Child of Hope Uganda - Christmas Appeal 2025

 

This Christmas and throughout the year, help us provide food for all our pupils and their families from the slums of Namatala and Karamoja, Uganda.

Hunger and malnutrition are harsh daily realities for many of our pupils and their families, who are living in extreme poverty in the poorest regions of Uganda. Christmas is simply another day with too little food and a rumbly tummy. No special meal, no treats, and often no food at all.

Here at Child of Hope, we want to change that – not just at Christmas, but into the New Year and beyond.

With your help, we can provide an amazing Christmas for our pupils and their families, and also boost the funds available for our food programme into the New Year. This programme supports our foster children, those pupils with health conditions (like sickle cell, TB and HIV), child-headed families, and the most vulnerable. READ MORE HERE...

Please click HERE to make a donation - to bring joy into children's hearts this Christmas. Thank you!

www.justgiving.com

The Christian Aid Christmas Appeal 2025: no crib for a bed... when you’re fleeing violence.

 

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, let's not forget communities affected by conflict.

While many of us share a joyful and peaceful Christmas in our homes and churches, we invite you to consider families like Chance’s — facing unimaginable hardship after fleeing violence.

When fighting reached her village (Minova, on the shores of Lake Kivu, East Democratic Republic of Congo), Chance made an impossible choice: stay and risk her children’s lives, or flee everything they've known.

She set out on foot with her children — her baby strapped to her back — walking for days to reach safety.

The family’s treacherous trek took its toll on everyone. But for a mother determined to protect her family, stopping wasn’t an option.

While fleeing, my baby and other children all fell ill, even myself, because I had given birth by caesarean section. The wound opened because I was carrying luggage.’ - Chance.

Help mothers who’ve lost everything protect their families: Your donation this Christmas could make an immediate difference by funding cash grants that save lives. Help mothers like Chance buy nutritious food, vital medicines and hygiene products.

www.christianaid.org.uk

Bank of England warns of dotcom bubble moment for AI

 

The Bank of England has warned that stock valuations in the US are close to being the most stretched since the “dotcom bubble” as fears of a shock in Artificial Intelligence shares linger.

The central bank said in its latest Financial Stability Report (FSR) that there was a heightened “risk of a sharp correction” a day after stocks started December with a downturn on Wall Street.

The Bank said stocks were also most stretched in Britain since the 2008 financial crisis, as it said that risks to stability have increased in 2025.

It comes as tech stocks have surged this year, with AI chipmaker Nvidia briefly becoming the world’s first $5 trillion company last month. READ MORE...

www.telegraph.co.uk

Windows 11 needs an XP SP2 moment, says ex-Microsoft engineer

The Windows operating system is buckling under AI features that seem designed more for shareholders than users, and retired Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer says it's time to hit pause.

"It's time for Microsoft to have another XP SP2 moment," said Plummer, who worked on Windows XP during a pivotal period more than two decades ago.

When the Blaster worm hit in 2003, Microsoft made a decisive switch. "We set aside all feature work," he recalled.

"For several months, all we did was improve security. We didn't add security features. We fixed bugs. Lots of bugs, until there weren't any security bugs to fix anymore. And then we fixed the ones we didn't know about yet."

The work on XP was one of Plummer's last hurrahs at Microsoft, but the experience of Service Pack 2 shaped his opinion on what Microsoft needs to do in order to get Windows 11 back on track.

"Put simply," he said, "we stopped trying to add value to the product through features that PMs [Project Managers] thought users would like and instead we focused on things that had been important for a long time but overlooked."

Fast forward two decades and Microsoft is stuffing Windows with AI features while seemingly ignoring user complaints about performance and reliability. READ MORE...

www.theregister.com

The Bible In One Year - that's 365 days well spent!

The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel is a daily Bible reading plan which takes you through the whole Bible in 365 days.  It is ideal for anyone who is looking for an easy and accessible way to read and understand the Bible. 

Each day includes passages from a Psalm or Proverb, the New Testament and the Old Testament along with a daily commentary from Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, former leaders of  Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) Church in London and pioneers of Alpha. The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel will encourage you to engage more closely with the Bible, to apply its teachings to everyday life and to grow in your relationship with Jesus. 

You can follow along by reading the text or listening to the audio commentary and you can choose the version that best suits your lifestyle; the Classic version (25 minutes), or a shorter Express or Youth version (both around 15 minutes). 

