US lifts lid on world's largest toilet

Who, Me? The weekend is no more so start your working week with a Who, Me? tale about the hazards of simply trying to do the right thing.

Our story comes from "Anne" and takes place many years ago in what she described as "a rather large bank," the identity of which will remain anonymous to spare the blushes and the need for legal instruction.

Special report The CEO and chairman of Nominet have been ousted by the .uk internet registry operator's membership.

Three other members were also removed from the not-for-profit’s board in a clear rejection of their efforts to push the company in a more commercial direction.

The City of London Police, which has responsibility for intellectual property crime across the UK, has warned universities and scientists not to use “open science” site Sci-Hub.

The British cops also called for it to be blocked by universities.

Comedian John Cleese has jumped aboard the non-fungible token bandwagon, with an offer to sell a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge for $69,346,250.50 using the newfangled blockchain-infused digital certificates of ownership for digital goods.

The Monty Python member took to Twitter with his offer, telling viewers “You and me we get it. Our parents laugh at non-refundable tokens and cryptic currencies. ‘It can’t go on the wall!’ they say. ‘Is the world ending?!’ No, hardly.”

Updated Richard M Stallman, founder and former president of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), announced at the organisation's LibrePlanet virtual event that he has rejoined the board and does not intend to resign again.

Stallman spoke at the event yesterday on the subject of unjust computing – covering locked-down operating systems, non-free client software, user-restricting app stores, and more.

Think tank WorldSkills UK has claimed Britain is facing a digital skills shortage as fewer young people opt to study IT-related subjects at GCSE and A Level.

The report [PDF] highlighted a steady decline in the number of Computing and IT students at GCSE level since 2015, falling 40 per cent from a peak of 147,000 to just 88,000 last year.

Sometimes vendors struggle to see the world as it really is – complex, messy, and for the most part filled with technology that so often falls short of its initial promise.

It was revealing, then, when Microsoft admitted that it is, in fact, reliant on software from another vendor.

OVH has written off a second data centre because of the March 10th fire that destroyed its SBG2 facility.

In a Saturday update, OVH founder and CTO Octave Klaba wrote: “We don’t plan to restart SBG1. Ever.” Previous guidance on SBG1 suggested only a few racks were destroyed, while others were considered recoverable. The fire has already destroyed the SBG2 data centre.

Column It takes a lot to stir the peaceable men and women of Makerhood into angry revolt, but 2D robo-snippers Cricut did it last week. Cricut makes desktop thingies that can print, cut and score a variety of flexible materials, which produce 2D templates you then glue, sew or otherwise fashion into 3D things like baseball caps for Etsy.

Cricut's card-chompers cost more than a pair of scissors and a tape measure - expect to part with £350 or so. And they’re useless without the software, which Cricut maintains in the cloud. It’s a popular approach in 3D printing because it works well; users don’t have to worry about the spec of their local computers and Cricut can add and debug new features without pushing out regular huge updates. And, of course, it knows exactly what its users are doing.

Samsung says a study of Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro, conducted by the Samsung Medical Center, suggest its wireless earbuds could be a handy substitute for hearing aids. Samsung does not make hearing aids.

A study [PDF] published in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology found that Galaxy Buds Pro’s Ambient Sound feature was effective in helping those with mild to moderate hearing loss to decipher sounds.