An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A decade ago, AMD added a protection to its high-end CPUs to protect them against cold boot attacks and other types of physical exploits that siphon sensitive data out of the connected memory chips. Short for Transparent Secure Memory Encryption, TSME encrypts the entire contents stored in memory, making the data useless to physical attackers. Over time, AMD added TSME to lower-end processors, including the consumer version of its Ryzen chips, a CPU that costs less than the Pro version. Over the years, users of these lower-end chips have gotten used to the added security. Recently and without warning or notice, this lower-end line of AMD chips suddenly dropped the protection, and did so in a way that was impossible to detect on Windows machines and required a fair amount of technical work when using Linux.

AMD has yet to say why TSME worked on these CPUs, or even to confirm the change. AMD declined to answer questions sent by email other than to say TSME "is a security feature only applied to PRO CPUs as part of AMD PRO Technologies." The statement is the first known time the chipmaker has explicitly made this restriction public. [...] There's no indication that AMD ever advertised or marketed TSME as being available in consumer CPUs. AMD has long said that a related memory protection, Secure Memory Encryption (SME), is available only in the Pro and Epyc CPU tiers. SME is OS-managed. It uses a single key and allows the OS to selectively encrypt individual memory pages. TSME is firmware-managed. It encrypts all RAM with no OS involvement. When active, it provides protection against physical attacks, including cold boot exploits, DRAM interface snooping, and memory module removal. It activates silently when enabled in the BIOS, making it the more practically useful of the two protections. Ben Kilpatrick, a self-described "privacy-conscious Linux hobbyist," discovered that TSME had stopped working on his consumer Ryzen processor despite remaining enabled in the BIOS. He spent months investigating, persuaded MSI engineers to test multiple CPUs, motherboards, and firmware versions, and filed a public AMD bug report that traced the change to newer AGESA firmware apparently disabling TSME on consumer chips while retaining it on Pro and EPYC models.

"AMD engineers' comments, such as those mentioned above, and the years of TSME working just fine in the lower-cost tier processors, have understandably conditioned Kilpatrick and other users to reasonably regard it as an expected part of the chip package," reports Ars Technica. "AMD quietly removing it and providing no acknowledgment or explanation strikes these users as something of a betrayal."

Joe Fitzgerald, an expert in silicon-level security, said in an interview: "They could have not realized they did it leading to their cagey responses, or they could have done it intentionally and tried to get away with it, leading to the same cagey responses. But I really feel like an explanation should be in order, even if it was 'TSME was never supposed to be supported. We did ship some firmwares that erroneously enabled it, but you shouldn't use them since we can't guarantee it'll work properly.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader necro81 writes: The heavily promoted, $499 T1 "Trump Phone" was originally said to be "Made in the USA" and ship in September 2025. Later, that was downgraded to "Assembled in the USA." Given the Trump Organization's lack of engineering or supply chain expertise, many assumed the "T1" would just be a private-label phone made by someone else. After a number of delays, the first phones are finally shipping.

iFixit has performed a teardown and concluded that the T1 is a just gold-painted 2024 HTC U24 Pro -- a device from a Taiwanese company, probably using mainland China design and supply chains. In collaboration with NBC News, the iFixit team examined both phones using CT scans, side-by-side teardowns, and even reassembled a working T1 using a U24 Pro main board. As for "assembled in the USA," that may be true, in the same sense that your phone's repairman can "assemble" a phone from a handful of subassemblies sourced from someone else. Or it may have been assembled in Guangdong, China like the other U24 Pros.

iFixit sums it up: "What you have is not an 'American-Proud Design,' but a phone designed in China, made in China, with the vast majority of parts sourced from China. I'm failing to find any stirring of American pride within me. I've certainly felt it before, so I can confirm that it is absent at this time." Quinn Nelson of Snazzy Labs on YouTube also published a comprehensive video of his experience ordering, unboxing, and tearing down the phone. "From pre-order emails landing in Gmail spam thanks to botched DMARC records, to paying for the $47.45 Trump Mobile 47 Plan over the phone, the entire buying experience was a disaster worthy of its own review," writes Nelson.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from NBC News: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a sweeping ban on social media use for those under 16, joining other countries around the world seeking to protect children online. "It's a big step for our country," Starmer said in a recorded video message released Monday. "Social media is making our children unhappy and unsafe, and as a parent, as much as a Prime Minister, I just can't let that go on anymore," he added.

The ban will include social platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, while there is no intention for messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal to be included, the government said in a release. [...] Starmer's government called Monday's announcement a "landmark" move, saying the new measures would be brought to Parliament before Christmas, with protections expected to come into force next spring. Beyond the blanket social media ban, the restrictions will also include blocks on functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication with children for under-16s, it added. "It's not an easy thing to do. I'll be honest about that," Starmer said. "We haven't rushed into it. We've looked carefully at the evidence, and we'll have to adapt our approach as technology changes, learn from other countries which are taking similar steps."

He went on to say that it will face resistance from some of the most powerful companies in the world. "But we will take them on, and we will win, because the need for action could not be any clearer."