Over 4.5 million people from 160 countries have experienced The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel. Why not join them, find your own rhythm and draw closer to God.

Download The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel app for iOS or Android devices and read along each day:
Download for iOS from the App Store
Download for Android on Google Play

bible.alpha.org

Nigerian president declares emergency amid Christian genocide claims

Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, has declared a national state of emergency, following a spate of kidnappings and attacks on Christians.

Up to 20,000 police officers are to be hired under Tinubu’s plans, which include authorising the use of National Youth Service Corps training camps as military facilities.

Guards will be redeployed from across the West African nation to seek out any would-be attackers hiding in forests.

“There will be no more hiding places for agents of evil,” Tinubu declared.

Nigerian security forces have so far managed to rescue 24 of the 300 schoolgirls taken from a boarding school in Kebbi state, and 38 Christians kidnapped from a church in Kwara.

“I sympathise with families who lost loved ones and pay tribute to our brave soldiers,” the President said. Although from a Muslim background, he has never publicly stated a religious affiliation. As a child, Tinubu attended a Catholic school, before studying in the United States. 

US President Donald Trump has claimed that there is a “Christian genocide” taking place in the country. It ranks seventh on Open Doors’ World Watch List of the most dangerous places to follow Jesus.

www.premierchristian.news

The case against Superintelligent AI - how it could all go horribly wrong

AI is the greatest threat to our existence that we have ever faced.

The scramble to create superhuman artificial intelligence has put us on the path to extinction – but it’s not too late to change course. Two pioneering researchers in the field, Eliezer Yudkowsy and Nate Soares, explain why artificial superintelligence would be a global suicide bomb and call for an immediate halt to its development.

The technology may be complex, but the facts are simple: companies and countries are in a race to build machines that will be smarter than any person, and the world is devastatingly unprepared for what will come next.

How could a machine superintelligence wipe out our entire species? Will it want to? Will it want anything at all? In this urgent book, Yudkowsky and Soares explore the theory and the evidence, present one possible extinction scenario, and explain what it would take for humanity to survive.

The world is racing to build something truly new – and if anyone builds it, everyone dies.

www.penguin.co.uk

Dell says Windows 11 transition is far slower than Win 10 shift as PC sales stall

 

Dell has predicted PC sales will be flat next year, despite the potential of the AI PC and the slow replacement of Windows 10.

“We have not completed the Windows 11 transition,” COO Jeffrey Clarke said during Dell’s Q3 earnings call on Tuesday. “In fact, if you were to look at it relative to the previous OS end of support, we are 10-12 points behind at that point with Windows 11 than we were the previous generation.”

Clarke said that means 500 million PCs can’t run Windows 11, while the same number didn’t need an upgrade to handle Microsoft’s latest desktop OS. The COO therefore predicted the PC market will “flourish”, but then defined the word as meaning “roughly flat” sales despite Dell chalking up mid-to high single digits PC sales growth over the last year.

www.theregister.com

The world's first self-charging solar motorcycle is here - but we live in England LOL! Sun - what sun?

 

NEWATLAS: When I came across this solar-powered bike, I wondered which bikemaker could be behind it. Someone well-established like Honda or Verge? Or perhaps an innovative yet frugal Chinese brand? Well, it turns out, none of them. This ingenious breakthrough comes from an architecture and design firm. No kidding!

Named MASK Architects, the firm specializes in architectural design and consultation, and engineering services. The Solaris, as the motorcycle is called, is a one-off developed as part of the firm’s "Invent and Integrate" design approach initiated by its founders.

The two-wheeler can produce power on its own without the need for fuel or big, heavy batteries, dense charging networks, or electrical grids. And for all that, the company seems to have managed to produce a rather acceptable design for a motorcycle that relies on solar energy.

Solaris gets a set of retractable circular solar wings that deploy like a canopy over the bike when parked to absorb sunlight and juice up the integrated lithium battery on the bike.

www.newatlas.com

Those unpowered SSDs are slowly losing your data

Solid State Drives have all but replaced hard drives when it comes to primary storage. They're orders of magnitude faster, more convenient, and consume less power than mechanical hard drives. That said, if you're also using SSDs for cold storage, expecting the drives lying in your drawer to work perfectly after years, you might want to rethink your strategy. Your reliable SSD could suffer from corrupted or lost data if left unpowered for extended periods. This is why many users don't consider SSDs a reliable long-term storage medium, and prefer using hard drives, magnetic tape, or M-Disc instead.

