Microsoft U turns on Windows 10 updates for European Economic Area

Microsoft has confirmed it will extend Windows 10 security updates by an additional year at no cost, but only for customers in the European Economic Area (EEA).

The move means users across the EEA will be able to access the Extended Security Updates (ESU) programme until 14th October 2026, without the previously required conditions such as cloud backup or Microsoft Rewards enrolment. However, they will still need to register with a Microsoft account and re-authenticate every 60 days.

The decision follows pressure from consumer groups including Euroconsumers, which had raised concerns that Microsoft’s approach to the ESU scheme conflicted with the EU’s Digital Markets Act by placing unnecessary conditions on access.

www.channelweb.co.uk

Researchers just found something extremely alarming about AI’s power usage

Researchers have found that the carbon footprint of Generative Artificial Intelligence based tools that can turn text prompts into images and videos is far worse than we previously thought.

As detailed in a new paper, researchers from the open-source AI platform Hugging Face found that the energy demands of text-to-video generators quadruple when the length of a generated video doubles — indicating that the power required for increasingly sophisticated generations doesn’t scale linearly.

For instance, a six-second AI video clip consumes four times as much energy as a three-second clip.

“These findings highlight both the structural inefficiency of current video diffusion pipelines and the urgent need for efficiency-oriented design,” the researchers concluded in their paper.

Experts are warning that we’re rolling out generative AI tools without a full grasp of their true environmental impacts. READ MORE...

www.futurism.com

Windows 10 Extended Security Updates - how to get enrolled

 

Microsoft says Windows 10 home users who want to delay switching to Windows 11 can enrol in the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program at no additional cost using Microsoft Rewards points or enabling Windows Backup to sync their data to the cloud.

Windows 10 will reach the end of support on October 14, 2025. After this date, Microsoft will stop providing bug fixes and security updates to fix newly discovered vulnerabilities, with unpatched systems exposed to attacks and malware.

Windows Insiders will be able to enrol in ESU using an enrolment wizard available in Windows Settings and through desktop notifications starting today, with the wizard to roll out to all other Windows 10 customers in July.

However - "dear old Microsoft" isn't consistently rolling this out yet - & there's only a few weeks to go before End Of Support (EOS)! If you would like to get this kick-started - CONTACT DONLINE.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Honda WN7 electric motorcycle set to arrive in the UK dealers from early 2026 priced at £12,999

Honda have given further details on their first-ever large-capacity electric motorcycle, confirming the name as WN7, and launching with a UK price of £12,999 OTR.

Known previously as the EV Fun concept and first seen at the Eicma trade show in Milan last November, it’s now set to get its full launch at this year’s Italian event on November 4.

What we know for now is it’s due to enter production later this year, with order books open now for early adopters. Those placing an order before November 4 will receive a rear seat bag as a free accessory.

Bikes will land with dealers in early 2026, with the ‘W’ in the name coming from Honda’s ‘Be the Wind’ concept, the ‘N’ standing for ‘Naked’ and the 7 acting as a reference to the promised middleweight-rivalling performance attributes. READ MORE...

www.motorcyclenews.com

OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws

In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, acknowledged in its own research that large language models will always produce hallucinations due to fundamental mathematical constraints that cannot be solved through better engineering, marking a significant admission from one of the AI industry’s leading companies.

The study, published on September 4 and led by OpenAI researchers Adam Tauman Kalai, Edwin Zhang, and Ofir Nachum alongside Georgia Tech’s Santosh S. Vempala, provided a comprehensive mathematical framework explaining why AI systems must generate plausible but false information even when trained on perfect data.

www.computerworld.com

US Consumer Reports calls on Microsoft to extend support for Windows 10

Consumer Reports sent a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella calling on the company to extend its support of Windows 10 devices given the security threat posed by leaving millions of operational devices unprotected.  On October 14, these computers will be stranded when Microsoft transitions from the Windows 10 operating system to Windows 11. Windows 10 is currently used by an estimated 46% of Windows computers, and a significant percentage of these machines are unable to run Windows 11.

Consumer Reports is calling on Microsoft to provide free extended support for consumers who have not — and often cannot — make the transition, and to continue providing that support for free until more users have transitioned off the older OS. In the attached letter we explain why Microsoft’s decision to provide paid support only for one year is a security risk, and how the lack of backwards compatibility for certain Windows 10 machines sold only a couple of years ago is a blow to consumers’ pocketbooks. Microsoft should do the right thing and continue supporting Windows 10 without charging consumers.

advocacy.consumerreports.org

Expect HDD, SSD shortages as AI rewrites the rules of storage hierarchy — multiple companies announce price hikes, too

The computing market is absolutely ablaze with Artificial intelligence driven growth. Regardless of how sustainable it might be, companies are spending untold amounts of wealth on hardware, with most headlines revolving around GPUs. But the storage market is also under pressure, especially hard drive vendors who purportedly haven't done much to increase manufacturing capacity in a decade. TrendForce says lead times for high-capacity "nearline" hard drives have ballooned to over 52 weeks — more than a full year.

TredForce posted two articles on essentially the same topic today. One of them includes a letter from Western Digital to its customers warning of "unprecedented demand for every capacity in [its] portfolio," and stating that it is raising prices on all of its hard drives. WD says, of course, that this is "to support this growth and ensure continued excellence," but of course, the company will benefit from the bump to its margins and thus, profits.