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Fox is buying Roku for $22 billion, combining Fox's sports, news, entertainment, Tubi, and Fox One offerings with a streaming platform that reaches about 100 million people. The companies say the merger would create the "third-largest player in US television by share of viewing," while Fox insists Roku will remain open to competing apps after the deal closes. CNN reports: Fox has dabbled in streaming over the past few years -- finally launching its Fox One competitor last August -- but has lacked a serious streaming business with the ability to compete in a space dominated by YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+ and Peacock. With CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery receiving initial US regulatory approval to combine with Paramount, Fox's purchase of Roku became more urgent. [...] The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027 with the companies forecasting $400 million in savings. "This is a defining moment for Fox, and a natural extension of the deliberate and focused strategy we have been executing for nearly a decade," said Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch. "Today, we take the next step: bringing together the most valuable live content portfolio in video consumption with the preeminent streaming platform through which America watches it."

Murdoch said Roku will continue to offer competing apps. "It's essential that Roku remain open and partner-friendly business. We don't see that changing at all."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

In this passionate documentary, Chris Packham looks at the notorious nature invaders – and whether we should love or loathe those flashes of neon green in our skies

’Twas a grim February teatime in West Wickham, south London, when I saw my first parakeet. About six of them, in fact. I looked up from doing the dishes, through the window overlooking the garden, and there they were, where no medium-sized members of the genus Psittacula should be. Half a dozen slashes of the most vivid green imaginable against the brown bleakness of late winter in suburbia. Wholly improbable, wholly mesmerising, wholly wonderful. This was 25 years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since.

They have become a far more common sight since then, of course, as the title of Chris Packham’s latest documentary, Invasion of the Parakeets, suggests. There are now an estimated 15,000 pairs in the UK – the largest population in Europe.

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With France captain in spotlight at team hotel and in home press, head coach tries to pull focus ahead of World Cup opener against Senegal

Since France arrived at their World Cup base in Boston last week they have been a regular source of fascination for locals. Crowds of mostly young people have formed outside Les Bleus’ downtown hotel to cheer the team as they leave for training. All the players are met with pleas for waves and autographs, but the roar that meets Kylian Mbappé is of a different order altogether.

Mbappé is one of a small number of contemporary footballers whose names have cut through with the US public (though he is not yet a mononym, unlike Messi). As France begin their quest for a third World Cup he is inevitably the focus back home too, not least after giving an interview to Le Parisien at the weekend in which he denied ambitions of one day becoming President of France, saying: “I’m hated enough as it is!”

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Hadden we dit weekend even gemist omdat we geen basketbal kijken omdat we voetbal kijken maar de New York Knicks zijn voor het eerst sinds 1973 kampioen geworden, en vorige week schreven we hier nog dat Amerikaanse sportfans liever knokken met 'eigen' supporters dan met aanhang van de tegenstander, maar dat behoeft inmiddels enige rectificatie. Klaarblijkelijk hebben Knicks-voorstanders wel degelijk Spurs-voorstanders in elkaar gemept, tot onvrede van een Obelix-achtige figuur dat erg begaan is met het lot van de San Antonio Spurs. Hij heet Wallace West en eerlijk is eerlijk, wij zouden het ook op een lopen zetten. In zijn instastories kondigde hij al aan solo naar New York te komen voor een ouderwets robbertje vechten, en zo geschiedde.  

Geweld is dom, jongens en meisjes, en een poging geweld te gebruiken tegen Wallace West is nog weer een slag dommer, het heeft namelijk: geen enkele zin.

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Vervolg

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Bleef elders in New York nog een poosje onrustig btw

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Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide June 1990

stan.jernigan has added a photo to the pool:

I took this photo of the “Atomic Bomb Dome” on an overcast day with my iPhone 17 Pro Max while exploring and walking around Hiroshima, Japan. I love the reflection in the river and was deeply moved by the remains of the building. It made me think of the “Black Rain” that fell, like dark ink or tar, so heavy and thick that it caused physical pain when it landed on survivors…

stan.jernigan has added a photo to the pool:

I took this photo of the skeletal remains of the “Atomic Bomb Dome” on an overcast day with my iPhone 17 Pro Max while exploring Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb exploded almost directly above the dome. It was originally known as the “Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall,” which opened in 1915. I was profoundly moved by the site and the Peace Memorial Park across from it…

Een held van ons is heengegaan.

Subterranean Press by their own words "creates readable art, publishing luxurious specialty, limited editions and groundbreaking original works in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres.". Publisher Bill Schaefer announced that they will winding down operations in 2027 and possibly 2028 to meet all their commitments to their authors Here's a further take that collects comments from authors about the closure and the company

“Als je mij zou willen eren, dan moet dat met een zinnetje in een voetnoot. Daar staat in: ‘Hij was hier en deed zijn best.’ Je maakt zo’n stad nooit in zijn eentje.” Een grieperige Ahmed Aboutaleb spreekt in de trouwzaal van het Rotterdamse stadhuis een klein gezelschap toe, vlak voordat hij zijn geschilderde portret onthult.

Het is echt waar. WK-debutant Kaapverdië houdt favoriet Spanje op 0-0. In de kantine van FC Maense wordt het gelijkspel gevierd alsof de wereldtitel binnnen is. Rijnmond keek mee hoe het WK-wonder beleefd werd.

Ze groeide op in twee werelden, de Nederlandse en de Surinaamse. Schrijver Ellen Ombre wijdde zich aan het koloniale verleden, nog voordat het modieus werd om over dit onderwerp te schrijven.

De verrassing is groot, de ontlading ook. Kaapverdië, een land dat nooit eerder een wedstrijd op een WK voetbal speelde, heeft stand gehouden tegen Spanje – dat in 2010 nog…