Episodes

  • Trouble in space as Boeing's not going, and China's back from the Moon

    Trouble in space as Boeing's not going, and China's back from the Moon
    Jul 1 2024
    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.
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    17 mins
  • Kaspersky russian off US servers after Biden ban kicks in

    Kaspersky russian off US servers after Biden ban kicks in
    Jun 21 2024
    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.
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    12 mins
  • Strange things afoot at Computex as Jensen Huang goes full Tony Stark

    Strange things afoot at Computex as Jensen Huang goes full Tony Stark
    Jun 7 2024
    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.
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    17 mins
  • Do you really need a GPU or NPU for AI?

    Do you really need a GPU or NPU for AI?
    May 31 2024

    With US Editor Iain Thomson; Editor in Chief, Chris Williams; Systems Editor, Tobias Mann; and Reporter, Brandon Vigliarolo
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    18 mins
  • So was it Microsoft Build or Built? A Total Recall nightmare

    So was it Microsoft Build or Built? A Total Recall nightmare
    May 24 2024

    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
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    18 mins
  • https://youtu.be/21TQSAetdDU

    https://youtu.be/21TQSAetdDU
    May 17 2024

    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.

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    13 mins
  • The RSA Conference week: The good, the bad, and the downright worrying

    The RSA Conference week: The good, the bad, and the downright worrying
    May 13 2024

    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.
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    18 mins
  • Apple's response to a bad quarter is to spend, spend, spend...

    Apple's response to a bad quarter is to spend, spend, spend...
    May 3 2024


    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…
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    14 mins