Unlike hard drives that magnetize spinning discs to store data, SSDs modify the electrical charge in NAND flash cells to represent 0 and 1. NAND flash retains data in underlying transistors even when power is removed, similar to other forms of non-volatile memory. However, the duration for which your SSD can retain data without power is the key here. Even the cheapest SSDs, say those with QLC NAND, can safely store data for about a year of being completely unpowered. More expensive TLC NAND can retain data for up to 3 years, while MLC and SLC NAND are good for 5 years and 10 years of unpowered storage, respectively.

The problem is that most consumer SSDs use only TLC or QLC NAND, so users who leave their SSDs unpowered for over a year are risking the integrity of their data. The reliability of QLC NAND has improved over the years, so you should probably consider 2–3 years of unpowered usage as the guardrails. Without power, the voltage stored in the NAND cells can be lost, either resulting in missing data or completely useless drives.

www.xda-developers.com

Microsoft's New Windows AI Feature Comes With Warnings About Malware and Data Theft

ITSFOSS.COM - If you ask me, Microsoft has been one of the biggest driving forces behind Linux adoption in recent years. The way they've been handling Windows, with its forced updates, aggressive telemetry, and questionable AI features, has sent more people to Linux than any marketing campaign ever could.

And they are at it again with a new Artificial intelligence feature that could be tricked into installing malware on your system.

Microsoft is rolling out a new experimental feature called "Copilot Actions" to Windows Insiders. They pitch it as an AI agent that handles tasks you describe to it. Organize vacation photos, sort your Downloads folder, extract info from PDFs, that sort of thing.

It is currently available in Windows 11 Insider builds (version 26220.7262) as part of Copilot Labs and is off by default, requiring admin access to set it up.

But here's the catch. Copilot Actions isn't just suggesting what to do. It runs in a separate environment called "Agent Workspace" with its unique user account, clicking through apps and working on your files.

Microsoft says it has "capabilities like its own desktop" and can "interact with apps in parallel to your own session." And that's where the problems start.

In a support document, Microsoft admits that features like Copilot Actions introduce "novel security risks." They warn about cross-prompt injection (XPIA), where malicious content in documents or UI elements can override the AI's instructions.

The result? "Unintended actions like data exfiltration or malware installation."

Yeah, you read that right. Microsoft is shipping a feature that could be tricked into installing malware on your system.

Microsoft's own warning hits hard: "We recommend that you only enable this feature if you understand the security implications."

www.itsfoss.com

National Motorcycle Museum & Motorcycle Live 2025 - a grand day out!

 

MikeyG & I went for a trip to Brum on Weds 19th Nov, came back Friday evening. A brilliant few days away! We stayed (again) at the White Lion Inn - Hampton in Arden (wonderful pub). Such an lovely village location - and only ~10mins from the Motorcycle Museum and the NEC!

First night (Weds) noshed at the excellent Soho Tavern - curry to die for! Second day (Thurs) I went to the Museum, in the morning, and bike show afternoon. Mike was volunteering for Mental Health Motorbike at the bike show. Evening meal at the pub - and delicious it was too! Friday we both hit the bike show.

Highlights were: I got a chance to sit on an absolutely stunning Brough Superior SS100 (worth a cool £0.5M). Had a good chat to Honda about their new CB1000GT (I recon the most popular bike at the show) - looking good - need to book a test ride next year. Mike thought the Kawasaki Z900RS was a thing of great beauty! We drooled over the Bimota stand - pure gorgeous exotica! The Moto Action Show was incredible (Freestyle Motocross) amazing riding & we got a chance to chat with one of the riding heroes afterwards.

Photos HERE - enjoy!

Honda unveils V3R 900 prototype with unique electric compressor system

How many times have we seen a bikemaker unveil an ambitious concept at EICMA, only to quietly abandon it later as if it never happened? Not Honda this time around.

At last year’s EICMA, the Japanese company unveiled an all-new platform – an electronically-blown forced induction V3 motor. Many wondered when, or if, it would ever find its way into a full-blown motorcycle.

At the time, Honda said the three-cylinder concept’s “development will continue towards mass output,” explaining that it “sees the development of this V3 engine with an electrical compressor as a new challenge in the area of internal combustion engines.”

