Daily Archives: January 11, 2026

Italy Fines Cloudflare €14 Million for Refusing to Filter Sites on Public 1.1.1.1 DNS

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Italy’s communications regulator AGCOM imposed a record-breaking €14.2 million fine on Cloudflare after the company failed to implement the required piracy blocking measures. Cloudflare argued that filtering its global 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver would be “impossible” without hurting overall performance. AGCOM disagreed, noting that Cloudflare is not necessarily a neutral intermediary either.

italy flagLaunched in 2024, Italy’s elaborate ‘Piracy Shield‘ blocking scheme was billed as the future of anti-piracy efforts.

To effectively tackle live sports piracy, its broad blocking powers aim to block piracy-related domain names and IP addresses within 30 minutes.

While many pirate sources have indeed been blocked, the Piracy Shield is not without controversy. There have been multiple reports of overblocking, where the anti-piracy system blocked access to legitimate sites and services.

Many of these overblocking instances involved the American Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare, which has been particularly critical of Italy’s Piracy Shield. In addition to protesting the measures in public, Cloudflare allegedly refused to filter pirate sites through its public 1.1.1.1 DNS.

1.1.1.1: Too Big to Block?

This refusal prompted an investigation by AGCOM, which now concluded that Cloudflare openly violated its legal requirements in the country. Following an amendment, the Piracy Shield also requires DNS providers and VPNs to block websites.

The dispute centers specifically on the refusal to comply with AGCOM Order 49/25/CONS, which was issued in February 2025. The order required Cloudflare to block DNS resolution and traffic to a list of domains and IP addresses linked to copyright infringement.

Cloudflare reportedly refused to enforce these blocking requirements through its public DNS resolver. Among other things, Cloudflare countered that filtering its DNS would be unreasonable and disproportionate.

 

Cloudflare’s arguments (translated)

cloud
 

The company warned that doing so would affect billions of daily queries and have an “extremely negative impact on latency,” slowing down the service for legitimate users worldwide.

AGCOM was unmoved by this “too big to block” argument.

The regulator countered that Cloudflare has all the technological expertise and resources to implement the blocking measures. AGCOM argued the company is known for its complex traffic management and rejected the suggestion that complying with the blocking order would break its service.

€14,247,698 Fine

After weighing all arguments, AGCOM imposed a €14,247,698 (USD $16.7m) fine against Cloudflare, concluding that the company failed to comply with the required anti-piracy measures. The fine represents 1% of the company’s global revenue, where the law allows for a maximum of 2%.

 

AGCOM’s conclusion (translated)

14m
 

According to AGCOM, this is the first fine of this type, both in scope and size. This is fitting, as the regulator argued that Cloudflare plays a central role.

“The measure, in addition to being one of the first financial penalties imposed in the copyright sector, is particularly significant given the role played by Cloudflare” AGCOM notes, adding that Cloudflare is linked to roughly 70% of the pirate sites targeted under its regime.

In its detailed analysis, the regulator further highlighted that Cloudflare’s cooperation is “essential” for the enforcement of Italian anti-piracy laws, as its services allow pirate sites to evade standard blocking measures.

What’s Next?

Cloudflare has strongly contested the accusations throughout AGCOM’s proceedings and previously criticized the Piracy Shield system for lacking transparency and due process.

While the company did not immediately respond to our request for comment, it will almost certainly appeal the fine. This appeal may also draw the interest of other public DNS resolvers, such as Google and OpenDNS.

AGCOM, meanwhile, says that it remains fully committed to enforcing the local piracy law. The regulator notes that since the Piracy Shield started in February 2024, 65,000 domain names and 14,000 IP addresses were blocked.

—

A copy of AGCOM’s detailed analysis and the associated order (N. 333/25/CONS) available here (pdf).

Source: Italy Fines Cloudflare €14 Million for Refusing to Filter Pirate Sites on Public 1.1.1.1 DNS * TorrentFreak

The sites are not necessarily pirate sites – as noted above (and here), many many legitimate sites are blocked by Italy’s privacy shield, with little to no recourse.

China crew abused ESXi VM escape zero-days a year before disclosure

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Chinese-linked cybercriminals were sitting on a working VMware ESXi hypervisor escape kit more than a year before the bugs it relied on were made public.

That’s according to researchers at Huntress, who this week published a breakdown of an intrusion they observed in December 2025 in which a “sophisticated” toolkit was used to break out of virtual machines and target the ESXi hypervisor itself. The security firm says parts of the code point to development starting as early as February 2024 – a full year before VMware disclosed the bugs in March 2025.

The incident began in a very unglamorous way – with a compromised SonicWall VPN appliance. From there, the attackers were able to commandeer a Domain Admin account, pivot across the network, and eventually deploy a suite of tools that Huntress says exploited multiple flaws to escape a guest VM and reach the underlying ESXi hypervisor.

VM escape bugs are particularly serious because they break a promise virtualization is built on: that a hacked VM stays in its own box. In this case, the attackers appear to have stitched together ESXi-specific tricks that enabled them to jump the fence and execute code on the hypervisor itself.

Huntress’s analysis of the binaries revealed development paths with simplified Chinese strings and folders labeled with Chinese text meaning “All version escape – delivery,” hinting at the region and intent behind the work. What’s more, the researchers say the code carried timestamps showing it was put together well before VMware acknowledged or fixed the vulnerabilities.

Those flaws – tracked as CVE-2025-22224, CVE-2025-22225, and CVE-2025-22226 – were flagged by VMware in March 2025 as critical and high-severity bugs that could be chained to compromise the hypervisor from a guest VM. At the time, the company warned it had “information to suggest that exploitation [of all three CVEs] has occurred in the wild.”

While organizations scrambled to patch their ESXi hosts once the advisory dropped, Huntress’s findings suggest at least some skilled actors were already weaponizing those issues long before IT teams were even aware they existed.

This wasn’t just a smash-and-grab. Huntress says the attackers disabled VMware’s own drivers, loaded unsigned kernel modules, and phoned home in ways designed to go unnoticed. The toolkit supported a wide range of ESXi versions, spanning over 150 builds, which would have let the attackers hit a broad swath of environments had they not been stopped, it added.

