Field notes from the edge.
What our engineers learned this week. Hands-on technical deep-dives, postmortems, and strategy frameworks.
Cloudflare teams up with big browsers to help websites tell welcome from unwelcome visitors
Cloudflare on Monday said that it has joined with the three leading commercial browser makers to create a privacy-preserving protocol that websites can use to separate desirable web traffic from undesirable network requests. Cloudflare, along with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox, have committed to develop Private Access Control Tokens (PACTs), a way for websi
Cloudflare teams up with big browsers to help websites tell bots from people
Cloudflare on Monday said that it has joined with the three leading commercial browser makers to create a privacy-preserving protocol that websites can use to separate desirable web traffic from undesirable network requests. Cloudflare, along with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox, have committed to develop Private Access Control Tokens (PACTs), a way for websi
How dare you stop data loss – that's not your job!
WHO, ME? The world of work is weird, so The Register records the worst of it every Monday in a reader-contributed column we call "Who, Me?" in which you admit to mistakes, and reveal your escapes. This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Terry" who told us of a summer job he worked in the 1980s. "It was at a municipal IT facility, and everyone had a specific job to do, and w
Bcachefs exits experimental status in new 'performance release'
bcachefs boss Kent Overstreet has announced version 1.38.6 of the Linux filesystem, dubbing it “the performance release” and declaring the project is no longer experimental. The new code is ostensibly a relatively modest point release, but is noteworthy as it’s only the second release this year that project leader Kent Overstreet has described on his Patreon blog. His latest po
Oracle support timelines for Fusion Middleware tighter than expected
Oracle has shocked its customers by releasing new end-of-life conditions for its middleware products that thousands of large organizations rely on in their enterprise application deployments. In a missive published online earlier this month, Big Red warned that support for the widely used Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c Release 2 was approaching a “critical milestone.” Top-level P
AIGit good with Epic Games' new open source VCS, Lore
Epic Games has open-sourced Lore, a centralized version control system originally developed as Unreal Revision Control for internal use and Fortnite development. Unlike Git and other VCS solutions, Lore treats binary files and text files as equals, making it purpose-built for game developers and other teams working with large binary assets alongside code. The system is released under the permissiv
AIApple's WebKit performance tax leaves iOS browsers stuck in the slow lane, says Microsoft
Microsoft research reveals that Apple's requirement for iOS browsers to use the WebKit engine creates a 28.6% performance penalty compared to Chromium-based alternatives. While the EU's Digital Markets Act theoretically allows alternative browser engines on iOS, no browser maker has launched one due to technical barriers and onerous compliance requirements Apple has imposed. The findings add to gr
AIThe new Siri makes one of Apple's most convenient OS features a cumbersome mess
Apple's new AI-enhanced Siri, released in iOS and macOS 27 developer betas, has significantly degraded the user experience of Spotlight search by forcing AI-generated results ahead of traditional search functionality. The changes mirror Google's controversial AI Overviews approach, likely influenced by Apple's new AI VP Amar Subramanya, a former Google executive who led Gemini engineering. What wa
AIFirefox 152 understands “Sssh!”
Firefox 152 introduces enhanced tab audio management with quick mute commands, experimental JPEG XL support, and improved tab-sharing capabilities across devices. The release comes as Google Chrome continues phasing out Manifest V2 extensions, potentially disadvantaging ad-blocking functionality. Mozilla's rapid release cycle and new public roadmap demonstrate active development commitment to main
AIRed Hat gives Ubuntu a bootc up the backside at Canonical shindig
Red Hat Principal Software Engineer Joseph Marrero Corchado presented at Ubuntu Summit 26.04 on using bootc, Red Hat's container management toolchain, to deploy and manage Ubuntu systems. The bootc technology enables transactional OS updates using OCI/Docker container images, allowing administrators to manage complete OS images for VMs or bare metal using familiar container tools, with features li
AIFlatpak-NG sounds like bad news for systemd refuseniks
The proposed Flatpak-NG (next-generation Flatpak) would shift application isolation from bubblewrap to a new systemd component called systemd-appd, creating a hard dependency on systemd. This architectural change threatens to eliminate Flatpak support for systemd-free distributions like MX Linux, Alpine, Devuan, and Slackware, which rely on Flatpak as their primary access to cross-distribution Lin
AIHoly git! Microsoft code-sharing site suffers downtime, despite move to Azure
GitHub has experienced significant service reliability challenges in recent months as AI-driven development workflows have caused traffic to surge from 1 billion commits annually to 1.4 billion monthly. Despite migrating 40% of traffic to Azure infrastructure and doubling capacity in four months, the platform continues to face availability issues, with unofficial tracking showing uptime as low as
AIMX Linux 25.2 provides possible refuge from AI as well as systemd
MX Linux 25.2 offers a systemd-free alternative for enterprise users seeking to avoid both systemd dependencies and emerging AI integrations in mainstream distributions. The release restores the ability to switch between init systems (sysvinit and systemd) at boot time and includes optional kernel 7.0 support, while providing robust management tools that rival Arch-based distributions. This positi
AIBlockbuster new Raspberry Pi project turns any screen into old-school VCR
A developer has created 240-MP, an open-source Raspberry Pi project that emulates old-school VCR interfaces to play modern media files and Plex libraries on CRT TVs or modern screens. The text-based menu system supports local file playback and Plex integration, with plans to add Jellyfin and RetroArch support, offering a nostalgic viewing experience that mimics vintage video playback.
AICanonical sends Ubuntu into the AI agent era
Canonical's Ubuntu Summit 26.04 showcased the company's strategic pivot toward AI integration, with founder Mark Shuttleworth announcing Workshop—a sandboxed LLM development environment using LXD containerization. The company is positioning Ubuntu for the "agentic revolution" with plans to embed AI capabilities across the desktop, particularly focusing on accessibility improvements like speech-to-
AIConsultant mistakenly deleted a ton of data – but reported it as a bug
A test automation consultant accidentally deleted critical client data while attempting to automate cleanup of test video files. Rather than confessing, the consultant reported it as a potential bug, and after investigation, the client's support team attributed the incident to their own SaaS script malfunction and took full responsibility for the data loss.
AINo longer just a Copilot, Microsoft's AI wants to take the wheel
Microsoft has introduced 'Autopilot,' a new category of autonomous AI agents that work continuously in the background without prompting, starting with Scout. Unlike Copilot's assistive approach, Scout operates across Microsoft 365 applications to proactively manage tasks like scheduling, deadline tracking, and meeting preparation, though it's currently in limited preview and raises security concer
AIUK lawmakers call on government to ditch Palantir NHS contract
UK Parliament's Science Innovation and Technology Committee has urged the government to terminate Palantir's £330 million NHS Federated Data Platform contract, citing concerns about vendor lock-in and over-reliance on US tech firms in critical public services. The committee recommends using a 2027 break clause to either develop in-house alternatives or procure from UK-based providers, emphasizing
AIAnthropic, now atop the AI bubble, files for its IPO
Anthropic has filed confidentially for an IPO following a $65 billion Series H funding round that valued the company at $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI's $852 billion valuation. While the company reportedly approaches its first quarter of operating profit and generates strong revenue despite a smaller user base than OpenAI, the actual financial health remains uncertain until public disclosure. The