

With US Editor Iain Thomson; Editor in Chief, Chris Williams; Systems Editor, Tobias Mann; and Reporter, Brandon Vigliarolo

Joining us on this week's transatlantic Kettle is Richard Speed fromThe Register's UK team, and Tom Claburn - both of whom sat through endless Microsoft briefings so you didn't have to. You can get the full details in the video below.But it wasn't all about software - Microsoft's making another play for Windows on Arm and i's looking like this time it's serious. Tobias Mann has been going over the details, with The Register's editor Chris Williams adding words of wisdom. This week's show is hosted by Iain Thomson

For this latest The Register's Kettle, Jessica Lyons explains the security threat from China, Brandon Vigliarolo covers the bizarre case of an American nuclear missile base blocking a Chinese coin mining operation, and Tom Claburn adds his experience to the debate, hosted by Iain Thomson. 

The latest episode of The Register's Kettle security editor Jessica Lyons gives the inside scoop on the show - having pounded the floors for news nuggets, Brandon Vigliarolo adds pithy comment, our editor Chris Williams sketches out the big picture, and your host Iain Thomson dove into some of the gloomier aspects of the show.

Buying $110B of your own stock is legal, but isn't a good look.It's earnings season and Apple showed less-than-stellar performance over the second quarter of 2024, but had a solution.Was it to invest in the next must-have tech gadget? Maybe build its own AI model or search engine so that it doesn't have to rely on Google's technology in those areas? No, it was to spend $110 billion on its own shares - the largest share buyback in American history and a movie that the markets loved.But - as we discuss in the Kettle you can watch below -stock buybacks (a practice that used to be illegal until the 1980s) are a bit of a red flag. When tech companies stop investing in development and start slashing the cash on buy their own shares - we're looking at you IBM, Intel, Google, Boeing etc…

Companies are increasing prices in the technology industry to drive profits, even when there is no significant cost pressure.The AI and GPU market may be heading towards a bubble, with companies financing themselves through loans using depreciating assets as collateral.Customers face challenges in managing costs and navigating vendor pricing, especially when migrating to the cloud.Open source solutions may offer an alternative to control costs, but there are challenges in maintaining and securing these solutions.

Intel is introducing Gaudi 3, its competitor to Nvidia's AI hardware. While Gaudi 3 may not look impressive on paper, Intel claims it can go toe to toe with Nvidia in most AI workloads. However, Intel will need to step up its game in the next year to stay competitive, especially with the upcoming release of Blackwell, which is expected to be much faster than Gaudi 3. Google is also entering the AI hardware market with its ARM-based CPU, joining other cloud providers in offering ARM designs. The cost of AI and the sustainability of the infrastructure are still uncertain.

Joining the show this week is Thomas Claburn, who covered the original story, The Register's security editor Jessica Lyons, as well as editor in chief (and open source coder) Chris Williams with the host Iain Thomson.This episode was produced by Brandon Vigliarolo.