[…]

Source: China crew abused ESXi zero-days a year before disclosure • The Register

French Court Orders Google to block swathes of the internet through DNS for … sports TV

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The Paris Judicial Court has ordered Google to block nineteen additional pirate site domains through its public DNS resolver. The blockade was requested by Canal+ and aims to stop pirate streams of Champions League games. In its defense, Google argued that rightsholders should target intermediaries higher up the chain first, such as Cloudflare’s CDN, but the court rejected that.

champions leagueThe frontline of online piracy liability keeps moving, and core internet infrastructure providers are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs.

Since 2024, the Paris Judicial Court has ordered Cloudflare, Google and other intermediaries to actively block access to pirate sites through their DNS resolvers, confirming that third-party intermediaries can be required to take responsibility.

These blockades are requested by sports rights holders, covering Formula 1, football, and MotoGP, among others. They argue that public DNS resolvers help users to bypass existing ISP blockades, so these intermediaries should be ordered to block domains too.

Google DNS Blocks Expand

These blocking efforts didn’t stop. After the first blocking requests were granted, the Paris Court issued various additional blocking orders. Most recently, Google was compelled to take action following a complaint from French broadcaster Canal+ and its subsidiaries regarding Champions League piracy..

Like previous blocking cases, the request is grounded in Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, which enables rightsholders to seek court orders against any entity that can help to stop ‘serious and repeated’ sports piracy.

After reviewing the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the Paris Court granted the blocking request, ordering Google to block nineteen domain names, including antenashop.site, daddylive3.com, livetv860.me, streamysport.org and vavoo.to.

The latest blocking order covers the entire 2025/2026 Champions League series, which ends on May 30, 2026. It’s a dynamic order too, which means that if these sites switch to new domains, as verified by ARCOM, these have to be blocked as well.

Cloudflare-First Defense Fails

Google objected to the blocking request. Among other things, it argued that several domains were linked to Cloudflare’s CDN. Therefore, suspending the sites on the CDN level would be more effective, as that would render them inaccessible.

Based on the subsidiarity principle, Google argued that blocking measures should only be ordered if attempts to block the pirate sites through more direct means have failed.

The court dismissed these arguments, noting that intermediaries cannot dictate the enforcement strategy or blocking order. Intermediaries cannot require “prior steps” against other technical intermediaries, especially given the “irremediable” character of live sports piracy.

The judge found the block proportional because Google remains free to choose the technical method, even if the result is mandated. Internet providers, search engines, CDNs, and DNS resolvers can all be required to block, irrespective of what other measures were taken previously.

Proportional

Google further argued that the blocking measures were disproportionate because they were complex, costly, easily bypassed, and had effects beyond the borders of France.

The Paris court rejected these claims. It argued that Google failed to demonstrate that implementing these blocking measures would result in “important costs” or technical impossibilities.

[…]

A copy of the order issued by the Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris (RG nº 25/11816) is available here (pdf). The order specifically excludes New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and French Polynesia due to specific local legal frameworks.

1. antenashop.site
2. antenawest.store
3. daddylive3.com
4. hesgoal-tv.me
5. livetv860.me
6. streamysport.org
7. vavoo.to
8. witv.soccer
9. veplay.top
10. jxoxkplay.xyz
11. andrenalynrushplay.cfd
12. marbleagree.net
13. emb.apl375.me
14. hornpot.net
15. td3wb1bchdvsahp.ngolpdkyoctjcddxshli469r.org
16. ott-premium.com
17. rex43.premium-ott.xyz
18. smartersiptvpro.fr
19. eta.play-cdn.vip:80

Source: French Court Orders Google DNS to Block Pirate Sites, Dismisses ‘Cloudflare-First’ Defense * TorrentFreak

These blocks can (and do) go horribly wrong. And, should you have another DNS provider, they give you a handy list of where to go to watch the Champions League 🙂

I Played Switch Games in 3D on XReal’s New Smart Glasses, and It’s Wild (and Weird) 

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XReal is at CES, unveiling two new pairs of AR smart glasses. The XReal 1S builds on the XReal One, adding Real 3D technology that converts any video or game into a 3D experience. It also introduces an ultrawide mode, a standout feature carried over from the excellent XReal One Pro. The second model, the ROG XReal R1, is the result of XReal’s partnership with Asus’ Republic of Gamers (ROG) and is billed by both companies as the first pair of smart glasses to support a 240Hz refresh rate.

Real 3D on the XReal 1S is surprisingly effective, especially with video games. Mario Kart World and Yooka-Replaylee both have a compelling sense of depth with the mode enabled, and even 2D platformers like Hollow Knight Silksong and Rogue Legacy 2 get a neat pop-out effect that makes the games seem like you’re playing them in a diorama. Considering none of those games are built for 3D displays, it’s impressive how the Real 3D processing handles them in the glasses.

Video converted to 3D is less impressive. I watched some of Fallout on the glasses, and while some shots showed a bit of depth, it was more subtle and less consistent than the games. One shot of a shade-darkened Lucy against the brightly lit wasteland was outright disorienting, because the Real 3D seemed to assume Lucy was the background and the wasteland was the foreground.

Even with games, I turned off Real 3D after 10 minutes or so. It did a number on the framerate, causing some stuttering and flickering. I also saw regular processing artifacts, and across the board, the general picture just looked less sharp than it did in 2D. I started getting a headache, which usually doesn’t happen with smart glasses. (I have experienced that with 3D glasses in theaters, and with TVs during the 3D TV fad of the early 2010s, though.)

There’s a lot of potential here, and XReal will probably improve Real 3D in future firmware updates. If the company can stabilize the framerate and reduce the video artifacts that come from the 3D processing, it could become a must-have feature. In fact, even though I got a headache, the Real 3D processing I tried on the S1 seems to be a bit less stuttery than an earlier version I tried during a demo a few months ago.