MikeyG & I have just got back to our annual pilgrimage to Motorcycle Live in Brum - and the V3R was one of the wonderous bikes on show - with what is effectively an electric supercharger. It was difficult to work out quite what you were looking at - with the crazy cammo wrap on the prototype bike (photos here). Gonna be a model to watch out for when it hits production though!

www.newatlas.com

Yet another major web service breaks: Cloudflare

 

Internet services provider Cloudflare is suffering a major outage that has knocked chunks of the web offline – including The Register.

The company acknowledged problems at 1148 UTC on November 18, stating: "Some services may be intermittently impacted." After a long half-hour, it reckoned systems were returning to normal, but "customers may continue to observe higher-than-normal error rates" as engineers continue to investigate and fix the underlying issue.

Cloudflare provides security and infrastructure for a substantial chunk of websites. As such, X (formerly Twitter) and even El Reg were either knocked offline or malfunctioned as the outage continued. Even that stalwart of system uptime, Downdetector, reported "Please unblock challenges.cloudflare.com to proceed" at one point.

Cloudflare has yet to confirm the cause of the outage – we will issue an update when it does – but it follows hot on the heels of problems at AWS and Azure, and is a reminder for enterprises that a service is only as good as the weakest link in the chain... and that weakest link might not reveal itself until it breaks.

www.theregister.com

Google boss warns 'no company is going to be immune' if AI bubble bursts

Every company would be affected if the AI bubble were to burst, the head of Google's parent firm Alphabet has told the BBC.

Speaking exclusively to BBC News, Sundar Pichai said while the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) investment had been an "extraordinary moment", there was some "irrationality" in the current AI boom.

It comes amid fears in Silicon Valley and beyond of a bubble as the value of AI tech companies has soared in recent months and companies spend big on the burgeoning industry.

He also said: "Don't blindly trust what AI tells you" - absolutely!

He also warned about the "immense" energy needs of AI, which made up 1.5% of the world's electricity consumption last year, according to the International Energy Agency. Mr Pichai said action was needed, including in the UK, to develop new sources of energy and scale up energy infrastructure. 

READ MORE -or- WATCH ON IPLAYER.

www.bbc.co.uk

Microsoft: We see all the backlash and we know we have a lot to fix in Windows

A couple of days ago, Microsoft's Windows chief Pavan Davaluri received a lot of backlash when he shared plans regarding Windows evolving as an "agentic OS". The executive's words hinted at an AI-powered experience that would boost productivity. However, people were not happy with this direction, complaining that there are a lot of other more important things that are unbaked in the OS and deserve attention. It got to the point that the executive had to disable replies on their original X (formerly Twitter) post.

Now, Davaluri has finally responded to some customer feedback on the topic with regards to claims that Windows is not developer- and power user-friendly anymore, and is taking away control from the consumer. He noted that the Windows team is aware of all of the feedback and know that they have a lot to fix in Windows when it comes to the UX, inconsistent dialog boxes, and the power user experience. READ MORE...

www.neowin.net

China’s EV Market Is Imploding

In China, you can buy a heavily discounted “used” electric car that has never, in fact, been used. Chinese automakers, desperate to meet their sales targets in a bitterly competitive market, sell cars to dealerships, which register them as “sold,” even though no actual customer has bought them. Dealers, stuck with officially sold cars, then offload them as “used,” often at low prices. The practice has become so prevalent that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to stop it. Its main newspaper, The People’s Daily, complained earlier this year that this sales-inflating tactic “disrupts normal market order,” and criticized companies for their “data worship.”

This sign of serious problems in China’s electric-vehicle industry may come as a surprise to many Americans. The Chinese electric car has become a symbol of the country’s seemingly unstoppable rise on the world stage. Many observers point to their growing popularity as evidence that China is winning the race to dominate new technologies. But in China, these electric cars represent something entirely different: the profound threats that Beijing’s meddling in markets poses to both China and the world.

Bloated by excessive investment, distorted by government intervention, and plagued by heavy losses, China’s EV industry appears destined for a crash. EV companies are locked in a cutthroat struggle for survival. Wei Jianjun, the chairman of the Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor, warned in May that China’s car industry could tumble into a financial crisis; it “just hasn’t erupted yet.”

www.msn.com

Watch: Russia's AI robot falls seconds after being unveiled

 

BBC News: Footage shows the moment Russia's first anthropomorphic robot, AIdol, fell just seconds after its debut at a technology event in Moscow.

