Open source malware sees a 21 percent increase

The Hot Take: As Linux gains market share just put a target on its back for compromise.

A new report from Sonatype identifies 21,764 malicious open source packages in the first quarter of the year, up 21 percent from the same period last year and bringing the total logged since 2017 to 1,346,867. The npm registry continues to be the target of most new malicious attacks, at 75 percent, seeing the equivalent of 46 malicious packages per day, with the quarter defined by credential theft, host reconnaissance, and staged payload delivery aimed at developer and CI/CD environments. Python package index PyPI saw 18 percent of total malware in Q1, with other registries significantly lower, suggesting that attackers… [Continue Reading]

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Gigabyte is pushing CQDIMM and 256 GB DDR5 further into the mainstream – the Z890 Plus becomes a flagship platform

The Hot Take: Oh yay more lower end options because of shortages....

Motherboards used to be the quiet workers in the background. Now they act like mini memory labs, and Gigabyte is stepping up its game in this very area. With the Z890 Plus series, the manufacturer is turning a CES showcase project into a broader platform statement: more focus on signal integrity, two DIMM slots instead […] Source

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Apple Could Unveil Its Sub-1nm Chips In A Few Years, As TSMC Said To Fire Up Trial Production In 2029

The Hot Take: Definitely looks like Apple is getting priority on the latest from TSMC.

The first wave of 2nm chipsets is scheduled to arrive later this year, with Apple introducing its A20 and A20 Pro range for its iPhone 18 family, but there’s little time for taking breaks, especially in the silicon industry, because the question is, what comes after this manufacturing process? According to the latest report, the trillion-dollar entity’s exclusive semiconductor partner, TSMC, is planning to achieve a new milestone by introducing its sub-1nm technology in a few years, with trial production expected in 2029. New lithography roadmap reveals that TSMC will initially set a target of 5,000 wafers for its sub-1nm process, taking […]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/first-apple-sub-1nm-chip-arriving-in-few-years-tsmc-2029-trial-production-target/

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Battlefield 6 2026 Roadmap Unveiled — Naval Warfare Lands in Season 4 This July

The Hot Take: I'm all for Naval warfare, miss that from some of the other past games.

Today, Battlefield Studios unveiled the 2026 Battlefield 6 roadmap. Season 3 will begin next month, with two classic maps returning after being reimagined: Season 3 also sees the debut of BR Solos — Battle Royale Solo as an official mode, as well as BR Ranked Play & Leaderboards, launching first in Battle Royale Quads in REDSEC. Battlefield Studios plans to expand the Ranked Play experience to Battlefield 6 multiplayer in future seasons. Season 4 will launch in July, introducing the previously teased Naval Warfare to Battlefield 6. The two new maps are: Naval-specific features include aircraft carriers with operational flight […]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/battlefield-6-2026-roadmap-naval-warfare-season-4/

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Samsung may begin making Tesla chips in the US within months

The Hot Take: Nice, competition domestically is the best thing to see going on. I'm cheering on intel but Samsung and TSMC domestically too.

Samsung has made a massive investment in a cutting-edge chipmaking plant in Taylor, Texas. A $16.5 billion order from Tesla has already been secured for its next-generation self-driving chips. A new report claims that Samsung's Taylor plant is now close to launch, with Tesla's chips likely to be produced from the second half of this year. This is one of Samsung's biggest investments in the US A report out of South Korea mentions that Samsung will host a major equipment move-in ceremony at the Taylor plant on April 24th. Key Samsung Electronics executives are said to attend this event, including Han Jin-man, the president of the company's foundry division. This has been a long time coming. Samsung initially broke ground on the project back in November 2022. The Taylor fab was projected to begin operations in October 2024. However, given the lack of visibility on major orders, Samsung had delayed production activities. It then received a shot in the arm from Tesla last year when the automaker confirmed it had signed a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung for its AI5 and AI6 chips to be built at the Taylor fab. Samsung views its Taylor fab as key to catching up with TSMC, its biggest rival in the contract chipmaking space, which already enjoys a dominant lead over the Korean aspirant. Samsung's focus on making 2nm production capacity available at its US plant is meant to offer major customers like Microsoft and Meta a viable alternative to TSMC's US plant which operates on the 4nm process technology. Major chip designers will closely watch how Samsung is able to deliver on these 2nm Tesla chips. If yields are stable at mass production volumes, it could unlock a surge in orders for Samsung as TSMC simply doesn't have the capacity to absorb all of the 2nm orders.

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US appeals court restarts $3 billion patent infringement lawsuit against Intel — VLSI case from 2017 returns after court sets aside 2024 decision

The Hot Take: I really wish we could put these patent trolls to bed across the industry. Preventing these kinds of things from happening. I hope this doesn't impact Intel's clawing back to competitiveness.

The U.S. Court of Appeals determines $3 billion VLSI lawsuit was not suitable for summary judgment and must instead be evaluated by a jury, so it must return to a district court for proceedings.

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Intel Just Launched Its MacBook Neo Competitor: Wildcat Lake For Everyday PCs

The Hot Take: ARM has a awakened and re-newed Intel to start competing with.

Intel has just launched its highly anticipated Wildcat Lake "Core Series 3" SoCs, designed for everyday PCs & a strong competitor to MacBook Neo. Intel Wildcat Lake vs Apple MacBook Neo Laptop Battle Is Something To Look Forward To As Chipzilla Brings Panther Lake's Goodness To Mainstream Users The Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" lineup took the laptop market by storm, offering unprecedented levels of efficiency, battery times, and graphics performance. While the laptop designs were great, these products were mainly positioned in the high-end category with only a few options within the sub-$1000 segment. Then came Apple's MacBook […]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/intel-launched-its-macbook-neo-competitor-wildcat-lake-for-everyday-pcs/

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Allbirds abandons clothes, pivots to "AI compute infrastructure"

The Hot Take: Interesting shift in markets....

If you know the name Allbirds, it's probably for the company's longstanding stated commitment to "sustainable shoes and apparel." Going forward, though, the corporate entity wants to be known for its "long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider." In a news release Wednesday morning, Allbirds announced that it has secured a $50 million convertible finance facility to help power this unexpected "pivot ... to AI compute infrastructure." If all goes to plan, the company will soon be known as NewBird AI, by which point it will presumably change the image of a spandex-clad hiker that still sits atop its News Release page. Just weeks ago, Allbirds announced the $39 million sale of the "Allbirds brand and footwear assets" to American Exchange Group, owner of Aerosoles, Ecko Unlimited, and other fashion brands. Today's AI pivot announcement certainly casts that sale in a new light. But Allbirds also announced a new line of colorful Canvas Cruiser shoes just last week, so it's unclear how much long-term planning went into this new AI-related direction.Read full article Comments

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