Monthly Archives: November 2025

CHERIoT 1.0 released

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Version
1.0 of the Capability Hardware Extension to RISC-V for IoT
(CHERIoT) specification has been released. CHERIoT is a
hardware-software system for secure embedded devices, and the
specification provides a full description of the ISA and its intended
use by CHERIoT
RTOS. David Chisnall has written a blog
post about the release that explains its significance as well as plans
for CHERIoT 2.0 and beyond:

The last change that we made to the ISA was in December 2024, so we
are confident that this is a stable release that we can support in
hardware for a long time. This specification was implemented by the
1.0 release of CHERIoT Ibex and by CHERIoT Kudu (which has not yet had
an official release). These two implementations demonstrate that the
ISA scales from three-stage single-issue pipelines to six-stage
dual-issue pipelines, roughly the same range of microarchitectures
supported by Arm’s M profile.

We at SCI have the first of our ICENI chips, which use the CHERIoT
Ibex core, on the way back from the fab now and will be scaling up to
mass production in the new year. I am not allowed to speak for other
folks building CHERIoT silicon, but I expect 2026 to be an exciting
year for the CHERIoT project!

Apple TV has a new intro bumper and soundmark

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Apple dropped the “plus” from its streaming service’s name in October, because the company typically uses the plus sign for free services with paid versions, such as iCloud+. Now, the company has released a new intro bumper and soundmark for its TV service. Apple has uploaded a five-second video showing its streaming service’s new logo appearing in a hazy multi-colored animation before it shifts into focus at the center of the screen. Playing in the background is a soundmark, or as its composer calls it, a “mnemonic.” 

The soundmark will appear before every show and every episode in a series, according its composer Finneas, whom you may know as Billie Eilish’s brother and frequent collaborator. “The things that I think of as real classic mnemonics are NBC — you can hear that in your head — or HBO has its static,” he told Variety. Netflix’s “tudum” sound is pretty iconic, as well. Only time can tell if Apple’s will have the same impact. He explained that the five-second version Apple released as a video will be played before every movie and in between the episodes of a show, so you’re bound to hear it multiple times if you’re bingeing a series. Apple also made a one-second version of the intro for trailers and a 12-second one for anything released in theaters, such as Killers of the Flower Moon. 

Finneas said that he was approached by Apple’s Head of Music, David Taylor, who apparently told him that the company was “simplifying” the service. Removing the “plus” from its name was just the beginning. In addition, Apple has also debuted a new logo for Apple One, a subscription option that bundles multiple Apple services, including Apple Music, TV and iCloud+, into a lower-priced monthly plan. The new logo uses a textured multi-colored Apple illustration. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/apple-tv-has-a-new-intro-bumper-and-soundmark-140016449.html?src=rss

NIntendo expects to sell way more Switch 2s than it thought

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Nintendo has boosted its Switch 2 sales forecast for the current fiscal year, meaning it could top first year sales of the original Switch. The gaming giant expects to sell 19 million Switch 2s by March 31, 2026, up 26.7 percent from its original forecast of 15 million units. That follows a previous report that Nintendo had asked suppliers to build 25 million Switch 2s by the end of March next year.

In its second quarter ending September 30th, Nintendo sold 4.54 million Switch 2s and has moved 10.36 million units since launch. However, the company’s Q3 sales through the holiday season can often double Q2 sales, as they did multiple times with the Switch. 

The original Switch sold 17.79 million units in its first 13 months, so the Switch 2 could exceed that over a shorter time frame. Nintendo reportedly requested a production boost as it believed the console will continue its torrid sales pace through the holiday season. It also expects to sell 4 million Switches for the fiscal year, down a touch from its previous forecast. 

Nintendo is optimistic about software too, projecting sales of 48 million units for Switch 2 by March 31, up 3 million from its earlier forecast. It also expects to sell 125 million Switch games (which can also be played on the Switch 2) for this fiscal year, rather than 105 million as it previously predicted. 

This quarter, the company moved 11.95 million Switch 2 games, with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bonanza among the best sellers. Pokémon Legends: Z-A started shipping on October 16th, which could help lift game sales for Q3. 