Source: I Played Switch Games in 3D on XReal’s New Smart Glasses, and It’s Wild (and Weird) | PCMag

Report: Microsoft quietly kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet

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In November last year, we reported on the removal of an unofficial KMS-related Windows activation, something which the company was planning to do for a while. The method worked by helping to activate Windows without an internet connection.

If you are wondering about official ways, offline Windows activation has been possible to do using the phone. However, it looks like Microsoft has quietly killed off that method as users online have found that they are no longer able to activate the OS using it.

[…]

Now when trying to activate the OS by attempting to call the phone number for Microsoft Product Activation, an automated voice response says the following: “Support for product activation has moved online. For the fastest and most convenient way to activate your product, please visit our online product activation portal at aka.ms/aoh”

If you are wondering, that link takes users to the Microsoft Product Activation Portal for online activation.

[…]

Source: Report: Microsoft quietly kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet – Neowin

Together with Windows more and more requiring a Microsoft account to install / log in to windows, this reflects a growing need by Microsoft to peer into your computer.

A self-cleaning, bio-inspired high retention filter for a major entry path of microplastics | npj Emerging Contaminants

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Microplastic (MP) fibres from washing machines are a major source of environmental pollution, yet, existing domestic filtration solutions are prone to clogging and have limited retention. Inspired by the gill arch system of ram-feeding fishes, we developed a bio-inspired filter that employs semi-cross-flow filtration with a conical filter element geometry, periodic self-cleaning and optimised inflow. Laboratory tests show that the fish-inspired filter (FiF) retains up to 99.6% of MP test fibres. Clogging is reduced by collecting up to 85% of the fibres outside the FiF through a periodic cleaning mechanism.

[…]

The FiF achieves a low concentrate volume (∼5%), increasing yield and minimising post-treatment. Our findings highlight the potential of bio-inspired filtration mechanisms for engineering applications such as washing machines[…]

Source: A self-cleaning, bio-inspired high retention filter for a major entry path of microplastics | npj Emerging Contaminants

Your smart TV is watching you and nobody’s stopping it

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At the end of last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued five of the largest TV companies, accusing them of excessive and deceptive surveillance of their customers.

Paxton reserved special venom for the two China-based members of the quintet. His argument is that unlike Sony, Samsung, and LG, if Hisense and TCL have conducted surveillance in the way the lawsuits accuse them of, they’d potentially be required to share all data with the Chinese Communist Party.

It is a rare pleasure to state that legal action against tech companies is cogent, timely, focused, and – if the allegations are true – deserves to succeed. It is less pleasant to predict that even if one, several, or all of these manufacturers did what they’re accused of, and were sanctioned for it, it would not put the safeguards in place to stop such practices from recurring.

At the heart of the cases is the fact that most smart TVs use Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) to send rapid-fire screenshots back to company servers, where they are analyzed to finely detail your TV usage. This sometimes covers not just streaming video, but whatever apps or external devices are displaying, and the allegations are that every other bit of personal data the set can scry is also pulled in. Installed apps can have trackers, data from other devices can be swept up.

These lawsuits aside, smart TV companies more generally boast of their prying prowess to the ecosystem of data exploiters from which they make their money. The companies are much less open about the mechanisms and amount of data collection, and deploy a barrage of defenses to entice customers into turning the stuff on and stop them from turning it off. You may have already seen massive on-screen Ts&Cs with only ACCEPT as an option, ACR controls buried in labyrinthine menu jails, features that stop working even if you complete the obstacle course – all this is old news.

How old are these practices? TV maker Vizio got hit by multiple suits between 2015 and 2017, and collected $2.2 million in fines from the Federal Trade Commission and the state of New Jersey, as well as settling related class actions to the tune of $17 million. The FTC said the fines settled claims the maker had used installed software on its TVs to collect viewing data on 11 million TVs without their owners’ knowledge or consent. A court order said the manufacturer had to delete data collected before 2016 and promise to “prominently disclose and obtain affirmative express consent” for data collection and sharing from then on.

Yet ten years on, the problem has only got worse. There is no law against data collection, and companies often eat the fines, adjust their behavior to the barest minimum compliance, and set about finding new ways to entomb your digital twin in their datacenters.

It’s not even as if more regulation helps. The European GDPR data protection and privacy regs give consumers powerful rights and companies strict obligations, which smart TV makers do not rush to observe. Researchers claim the problem is growing no matter which side of the Atlantic your TV is watching you on.

[…]

Source: Your smart TV is watching you and nobody’s stopping it • The Register

GNOME and Firefox Consider Disabling Middle Click Paste By Default

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Both GNOME and Firefox are considering disabling middle-click paste by default, arguing it’s a confusing, accident-prone X11 relic that dumps clipboard contents without warning. Phoronix reports: A merge request for GNOME’s gsettings-desktop-schemas was opened this weekend to disable the primary-paste functionality by default that allows using the middle mouse button for pasting. Jordan Petridis argued in that GNOME pull request that middle-click paste is an “X11’ism” and that the setting could remain for those wanting to opt-in to enabling the functionality […].

The gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-enable-primary-paste true command would be a way of restoring the primary paste (middle click paste) for those desiring the functionality. The decision over the default has been tasked to GNOME’s design team for consideration.

Separately, Mozilla is also considering disabling middle mouse button paste by default too. […] Another option being considered is having the option to enable/disable it at either the GTK toolkit level or Wayland compositor level.

Looking at the comments, this is a hugely controversial move being pushed by the authors without any recognition that many people actually love having 2 clipboards. It may have been around for a long time, but this is a well used feature. The keyboard has been around for a long time, but no reason to say: hey, it’s old. Let’s sets a chorded keyboard as the default.

HP PC-in-a-keyboard for business

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Announced on Monday at CES 2026, the HP EliteBoard G1a looks like a standard desktop keyboard, complete with 93 keys, including a number pad. Its keys have a solid 2 mm of travel, more than most laptops, and felt OK to type on during our brief hands-on, but it’s not mechanical so isn’t the best keyboard money can buy. However, look at the back surface and you’ll notice a small vent where air comes out and either two USB-C ports, or, on some SKus, a single port with a built-in USB-C cable that hangs off it like a tail.

