Personal Tech

• Power management IC shortage holding cars, laptops, hostage

  Couple of cents-worth of kit causing big problems for the year to come
  Agam Shah Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 20:49 UTC 1

  The shortage of power management chips is worsening and holding back companies from building cars, PCs and items with batteries or an on-off switch, Trendforce said in a study this week.

  Power management ICs cost just a few cents, and are among cheap chips that include display driver and USB-C components that are in short supply. These chips are as important to PCs and other electronics as CPUs or memory.

  The demand for PMICs has gone through the roof with the emergence of electric cars and growing demand for PCs and consumer electronics during the past 20 plus months. Trendforce expects the prices will go up by 10 per cent to a six-year high of $0.23.

  Continue reading

• MongoDB logs 50% hike in Q4 sales, beats analysts forecasts for next quarter

  Yet losses grow at NoSQL database biz
  Lindsay Clark Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 20:01 UTC

  NoSQL database slinger MongoDB has seen its share price bounce 15 per cent following a hefty upturn in sales for Q3 and better-than-expected forecasts for the final three months of its current financial year.

  Revenues for the period ended 31 October 2021 came in at $226.9m, an increase of 50 per cent year-on-year. The share-price hike was also based on MongoDB projecting revenue for its Q4 ended January of $242m compared to analyst estimates of $226m.

  Broken down by category, the database biz reported Q3 subscription revenue of $217.9m, an increase of 51 per cent year-on-year. Services revenue hit $9.0m, up 35 over the same period.

  Continue reading

• Rusty Linux kernel draws closer with new patch adding support for Rust as second language

  Experimental – but good enough to start writing 'drivers and other modules'
  Tim Anderson Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 18:50 UTC 2

  A new patch was this week submitted to the Linux Kernel mailing list, progressing the Rust for Linux Kernel project.

  Continue reading

• AWS wobbles in US East region causing widespread outages

  'We have identified the root cause and we are actively working towards recovery'
  Tim Anderson Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 18:05 UTC 13

  Updated Technical errors with the US-EAST-1 region of Amazon Web Services have caused widespread woes for customers, including difficulty accessing the management console and some other service problems.

  The issues appear to be centred on the US-EAST-1 region, which is the oldest AWS region and located in North Virginia. This can have a global impact, as AWS noted in its status report:

  "This issue is affecting the global console landing page, which is also hosted in US-EAST-1."

  Continue reading

• Hubble Space Telescope restored to service: No repeat of those missing messages, but here's a software patch anyway

  They went full science. Always go full science
  Richard Speed Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 17:45 UTC 7

  The Hubble Space Telescope team has triumphed once again and returned the veteran observatory to service.

  The Space Telescope Imaging Spectograph was recovered on Monday 6 December, meaning that "full science operations" are back up and all four active instruments are collecting data. Furthermore, there has been no repeat of the synchronisation issues that bedevilled the spacecraft in recent months.

  Engineers are continuing with plans to update the instrument software with tweaks to permit them to keep working even if the synchronisation message issues occur in the future. The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which was restored to service as November drew to a close, will be the first to receive the update.

  Continue reading

• Cryptominers aren't just a headache – they're a big neon sign that Bad Things are on your network

  So says Sophos in warning about Tor2Mine Monero malware
  Gareth Corfield Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 16:14 UTC 3

  Cryptominer malware removal is a routine piece of the cybersecurity landscape these days. Yet if criminals are hijacking your compute cycles to mine cryptocurrencies, chances are there's something worse lurking on your network too.

  So warned Sophos threat researcher Sean Gallagher, in a recent interview with The Register as the antivirus organisation launches a report into the Tor2Mine cryptominer.

  Tor2Mine is unremarkable, other than for its persistence features. If it gets onto your network it starts mining the Monero cryptocurrency, favoured by e-crims because (unlike Bitcoin) wallets aren't publicly visible, meaning transactions can't be easily traced by investigators.

  Continue reading

• Shocking: UK electricity tariffs are among world's most expensive

  And the cheapest? Libya
  Richard Speed Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 15:15 UTC 63

  In a surprise to no bill-payers in the UK, except perhaps those huddling in homes without power for days on end, Blighty has some of the most expensive electricity in the world.

  The findings, from research undertaken by comparison site cable.co.uk, were pulled from six months of looking at 3,883 energy tariffs over 230 countries. The UK, alas, came in at 190th. It also sits at 24 out of 28 states in Western Europe (Germany was more expensive, while France's average – putting the country into 12th position – was cheaper.)

  Dan Howdle, a consumer research analyst at Cable.co.uk, said: "Almost every European nation is cheaper. Most African nations? Cheaper. There are even island nations where energy production is especially difficult that charge less than we are charged in the UK."

  Continue reading

• The (IT capacity) testing times we live in: Survey's in – and my, how some of you have grown

  Only one respondent 'noticeably reduced the capacity of their systems'
  Dave Cartwright Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 14:30 UTC

  Reg Reader Survey We decided to look at the science – or perhaps the art – of capacity management for our recent Reg Reader Survey.

  We figured it was likely – particularly because of the radical changes caused in behaviour, by COVID-19 lockdowns, with the use of IT systems.

  So we asked readers to tell us about how they've dealt with managing the capacity of their systems over the last few years.

  Continue reading

• Foreign Office IT chaos: Shocking testimony reveals poor tech support hindered Afghan evac attempts

  Contributed to dysfunction as diplomats and soldiers struggled to get Afghan helpers out of reach of Taliban
  Lindsay Clark Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 13:49 UTC 19

  Diplomats and soldiers were left grappling with appallingly inadequate IT and secure communications support as thousands of Afghans struggled to get help from the UK during the fall of the capital Kabul in August.

  A massive shortfall in PC availability, lack of login for secure IT systems, disjointed IT systems and a desperate attempt to fall back onto printed paper methods all contributed to chaotic scenes at the newly merged Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), according to written testimony put before Parliament today.

  "On the evening of Saturday 21 August, the soldiers were issued one FCDO computer for every two soldiers. These did not work because FCDO IT had not issued the passwords to unlock them. These computers were finally unlocked on the afternoon of Sunday 22 August. Until this, the soldiers worked with one computer shared between roughly eight people," said former desk officer Raphael Marshall in his evidence [PDF] to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee's Inquiry on Government Policy on Afghanistan.

  Continue reading

• Samsung splits itself in two... internally: Semiconductor biz and then everything else

  Smartphones and consumer electronics now under one roof
  Paul Kunert Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 13:20 UTC 1

  Samsung is splitting into two internal divisions – a semiconductor unit and one for smartphones, TVs and other consumer electronics – appointing two CEOs in what appears to be the biggest operational shake-up in years.

  The top job for semiconductors, the largest and most profitable area of the company, has gone to Kyehyun Kyung. He was CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics and also previously ran the Flash Product and Technology Team, and the DRAM Design Team.

  "He is expected to help maintain the company’s semiconductor leadership and leads innovation in the components business," said Samsung in a statement.

  Continue reading

• Self-driving towards an IPO? Intel unveils plans for Mobileye offering

  Chipzilla to keep its hands on the wheel
  Richard Speed Tue 7 Dec 2021 // 12:25 UTC 1

  Intel will take its Mobileye tentacle public next year, five years after spending $15bn to buy the sensor company.

  Chipzilla said it will maintain majority ownership of Mobileye after the offering, expected in mid-2022 (although a final decision on the IPO, its conditions and timings has yet to be made.)

  The justification given for the move is to "unlock the value of Mobileye for Intel shareholders."

  Continue reading