The robot was being led on stage to the soundtrack from the film 'Rocky', before it suddenly lost its balance and fell. Assistants could then be seen scrambling to cover it with a cloth - which ended up tangling in the process.

Meanwhile at Boston Dynamics - here's a video of what their robots can do now. Four years ago their robot Atlas was doing parkour, and Spot was dancing to The Rolling Stones & Start Me Up!

Personally, I'm not too keen on all this stuff. I hope & pray that the future of robotics is more like the first clip (rubbish) and not like this one :0(

www.bbc.co.uk

 

Broken wizard forces Microsoft to issue out-of-band Windows 10 patch

Microsoft released an emergency out-of-band update on November 11 to fix a malfunctioning enrolment wizard that prevented eligible Windows 10 users from accessing Extended Security Updates (ESU).

Despite months promoting the ESU program as the solution for Windows 10 devices after end-of-support from October 14, Microsoft failed to ensure its enrolment system actually worked. For affected users, the broken wizard meant security updates would stop flowing entirely — a critical failure requiring an urgent fix.

So it came to pass, that on the first Patch Tuesday after free support for Windows 10 ended, Microsoft released KB5071959 for consumer Windows 10 devices not enrolled in the ESU program. Whoopsie.

Microsoft has made several concessions to Windows 10 consumers over the past year. In September, it offered a free year of ESU updates to users in the European Economic Area (EEA). It also allowed users to qualify by syncing settings to Microsoft's cloud or spending 1,000 Microsoft reward points. Otherwise, consumers were asked to pay $30 annually for twelve more months support.

Affected users must now install the emergency update, re-enroll their device, and then the Windows 10 November 2025 security update should be available.

www.theregister.com

For those with more money than brains: the Apple iPhone Pocket. Is it April fool's day?

ISSEY MIYAKE and Apple today unveiled iPhone Pocket. Inspired by the concept of “a piece of cloth,” its singular 3D-knitted construction is designed to fit any iPhone as well as all pocketable items. Beginning Friday, November 14, it will be available at select Apple Store locations and on apple.com in France, Greater China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and the U.S.

iPhone Pocket features a ribbed open structure with the qualities of the original pleats by ISSEY MIYAKE. Born from the idea of creating an additional pocket, its understated design fully encloses iPhone, expanding to fit more of a user’s everyday items. When stretched, the open textile subtly reveals its contents and allows users to peek at their iPhone display. iPhone Pocket can be worn in a variety of ways — handheld, tied onto bags, or worn directly on the body. Featuring a playful color palette, the short strap design is available in eight colors, and the long strap design in three colors.

iPhone Pocket is a special-edition release. The short strap design is available in lemon, mandarin, purple, pink, peacock, sapphire, cinnamon, and black; the long strap design is available in sapphire, cinnamon, and black. iPhone Pocket in the short strap design retails at $149.95 (U.S.), and the long strap design at $229.95 (U.S.). See HERE for what Slashdot techies think of this "creation" LOL!

www.apple.com

 

Portsmouth Ride of Remembrance - 9th November 2025

This was the 15th year of this event - and is said to be that UK's largest act of Remembrance for bikers. It was really well attended. As always the service was respectful & moving. Click HERE to watch a video of this rideout.

Starting in Denmead (with Waterlooville Motorcycle Club) the route was: Denmead, Southwick, Portsdown Hill, Cosham, Lakeside - North Harbour, Hilsea, Stamshaw, City Centre, Guildhall, Southsea.

They shall grow not old

As we that are left grow old 

Age shall not weary them

Nor the years condemn

At the going down of the sun 

And in the morning

We will remember them 

When you go home, tell them of us and say, 

for your tomorrows, we gave our today

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/southsearemembranceservice

https://rblr.org.uk/main/

https://waterloovillemotorcycle.club/

Click HERE to watch a video of this rideout

Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI

Internal documents have revealed that Meta has projected it earns billions from ignoring scam ads that its platforms then targeted to users most likely to click on them.

In a lengthy report, Reuters exposed five years of Meta practices and failures that allowed scammers to take advantage of users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Documents showed that internally, Meta was hesitant to abruptly remove accounts, even those considered some of the “scammiest scammers,” out of concern that a drop in revenue could diminish resources needed for artificial intelligence growth.