HP EliteBoard G1a

HP EliteBoard G1a

The idea is that you plug the EliteBoard G1a into a monitor that has USB-C video input and allow it to send data and get power over a single wire. Connect a wireless mouse and you’ve got your workstation covered. Maintain a similar monitor and mouse setup at home and you can carry just the keyboard back and forth.

If your monitor, like the majority on the market, doesn’t have a USB-C input, you can use an included USB-to-HDMI adapter to connect. You can use a 65 W USB-C power adapter to juice the G1a if it’s not getting electricity directly from the monitor.

The G1a weighs between 1.49 and 1.69 pounds, depending on config, and measures 14.1 in x 4.7 in x 0.7 inches, so it is more portable than most laptops, though it is longer and thicker than some. At its CES preview, HP showed off a long, thin envelope you can use to carry it and said it would also fit into any laptop bag that holds a 16-inch or larger laptop.

HP EliteBoard G1a

HP EliteBoard G1a

The G1a comes powered by an AMD Ryzen AI 5 or 7 (330, 340, or 350 Pro) with integrated AMD Radeon 800 graphics and an NPU that runs at up to 50 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second). Those specs make it a Copilot+ PC by Microsoft’s standards, which means you get certain offline AI features like Microsoft Recall, Click to Do, and Windows Studio Effects. You can get it with up to 64 GB of DDR5 5600 MT/s RAM and up to 2 TB of SSD storage, along with Wi-Fi 6E or 7 connectivity.

[…]

You’ll also be able to configure the G1a with or without a 32 Wh battery that HP claims can offer up to 3.5 hours of unplugged use or two days in sleep. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where you’d need to use the keyboard without a power source, but having it be asleep while you carry it from one destination to another would be a huge plus.

[…]

Source: HP pushes PC-in-a-keyboard for businesses with hot desks • The Register

This is an absolutely brilliant idea.

One criminal stole info from 50 orgs thanks to no MFA

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If you don’t say “yes way” to MFA, the consequences can be disastrous. Sensitive data belonging to about 50 global enterprises is listed for sale – and, in some cases, has already been sold – on the dark web following a major infostealer campaign, with apparent victims including American utility engineering firm Pickett and Associates; Japan’s homebuilding giant Sekisui House; and Spain’s largest airline Iberia.

The thief, who goes by the moniker Zestix or Sentap, steals data from corporate file-sharing portals by using compromised cloud credentials obtained from information-stealing malware. And none of the purported victims enforced multi-factor authentication (MFA), according to Hudson Rock, an Israeli cybersecurity company that specializes in infostealers.

Stolen credentials combined with a lack of MFA are always a recipe for disaster, as we have seen in earlier big breaches such as Change Healthcare, British Library, and Snowflake customers’ database hacks.

“Because the organizations listed below did not enforce MFA, the attacker walks right in through the front door,” the cybersecurity shop said in a Monday report. “No exploits, no cookies – just a password.”

We’re told Zestix gains access after employees inadvertently download infostealer-laden files to their devices. The stealer malware, such as RedLine, Lumma, or Vidar, then snarfs up saved credentials and browser history.

The cybercriminal, who has been operating as an initial access broker and extortionist since at least 2021, specifically targets enterprise file synchronization and sharing (EFSS) platforms like Progress Software’s ShareFile, Nextcloud, and OwnCloud.

[…]

Credential hygiene

The report illustrates the growing problem with infostealers, a favorite method of ransomware gangs and other financially motivated criminals.

It also highlights the growing trend of criminals simply logging in – not breaking in – to cloud accounts, which security experts have been warning about for the past couple of years.

Plus, as Hudson Rock reports, “while some credentials were harvested from recently infected machines, others had been sitting in logs for years, waiting for an actor like Zestix to exploit them.” This, the team adds, shows a “pervasive failure” in corporate credential hygiene with organizations neglecting to rotate passwords and invalidate sessions.

“It is time for organizations to enforce MFA and monitor their employees’ compromised credentials,” the security firm notes. We couldn’t agree more. ®

Source: One criminal stole info from 50 orgs thanks to no MFA • The Register

VW’s New Year’s Resolution Is to Bring Back Physical Buttons

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  • Volkswagen revealed a new generation of cockpit design with the refreshed ID. Polo.
  • The new design marks a big departure for VW and features a plethora of physical controls rather than the capacitive buttons on current models.
  • While the switchgear is currently only found on the new ID. Polo, which isn’t sold in the United States, it could debut on the soon-to-be-refreshed ID.4.

Volkswagen is making a drastic change to its interiors, or at least the interiors of its electric vehicles. The automaker recently unveiled a new cockpit generation with the refreshed ID. Polo—the diminutive electric hatchback that the brand sells in Europe—that now comes with physical buttons.

2027 volkswagen id polo

Volkswagen

While VW certainly isn’t the only automaker that pushed the envelope with haptic controls and digital buttons, it was a particularly egregious offender. Now, the company is doing a complete 180-degree shift, adding a full suite of physical buttons and switchgear to the Polo’s interior.

The steering wheel gets new clusters of buttons for cruise control and interacting with music playback, while switches for the temperature and fan speed now live in a row along the dashboard. The move back to buttons doesn’t come out of nowhere. Volkswagen already started the shift with the new versions of the Golf and Tiguan models in the United States. Unfortunately, some climate controls, such as those for the rear defrost and the heated seats, are still accessed through the touchscreen. Thankfully, they look to retain their dedicated spot at the bottom of the display.

2027 volkswagen id polo

Volkswagen

Volkswagen hasn’t announced which models will receive the new cockpit design. The redesigned interior also may be limited to the brand’s electric vehicles, which would limit it to the upcoming refresh for the ID.4 SUV (and potentially the ID.Buzz), as the only VW EV models currently sold in America.

Source: VW’s New Year’s Resolution Is to Bring Back Physical Buttons

Also unfortunately, the music control buttons seem to be limited to the steering wheel. Having your passenger reach out to select a radio station on your steering wheel feels suboptimal to me. But it’s a start.