If you're unfamiliar with the term, "nearline" refers to storage that is not quite online, yet also not quite offline. It's "warm" data, information that needs to be available for ready access, but doesn't have to be as quick or responsive as the Solid State Drives (SSD) that serve as primary online storage for essentially all systems now. Because it isn't constantly being accessed, hard drives can fill this role in an economical fashion. While SSDs have made huge strides in price-per-gigabyte, hard disks are still typically four to five times cheaper by capacity.

www.tomshardware.com

Motorcycle Live 2025! NEC Birmingham - 15-23 November

Whether you're a seasoned rider, a family looking for a day out, you're looking to get yourself on to two wheels, have a catch up with mates, or you're an adrenaline fan looking to see our crazy FMX-ers dice with the girders of the roof - we’ve got a packed show for you.

There’s the Moto Action Show, wall-to-wall bikes, tasty street food, live music, your favourite presenters, riders and much much more.. 

With the latest models, anniversary exhibitions, free test rides and live action, MCL25 is the show that has it all, and your only opportunity to see 2026 models in one place from 15 - 23 November at The NEC, Birmingham. BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!

I go pretty much every year - a brilliant day out for motorbike fans!

www.motorcyclelive.co.uk

Say hello to our new family member: puppy Theo!

 

Meet our beautiful new puppy Theodore (the name means "a gift from God") - we call him Theo 💘. 

He's a Greek rescue from Sue Deeth in Zakynthos. Her rescue charity Healing Paws Animal Rescue - is now rebranded as the Alan Graves Foundation Animal Rescue (Greece). Alan Graves is a Professional Boxer (WBF Middleweight World Champion) and wonderful philanthropist who has recently partnered with Sue & her team - generously providing much needed funds to build a new shelter.

Theo is a Kokoni mix & is absolutely adorable! He is 5 months old & currently weighs about 6Kg - Sue recons that he'll stay small. He loves his nosh, is doing really well on house training & sleeps most of the way through the night - excellent going so far!

He spent most of last week being driven (with several more rescue dogs & cats) across Europe by the amazing Peter of My Pet Transporter. We were able to follow Theo's progress online & were so excited to welcome him on Friday 12th September!

Theo is our third rescue pup - first was Poppy, then Calli. They've all been such precious souls & wonderful family members. If you are considering bringing a furry friend into your home & family, PLEASE consider rehoming / adopting.

www.healingpawsanimalrescue.com

How to prepare for an Artificial intelligence bubble burst

With rumors of an imminent Artificial intelligence meltdown/bubble burst growing more frequent, many enterprise boards are getting nervous. They’re pressuring CIOs to outline how they are protecting the company’s AI efforts in case of such a meltdown. 

“The AI bubble is just another layer of uncertainty. Six months from now, we could be facing an entirely new set of circumstances,” said Brian Jackson, a principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group. “There might be way too many major players trying to divvy up this pie. The AI business model today is a highly subsidized one.”

There are steps that IT leaders can take to protect their organizations, but the question remains: Protect them from what exactly? No one knows when the AI bubble will burst — or even if it will — but far more importantly, it’s unknown what shape such a bubble burst is likely to take. 

About the only thing that seems relatively certain is the cause of the potential AI bubble burst. It’s identical to what triggered the dot-com implosion in the summer of 2000: untenable business plans backed by VCs and other investors propping up businesses with no meaningful or near-term path to strong profitability. 

The dot-com blowup didn’t actually destroy e-commerce. On the contrary, as we sit here 25 years later, e-commerce businesses are doing quite fine. What went away was a lengthy list of smaller players who should not have gotten funding in the first place. READ MORE...

www.computerworld.com

Norton to discontinue V4SV, V4CR and Commando 961 to make way for new line-up

Norton Motorcycles have confirmed that they will no longer be manufacturing the V4SV, V4CR or Commando 961 bikes to make way for their new model range.

Norton are expected to unveil their new line-up at EICMA in November, and these models are the first all-new bikes following firm’s acquisition by TVS Motor Company in April 2020.

“The Norton V4SV, V4CR and Commando 961 are revered the world over as the latest in a long line of iconic Norton motorcycles.” Executive Director, Richard Arnold said “As one chapter ends, another begins and the waiting is now almost over to reveal our exciting future.”

www.motorcyclenews.com

If You Want to Know Jesus, Read Revelation

The book of Revelation was originally written to give hope to the early church when Christians were being fed to lions, nailed to crosses, burned at the stake, and boiled in tar. It was written by a Christian who himself was suffering “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9 NIV). It was written specifically to a generation of Christians yet to come who will experience what Jesus described as “great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equalled again” (Matthew 24:21 NIV).

Many readers have missed the blessing awaiting them in the book of Revelation because they have been intimidated by its numerical symbolism or overwhelmed by its awesome imagery. They read of mysterious lampstands and sacred seals, worldwide earthquakes and trumpeting angels, monstrous beasts and miracle-working dragons — and quickly turn instead to the soothing poetry of the Psalms or the simple promises of the Beatitudes.

I hope you’ll resist that urge and stay with me for what I believe is one of the most thrilling and fascinating books in all of Scripture. Revelation is, above all, a book of hope, and the blessing to be found in its magnificent imagery has been, for me, a continuous, awesome experience of worship as it has led me to a fresh, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. My book, The Vision of His Glory, is my humble attempt to share with you how this richness of worship, this wealth of hope, this vision of His glory, is intended for all of us.

The book of Revelation begins by clearly stating its theme. “The revelation of Jesus Christ . . .” The theme of Revelation is not primarily prophecy, or future events, as many suppose; it is Jesus! READ MORE...

www.biblegateway.com