Instead of promptly removing bad actors, Meta allowed “high value accounts” to “accrue more than 500 strikes without Meta shutting them down,” Reuters reported. The more strikes a bad actor accrued, the more Meta could charge to run ads, as Meta’s documents showed the company “penalized” scammers by charging higher ad rates. Meanwhile, Meta acknowledged in documents that its systems helped scammers target users most likely to click on their ads.

www.arstechnica.com

UPDATED 131125 - Which: Leaked Meta documents predicted 10% of its revenue came from scam ads in 2024. The social media giant projected earnings of $16bn from scam and banned adverts on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

You'll never guess what the most common passwords are. Oh, wait, yes you will

123456. admin. password. For years, the IT world has been reminding users not to rely on such predictable passwords. And yet here we are with another study finding that those sorts of quickly-guessable, universally-held-to-be-bad passwords are still the most popular ones.

Tech advice website Comparitech on Thursday published the 100 most common passwords based on a deep dive into more than two billion passwords leaked on breach forums in 2025. 

The three mentioned above all finish in the top ten, along with various variations of the numerals 1-9 in ascending sequential order. 

Puh-leaze, don't do this! Have a look here to get some useful tips on how to secure your credentials - or contact Donline.

www.theregister.com

Honda CB1000GT - the Fireblade powered sport-tourer we've been waiting for!

Sports touring with the heart of a Hornet - the Honda CB1000GT arrives for 2026. A high-speed, high-comfort sports tourer aimed squarely at riders who want one bike to do it all. 

The CB1000GT takes the CB1000 Hornet as its base, adds touring legs, and turns up the spec sheet to eleven. Power comes from a retuned 1,000cc inline-four, which can trace its DNA back to the CBR1000RR Fireblade. In GT trim, it’s producing 147.6 bhp at 11,000 rpm and 75 lb ft of torque at 8,750 rpm.

Wow - I really like the look of this! The love child of a CB1000RR Fireblade & NT1100 - what a fabulous thing! MikeyG & I are off to Motorcycle Live @ The NEC later this month - I'm making a bee-line straight for this bike!

UPDATE 281125: MCN - 2026-on Honda CB1000GT review: Honda’s tall rounder is the complete package for sporty touring.

www.visordown.com

Broadband ISP TalkTalk Issue Trading Update and Explores New Ownership Structures

The TalkTalk Group has today published a very brief trading update for the half year ended 31st August 2025, which largely only highlights the positives (unlike their annual accounts) and claims to have “delivered a solid first-half performance“. The group is currently aiming to tackle its debts by targeting £146m in total savings by FY28.

The group, which recently launched a major brand refresh and advertising push for its consumer broadband ISP business, is currently still doing everything it can to cut costs and to tackle their underlying debt problem; including the possible disposal (sale) of its remaining businesses and more job cuts.

All of this follows last year’s £400m refinancing package, which avoided the immediate risk of a default on its debts, and the recent £120m funding deal (here). Sadly, the latest results for H1 FY26 fail to add much detail to the current overall picture of the business, but it does highlight a few of the recent positives. READ MORE...

www.ispreview.co.uk

DRAM prices skyrocket 171% year-over-year, outpacing the rate of gold price increases — AI strikes again!

DRAM prices are continuing to skyrocket thanks to exorbitant demands from the Artificial intelligence industry. CTEE reports that DRAM contract prices have increased by a whopping 171.8% year over year as of Q3 2025. In fact, DRAM prices have risen to the point that they are now outpacing the recent price increases of gold. ADATA chairman Chen Libai reportedly stated that Q4 of 2025 will mark the start of a major DRAM bull market, with 2026 likely to see severe DRAM shortages.

Significant memory price hikes have been a recurring theme in the industry during 2025. In late October, we reported that memory prices were increasing by up to 50% for Q4 2025, up from the 30% hike buyers had predicted earlier in the year. Going back to September, we covered NAND and DRAM contract prices rising by 15-20%. All of this (and more) has compounded into the whopping 171.8% year-over-year price increase we are now seeing in DRAM contract prices. These increases in pricing will take time to fully wash down to retail, but the price increases we already see on the market are only going to intensify over the coming months.

www.tomshardware.com

Western Digital Investigates Older SMR Hard Drive Failures Tied to Design Flaws

Western Digital has confirmed it is investigating potential problems with some of its older SMR-based hard drives (as opposed to CMR technology), following reports from multiple data recovery firms about unusually high failure rates. 