Vietnam forces video ads to be shorter than 5 seconds and easy to close

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The Government has just issued Decree No. 342 detailing a number of articles of the Advertising Law, which for the first time set strict requirements for advertising on the network environment. Notably, platforms are not forced users to view ads for more than 5 seconds and must allow to turn off ads with just 1 touch.

[…] Do not “force” users to watch ads for more than 5 seconds

One of the notable new points of the Decree is the specific regulation of non-positional advertising – the type of ad appears at the location, the time is not fixed, can obscure the whole or part of the main content and interrupt the user experience.

According to the new decree from February 15, social media users will not be disturbed with long promotional videos, uncensored content. Illustration: lectnews
From February 12, according to the new Decree, users will not be bothered with long promotional videos, uncensored content – Illustration

Article 17 of the Decree requires platforms to design features, clear ad-off icons, ensuring users only need one interaction to be able to turn off ads. It is strictly forbidden to use the symbol to turn off fake ads, confusing or difficult to recognize.

In particular, the Decree stipulates that there is no waiting time to turn off ads for stilltomers. With moving or video image-chain ads, the maximum standby time to turn off ads is only 5 seconds.

In addition, platforms must be clearly arranged and guided by users of advertising reports that violate the law, while also allowing the choice of rejection, turning or not continuing to view inappropriate ads. These reflections must be received, promptly processed and notified to the user in accordance with regulations.

[…]

Source: From 15/2, video ads are not forced users to watch for more than 5 seconds – Women’s Newspaper

Google starts to close Android sources, will only release code twice a year now

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The operating system that powers every Android phone and tablet on the market is based on AOSP, short for the Android Open Source Project. Google develops and releases AOSP under the permissive Apache 2.0 License, which allows any developer to use, modify, and distribute their own operating systems based on the project without paying fees or releasing their own modified source code. Since beginning the project, Google released the source code for nearly every new version of Android for mobile devices, typically doing so within days of rolling out the corresponding update to its own Pixel mobile devices. Starting this year, however, Google is making a major change to its release schedule for Android source code drops: AOSP sources will only be released twice a year.

Google told Android Authority that, effective 2026, Google will publish new source code to AOSP in Q2 and Q4. The reason is to [blah blah bullshit]

[…]

Source: Google will now only release Android source code twice a year

With competition getting under way by the likes of Sailfish to satisfy an increasing amount of people seeking to get out from under the thumbs of Android and IOS, Google is closing the system so that alternatives can’t use their work in helping creating better products.

Lenovo Ultrawide Gaming Laptop That Uses a Rollable Screen

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Lenovo wants to make rolling screens more ubiquitous. These flexible screens can extend out from their normal aspect ratio, so a device like the ThinkBook Gen 6 Rollable can go from a 14-inch laptop to a 16-inch screen. Gamers, on the other hand, may want something wider than taller. Lenovo’s latest concept accomplishes just that, and it makes more sense than you may initially think.

Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept is essentially the company’s existing Legion Pro 7i, but the 240Hz OLED screen is replaced with a flexible display. In its default state, the screen sticks to the standard 16 inches. With a press of the Fn and arrow keys, you can extend the screen to a further 21.5 inches in “tactical” mode and 24 inches in “arena” mode. At its max width, the screen appears far more like my typical desktop monitor—wide enough for my gaming habits.

Lenogo Legion Pro Rollable 2
These two wings expand thanks to an internal pulley system that pulls the screens in and out of the laptop lid. © Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

The mechanism inside the laptop lid is similar to what Lenovo has tried with its ThinkPad Rollable XD concept. It’s using high-tensile cables and a system of pulleys to drag the displays into place. This is an early concept, and some features don’t work like you imagine they would.

[…]

Without getting hung up on the details, the Legion Pro Rollable is the kind of concept that’s helping me maintain an ounce of excitement for gaming laptops. Having used the ThinkBook Rollable, I know that having variable screen sizes is more useful than you may initially think. The Legion Pro Rollable is being marketed for esports

[…]

Source: Lenovo Thinks You Want an Ultrawide Gaming Laptop That Uses a Rollable Screen

HSBC blocks app users for having sideloaded password manager

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[…] Neil Brown, board member at F-Droid, said he was blocked from accessing HSBC’s UK mobile banking after a security screen flagged Bitwarden as a risk. Brown had installed the password manager via F-Droid rather than Google Play.

Bitwarden, an open source password manager, is available through official channels including Google Play and Galaxy stores, as well as via F-Droid sideloading.

HSBC didn’t provide The Register with a clear answer on why it won’t allow a sideloaded Bitwarden installation to coexist with its app on the same device.

Representatives from both F-Droid and Bitwarden suspect the issue stems from HSBC’s side.

Gary Orenstein, chief customer officer at Bitwarden, told us: “It seems that HSBC has chosen a level of security and permissions for their mobile app that allows the HSBC app to see if there are other apps on the phone not installed from the Google Play store, and if one is found, to disallow the install of the HSBC app.”

[…]

Source: HSBC blocks app users for having sideloaded password manager • The Register

There are many great reasons to install apps from things that aren’t the Google Play Store, privacy and freedom of choice being a major one – especially with people trying to escape the Google / Apple duopoly by jumping to other OSs like Sailfish (on the Jolla Phone). Not being able to access your banking app is a major problem. I guess it’s time to start changing banks as well then!

MacOS Logitech mice stop working due to cloud certificate being invalid. Apple shakedown turns hardware into junk.

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If you’re among the macOS users experiencing some weird issues with your Logitech mouse, then good news: Logitech has now released a fix. This comes after multiple Reddit users reported yesterday that Logi Options Plus — the app required to manage and configure the controls on Logitech accessories — had stopped working, preventing them from using customized scrolling features, button actions, and gestures.