The affected models include 2 TB, 3 TB, 4 TB, and 6 TB WD Blue and Red drives (model numbers WD*0EZAZ, WD*0EDAZ, and WD*0EFAX) released around 2020, products that previously landed the company in a class-action lawsuit over undisclosed use of SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) technology. Tom's Hardware reports that Western Digital said in a statement to Heise Online that it takes the findings seriously and that its engineering teams have launched an internal review.

According to 030 Datenrettung Berlin GmbH, which first published the failure analysis, the issue could have its origins in design-level limitations of SMR technology in lower-capacity consumer drives. SMR increases areal density by overlapping data tracks allowing up to 25% more capacity per platter. However, rewriting data can require adjacent tracks to be rewritten as well, introducing latency and potential instability. These shortcomings have long made SMR unsuitable for certain workloads such as RAID or ZFS arrays. Western Digital's earlier decision not to disclose SMR use in these drives led to a $2.7 million lawsuit settlement in 2021. Now, data recovery labs warn that the same models could suffer physical damage and data loss over time. Users with WD Blue or Red drives in the 2-6 TB range from 2020 onward are advised to check their hardware, as early failure symptoms may include unusual clicking or grinding noises from the platters.

www.techpowerup.com

The Churchillian War Room - Mental Health Motorbike Coffee Morning

 

The Churchillian, Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth: After the amazing turnout from our first event, we are excited to announce our next coffee morning ☕Sunday 16th November 2025. 10am to 12pm. 

Come along for a relaxed morning of great company, hot beverages and warm pastries 🥐🥐

The Mental Health Motorbike guys will be here for you to chat to if you want. 

Everyone is welcome - whether you ride of not. 

Lets keep building a supportive community together come rain or shine. 

www.facebook.com

Charity Christmas Gig in Havant - by Mono Motorcycles

Join us on Saturday 29th November 2025 for a Charity Gig in aid of Mental Health Motorbike and SERV Wessex.

Celebrate Christmas 2025 with a fantastic night of live music from 'Carbon Copy Party Band', an incredible raffle, licensed bar and hot food from 'MJ Fine Foods'.

Doors open at 7pm.

Band Session 1 — 7.30pm—8.15pm

Break 8.15pm—9.00pm

Band Session 2 — 9.00pm—9.45pm

Raffle draw 9.45pm—10.00am

Doors close 10.30pm

Tickets cost £10.00 and can be purchased over the telephone (01243 576212 or 07899 654446) or at the Mono Motorcycles workshop in Funtington, Chichester, PO18 9DA.

Location: The gig takes place at The Pallant Centre, Havant.

Download the flyer for this great event HERE.

www.facebook.com

AI news anchor debuts on U.K.’s Channel 4 in stunt proving dangers of Artificial Intelligence

A news special on Britain’s Channel 4 titled “Will AI Take My Job?” investigated how automation is reshaping the workplace and pitting humans against machines. At the end of the hour-long program, a major twist was revealed: the anchor, who narrates and appears throughout the telecast reporting from different locations, was entirely AI-generated.

In the final moments of the special, the host says: “AI is going to touch everybody’s lives in the next few years. And for some, it will take their jobs. Call center workers? Customer service agents? Maybe even TV presenters like me. Because I’m not real. In a British TV first, I’m an AI presenter. Some of you might have guessed: I don’t exist, I wasn’t on location reporting this story. My image and voice were generated using AI.”

WOW, remember when we used to say the camera never lies?...

Meanwhile, in other news: Amazon confirms 14,000 layoffs, says ‘AI’ innovation reason for ‘reducing roles’.

www.variety.com

Australia sues Microsoft over AI-linked 365 subscription price hikes

REUTERS: Australia's competition regulator on Monday sued Microsoft, accusing it of misleading millions of customers into paying higher prices for its Microsoft 365 software after bundling it with artificial intelligence tool Copilot.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged that from October 2024, the technology giant misled about 2.7 million customers by suggesting they had to move to higher-priced Microsoft 365 personal and family plans that included Copilot.

After the integration of Copilot, the annual subscription price of the Microsoft 365 personal plan increased by 45% to A$159 ($103.32) and the price of the family plan increased by 29% to A$179, the ACCC said.

The regulator said Microsoft failed to clearly tell users that a cheaper “classic” plan without Copilot was still available.

www.reuters.com

Today's Reading, by C.S.Lewis. On goodness...

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. 

The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. 

An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.

From Mere Christianity