One Reddit user said that the scroll directions and extra buttons on their Logitech mouse “were not working as I intended” and that the Logi Options Plus app became stuck in a boot loop upon opening it to identify the cause. Logitech has since acknowledged the situation and said that its G Hub app — a similar management software for gaming devices under the Logitech G brand — was also affected.

According to Logitech’s support page, the problem was caused by “an expired certificate” required for the apps to run. Windows users were unaffected. The issues only impacted Mac users because macOS prevents certain applications from running if it doesn’t detect a valid Developer ID certificate, something that has affected other apps in the past.

So Apple requires the maker of hardware to pay them a subscription to be able to use the hardware?! It’s a mouse, not a piece of rocket science! If your hardware supplier goes bust, your hardware turns into junk.

This Free Script Disables Every AI Feature in Windows 11

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If you’d like your operating system to go back to being an operating system, check out
RemoveWindowsAI. This free script changes various registry keys to disable AI features including Copilot, Recall, and the Copilot integrations in applications including Edge, Paint, and Notepad. Using various workarounds , it then configures Windows Update to not install those updates again (the documentation breaks the process down, if you’re interested).

[…]

To start the script you will need to copy a command from the Github page for RemoveWindowsAI and paste it into your PowerShell window (I’m not including the command directly here in case it changes in the future). Once you do, the user interface will show up, allowing you to choose which AI features you want to disable. Make your choices and watch the changes take place in the PowerShell window.

[…]

Source: This Free Script Disables Every AI Feature in Windows 11 | Lifehacker

The Pebble Round 2 is here, and it fixes the original’s biggest flaws

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2025 was a surprisingly big year for Pebble fans. Last March, former Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky unexpectedly launched two new Pebble smartwatches: the Pebble 2 Duo and the Pebble Time 2. Now, on just the second day of 2026, Migicovsky has announced a third Pebble smartwatch — the Pebble Round 2.

For all intents and purposes, the Pebble Round 2 is a spiritual successor to the Pebble Time Round, Pebble’s excellent circular smartwatch that was released in 2015. At first glance, the new watch looks indistinguishable from its older sibling. However, there are a couple of key upgrades that fix the original Pebble Time Round’s biggest flaws.

The first is the display. Where the Pebble Time Round featured a 1-inch screen, the Pebble Round 2 has a 1.3-inch screen. A 0.3-inch size upgrade may not sound like much on paper, but as you can see from the photos above, it’s a night-and-day difference when looking at the Pebble Round 2 and Pebble Time Round side by side — largely thanks to the drastically reduced bezels on the new watch.

In addition to the larger size, the Pebble Round 2’s screen is also higher quality, featuring a 260 x 260 resolution that’s twice as sharp as the OG Pebble Time Round. The screen is also now optically bonded, resulting in greatly improved viewing angles compared to the previous model.

The other big upgrade is battery life. Migicovsky says the Pebble Round 2 should last 10 to 14 days per charge, a massive increase over the two days of battery life provided by the original Pebble Time Round (primarily due to newer, more efficient Bluetooth technology). Although it’s not as impressive as the 30-day battery life offered by the other two Pebble watches announced a few months ago, it’s still incredible endurance considering how light and thin the Pebble Round 2 is.

[…]

It has step and sleep tracking, a compass, two microphones, and 30m water resistance. Compared to the Pebble Time 2, the two most prominent missing features on the Pebble Round 2 are a heart rate monitor and a speaker.

[…]

Source: The Pebble Round 2 is here, and it fixes the original’s biggest flaws

LG forced a Copilot web app onto its TVs but will now let you delete it

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LG says it will let users delete the Microsoft Copilot shortcut it installed on newer TVs after several reports highlighted the unremovable icon. In a statement to The Verge, LG spokesperson Chris De Maria says the company “respects consumer choice and will take steps to allow users to delete the shortcut icon if they wish.”

Last week, a user on the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit posted an image of the Microsoft Copilot icon in their lineup of apps on an LG TV, with no option to delete it. “My LG TV’s new software update installed Microsoft Copilot, which cannot be deleted,” the post says. The post garnered more than 36,000 upvotes as people grow more frustrated with AI popping up just about everywhere.

Both LG and Samsung announced plans to add Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant to their TVs in January, but it appears to be popping up on LG TVs following a recent update to webOS.

De Maria adds that the icon is a “shortcut” to the Microsoft Copilot web app that opens in the TV’s web browser, rather than “an application-based service embedded in the TV.” He also adds that “features such as microphone input are activated only with the customer’s explicit consent.”

Asked when LG will start letting users delete the Copilot icon, De Maria said there’s no “definitive timing” yet.

Here’s LG’s full statement:

Following recent coverage regarding the arrival of Microsoft Copilot on LG TVs, we’re reaching out to provide an important clarification. Based on recent coverage regarding the arrival of Microsoft Copilot on LG TVs, we want to clarify that Microsoft Copilot is provided as a shortcut icon to enhance customer accessibility and convenience. It is not an application-based service embedded in the TV. When users select the Copilot shortcut, Microsoft’s website opens through the TV’s web browser, and features such as microphone input are activated only with the customer’s explicit consent.

Source: LG forced a Copilot web app onto its TVs but will let you delete it | The Verge

Apple becomes a debt collector with its new developer agreement, could randomly deduct money it believes it should get if devs use external payment processor or app store

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Apple on Wednesday released an updated developer license agreement that gives the company permission to recoup unpaid funds, such as commissions or any other fees, by deducting them from in-app purchases it processes on developers’ behalf, among other methods.

The change will impact developers in regions where local law allows them to link to external payment systems. In these cases, developers must report those payments back to Apple to pay the required commissions or fees.

The changed agreement seemingly gives Apple a way to collect what it believes is the correct fee if the company determines a developer has underreported their earnings.

Apple’s policies in this area are complex, but the change could impact developers in markets like the EU, U.S., and, now, Japan, where developers using external payment systems may be required to pay Apple varying fees or commissions depending on local law. (In the U.S., the legality of these commissions is still being disputed. A federal appeals court earlier this month ruled that a district court should consider allowing Apple to collect some commission, though not the full 27% fee it previously charged.)

In its new developer agreement, Apple states it will “offset or recoup” what it believes it is owed, including “any amounts collected by Apple on your behalf from end-users.” This means Apple could recoup funds from developers’ in-app purchases — like those for digital goods, services, and subscriptions — or from one-time fees for paid applications.

Additionally, Apple notes that it has the right to collect this money “at any time” and “from time to time,” meaning developers could face surprise deductions if Apple believes they’ve miscalculated what they owe.

The agreement doesn’t specify how Apple will determine whether it’s owed money.

The types of developer payments that vary over time are limited and include commissions, fees, and taxes. Among these is the Core Technology Fee (CTF) in the EU, which currently costs €0.50 for each first annual install exceeding one million in the past 12 months. In January 2026, Apple will transition from the CTF to a new fee, called the Core Technology Commission (CTC), a more complicated percentage-based fee. Apple will collect the CTC from apps that use external payment methods or are distributed under its alternative business terms for the EU.

The updated developer agreement also gives Apple the right to collect unpaid amounts from any “affiliates, parents, or subsidiaries” related to the account that owes money. In practical terms, that means Apple could collect the money from developers’ other apps, or from apps published by a parent company.

[…]

Source: Apple becomes a debt collector with its new developer agreement | TechCrunch

So after being forced by the EU (and others) to allow external payment providers and app stores, Apple then went into a tissy fit and started stamping it’s feet against these rulings, trying everything to keep extorting anyone selling anything on an IOS device. Now it’s just going to take what it believes is theres – and you had better believe there will be no recourse.

Apple thinks it can argue its’ way out of EU DMA with a single comma. No it can’t and this fight will cost it billions in Europe

EU to force Apple to open up IOS for developers

Apple tries again to make EU officials happy with new fees for in-app purchases

Apple stamps feet but now to let EU developers distribute apps from the web

Apple reverses hissy fit decision to remove Home Screen web apps in EU

EU forces Apple to open up to third-party app stores and payments. Details emerge what it will look like.

I can have app store? Apple: yes but NO! Give €1,000,000 + lock in to Apple ecosystem. This is how to “comply” with EU anti competition law

 

Hubble Sees Possible Runaway Black Hole Creating a Trail of Stars

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[…] if it were in our solar system, it could travel from Earth to the Moon in 14 minutes. This supermassive black hole, weighing as much as 20 million Suns, has left behind a never-before-seen 200,000-light-year-long “contrail” of newborn stars, twice the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy. It’s likely the result of a rare, bizarre game of galactic billiards among three massive black holes.

Rather than gobbling up stars ahead of it, like a cosmic Pac-Man, the speedy black hole is plowing into gas in front of it to trigger new star formation along a narrow corridor.

[…] Nothing like it has ever been seen before, but it was captured accidentally by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

This illustration shows a black field speckled with white, yellow and red galaxies. A black hole, near the left, bottom corner of the image, plows through space, leaving a diagonal trail of newborn stars stretching back to the black hole's parent galaxy.

This is an artist’s impression of a runaway supermassive black hole that was ejected from its host galaxy as a result of a tussle between it and two other black holes. As the black hole plows through intergalactic space it compresses tenuous gas in front of it. This precipitates the birth of hot blue stars. This illustration is based on Hubble Space Telescope observations of a 200,000-light-year-long “contrail” of stars behind an escaping black hole.
NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

“We think we’re seeing a wake behind the black hole where the gas cools and is able to form stars. So, we’re looking at star formation trailing the black hole,” said Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. “What we’re seeing is the aftermath. Like the wake behind a ship we’re seeing the wake behind the black hole.” The trail must have lots of new stars, given that it is almost half as bright as the host galaxy it is linked to.

The black hole lies at one end of the column, which stretches back to its parent galaxy. There is a remarkably bright knot of ionized oxygen at the outermost tip of the column. Researchers believe gas is probably being shocked and heated from the motion of the black hole hitting the gas, or it could be radiation from an accretion disk around the black hole. “Gas in front of it gets shocked because of this supersonic, very high-velocity impact of the black hole moving through the gas. How it works exactly is not really known,” said van Dokkum.

“This is pure serendipity that we stumbled across it,” van Dokkum added. He was looking for globular star clusters in a nearby dwarf galaxy. “I was just scanning through the Hubble image and then I noticed that we have a little streak. I immediately thought, ‘oh, a cosmic ray hitting the camera detector and causing a linear imaging artifact.’ When we eliminated cosmic rays we realized it was still there. It didn’t look like anything we’ve seen before.”

A Hubble image of a black, deep-space field is speckled with galaxies and one, lone star. In the center of the image is a small, white-bordered, boxed area that contains one, long, thin, diagonal streak of whitish-blue stars and two galaxies. To the right of the small box is a larger, white-bordered box that contains a magnified view of the contents of smaller box.

This Hubble Space Telescope archival photo captures a curious linear feature that is so unusual it was first dismissed as an imaging artifact from Hubble’s cameras. But follow-up spectroscopic observations reveal it is a 200,000-light-year-long chain of young blue stars. A supermassive black hole lies at the tip of the bridge at lower left. The black hole was ejected from the galaxy at upper right. It compressed gas in its wake to leave a long trail of young blue stars. Nothing like this has ever been seen before in the universe. This unusual event happened when the universe was approximately half its current age.
NASA, ESA, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Because it was so weird, van Dokkum and his team did follow-up spectroscopy with the W. M. Keck Observatories in Hawaii. He describes the star trail as “quite astonishing, very, very bright and very unusual.” This led to the conclusion that he was looking at the aftermath of a black hole flying through a halo of gas surrounding the host galaxy.

[…]

Source: Hubble Sees Possible Runaway Black Hole Creating a Trail of Stars – NASA Science

New Nintendo DRM allows them to remotely brick the device you bought permanently – you don’t own what you bought part XXX

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In the lead up to its Switch 2 console release, Nintendo updated its user agreement and asserted broad authority to make consoles owned by its customers permanently unusable. Under Nintendo’s most aggressive digital restrictions management (DRM) update to date, game console owners are now required to give Nintendo the unilateral right to revoke access to games, security updates, and the Internet, at its sole discretion. The new agreement states:

“You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with [Nintendo’s restrictions], Nintendo may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part.”

These new, wide-sweeping restrictions affect a large number of users for many different reasons. There are probably other reasons that Nintendo has and will justify bricking game consoles, but here are some that we have seen reported:

  • “Tampering” with hardware or software in pretty much any way;
  • Attempting to play a back-up game;
  • Playing a “used” game; or
  • Use of a third-party game or accessory.

When Nintendo remotely bricks a perfectly-functional device, the game console becomes effectively useless. Users are blocked from ever accessing the Internet again with the system, which in turn restricts services like eShop (the digital distribution service for the Nintendo Switch), online play, using the subscription-based Nintendo Switch Online (which includes access to retro game catalogs and the ability to back up game data), game download (including previously-purchased codes and “game-key” cartridges ), and security patches. As if blocking Internet access alone wasn’t enough, a bricked device is no longer able to play downloaded games, either. These restrictions don’t just apply to the user who broke the Nintendo’s extremely strict user agreements: the block is for the life of the device, no matter who owns it.

A red brick on a wooden floor

No proprietor should have the power to brick your device at its discretion.

Nintendo’s promise to block a user from using their game console isn’t just an empty threat: it has already been wielded against many users.

[…]

Source: New Nintendo DRM bans consoles, makes users beg for forgiveness — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software

Samsung is putting Google Gemini AI into your refrigerator and wine cellar, whether you need it or not

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Samsung is heading into CES 2026 with a familiar message wrapped in a slightly stranger package. You see, the company plans to unveil an updated lineup of kitchen appliances, led by new versions of its Bespoke AI refrigerator, wine cellar, slide in range, and over the range microwaves. What makes this year different is not the stainless finish or the tighter installation tolerances. It is the decision to push Google Gemini directly into the kitchen, starting with a refrigerator that can see what you eat and tell the cloud about it. Yes, really.

At the center of the announcement is the latest Bespoke AI Refrigerator Family Hub from Samsung Electronics. Samsung says this model upgrades its existing AI Vision system with functionality built using Google Gemini, marking the first time Gemini is being integrated into a refrigerator. Previously, the system could recognize a limited number of fresh and pre registered foods locally. The new version is designed to identify more items automatically, including processed foods that no longer require manual setup and leftovers stored in personal containers.

On paper, that sounds convenient. A fridge that knows what is inside it, keeps an updated inventory, and helps manage groceries without constant user input is an idea appliance makers have chased for years. Samsung says more accurate ingredient recognition should make food tracking clearer and easier, while unlocking new use cases around meal planning and personalization. Whether that translates into daily value or becomes another ignored dashboard remains an open question.

Samsung is also extending the same vision based approach to its new Bespoke AI Wine Cellar. A camera mounted inside the unit scans bottle labels as wine is added or removed, tracking inventory through the SmartThings AI Wine Manager. The system knows which shelf each bottle sits on and can surface pairing suggestions based on what is currently stored. For collectors with larger wine inventories, this could genuinely save time. For everyone else, it may feel like a high tech solution searching for a problem.

The elephant in the room is cloud dependency. These AI features are built in collaboration with Google Cloud, which raises predictable questions about data handling, long term support, and what happens when services change or are discontinued. A refrigerator is expected to last many years. Cloud based AI services do not have the same track record. Samsung has not detailed how much processing happens locally versus in the cloud, nor how users can limit or disable data sharing if they choose.

[…]

Source: Samsung is putting Google Gemini AI into your refrigerator, whether you need it or not

Fake MAS Windows activation domain used to spread PowerShell malware

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A typosquatted domain impersonating the Microsoft Activation Scripts (MAS) tool was used to distribute malicious PowerShell scripts that infect Windows systems with the ‘Cosmali Loader’.

BleepingComputer has found that multiple MAS users began reporting on Reddit [1, 2] yesterday that they received pop-up warnings on their systems about a Cosmali Loader infection.

You have been infected by a malware called ‘cosmali loader’ because you mistyped ‘get.activated.win’ as ‘get.activate[.]win’ when activating Windows in PowerShell.

The malware’s panel is insecure and everyone viewing it has access to your computer.

Reinstall Windows and don’t make the same mistake next time.

For proof that your computer is infected, check Task Manager and look for weird PowerShell processes.

Based on the reports, attackers have set up a look-alike domain, “get.activate[.]win,” which closely resembles the legitimate one listed in the official MAS activation instructions, “get.activated.win.”

Given that the difference between the two is a single character (“d”), the attackers bet on users mistyping the domain.

Source: Fake MAS Windows activation domain used to spread PowerShell malware

Samsung Releases new Odyssey gaming monitors, including 27″ glasses free 3D

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[…]

Samsung Odyssey 3D G9 – G90XF 27”

The Samsung Odyssey 3D G9 - G90XF 27'' gaming display lets you enjoy 3D without glasses.
The Samsung Odyssey 3D G9 – G90XF 27″ gaming monitor breaks new ground with glasses-free 3D. The technology incorporates eye tracking to create a striking depth effect in games and videos.

The 27″ (68cm) Samsung Odyssey 3D G9 – G90XF 4K UHD monitor features glasses-free 3D technology. Thanks to eye tracking and the View Mapping algorithm, the image adapts to the user’s position to create dynamic depth. It can also automatically convert 2D videos into 3D content thanks to AI processing. The screen uses an IPS panel with a refresh rate of 165Hz, a response time of 1 ms and 99% coverage of the sRGB space.

It is FreeSync Premium and G-Sync Compatible, guaranteeing smooth synchronization with the graphics card. Connectors include two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4 and a USB port. The Reality Hub interface centralizes 3D functions and provides access to compatible games. It’s ideal for those who want to discover 3D without constraints, while retaining solid performance for gaming and multimedia uses.

[…]

Source: Samsung Odyssey: new 2025 gaming monitors – Son-Vidéo.com: blog