With console and game sales ahead of expectations, Nintendo’s earnings looked pretty rosy for its second fiscal quarter ended September 30th. The company saw 527.2 billion yen in revenue ($3.7 billion) and 102.9 billion yen in profit, both considerably higher than expected.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-expects-to-sell-way-more-switch-2s-than-it-thought-130048295.html?src=rss

DOJ Accuses US Ransomware Negotiators of Launching Their Own Ransomware Attacks

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: U.S. prosecutors have charged two rogue employees of a cybersecurity company that specializes in negotiating ransom payments to hackers on behalf of their victims with carrying out ransomware attacks of their own. Last month, the Department of Justice indicted Kevin Tyler Martin and another unnamed employee, who both worked as ransomware negotiators at DigitalMint, with three counts of computer hacking and extortion related to a series of attempted ransomware attacks against at least five U.S.-based companies.

Prosecutors also charged a third individual, Ryan Clifford Goldberg, a former incident response manager at cybersecurity giant Sygnia, as part of the scheme. The three are accused of hacking into companies, stealing their sensitive data, and deploying ransomware developed by the ALPHV/BlackCat group. […] According to an FBI affidavit filed in September, the rogue employees received more than $1.2 million in ransom payments from one victim, a medical device maker in Florida. They also targeted several other companies, including a Virginia-based drone maker and a Maryland-headquartered pharmaceutical company.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sharp Is Crowdfunding A Strange Lightweight Tethered PC VR Headset

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Sharp is crowdfunding a strange lightweight tethered PC VR headset that can also connect to one of its smartphones.

Called Xrostella VR1, the headset features dual 2160×2160 LCD panels paired with “light-efficient” pancake lenses with a 90-degree field of view, two grayscale fisheye tracking cameras, and one color passthrough camera. The included controllers, meanwhile, seem to resemble Quest 2’s but with more hefty tracking rings.

Sharp says the headset’s “body” weighs just 198 grams, making it lighter than any shipping headsets except Bigscreen Beyond 2 and Shiftall MeganeX.

IPD adjustment between 58mm and 71mm is supported, as well as diopter adjustment from 0D to -9.0D.

While Xrostella VR1 is primarily designed for PC VR, Sharp says it will also be compatible with its AQUOS sense10 smartphone, projecting the phone’s display onto a fixed virtual screen. More smartphone models will be “expanded sequentially”, the company claims.

Sharp Is Making A Hybrid Haptic VR Glove & Controller
Sharp is making a hybrid VR glove and controller, combining tactile feedback with buttons and a thumbstick, though hasn’t yet decided whether to sell it.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

It’s unclear exactly who Xrostella VR1 is supposed to be for.

We haven’t seen a major VR headset use only two tracking cameras since the Windows MR headsets that came before HP Reverb G2, as this approach severely limits the tracking range of the controllers. It’s also rare for a headset to only use one camera for passthrough, as this results in a complete lack of correct depth and scale.

Further, the lack of eye tracking and hand tracking means the headset probably won’t appeal to many VRChat users, while the narrow field of view and mediocre resolution won’t appeal to simulator fans.

Of course, it’s somewhat premature to assess the product proposition here without a price. If available at a low cost, Sharp could be aiming to offer a kind of “ultralight headset for the rest of us”. But that seems unlikely.

Sharp says it will crowdfund Xrostella VR1 on the Japanese platform GREENFUNDING later this month. It’s unclear why a company of Sharp’s size is crowdfunding rather than just launching, but it may be a mechanism to gauge interest before taking the risk.

The Morning After: Musk talks flying Teslas on Joe Rogan’s show

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Elon Musk told Joe Rogan on his podcast he hopes to unveil a flying car “before the end of the year.” It was an interesting announcement to make, as Rogan also asked Musk about the long-delayed second-gen Tesla Roadster. Tesla unveiled a new Roadster in 2017 and had plans to start deliveries in 2020, but production was delayed several times.

Avoiding that conversation, the Tesla CEO suddenly started talking about wanting the vehicle to fly. After vague answers and musing, he eventually said: “My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars.”

He claimed the vehicle Tesla is supposedly working on contains “crazy, crazy technology.” Musk said he wasn’t sure it’s technically a car but that “it looks like a car.”

Musk has been talking about flying cars since 2014. Given his optimistic take on development timelines, that’s a good 10 years of talk so far. Give it perhaps another 10?

— Mat Smith

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The news you might have missed

The $115,000 showdown between Meta and Facebook creators

The business of viral Facebook content is lucrative, but often volatile.

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Engadget

Creator Mel Bouzad is suing Meta for over $115,000 on his and other creators’ behalf. He alleges that Meta’s broken AI and vague “monetization policy violations” led to the wrongful demonetization of high-earning pages and the withholding of tens of thousands of dollars in payments. Can multiple small claims court fights force Meta to provide human support and fix its system? Read the full story on the volatile world of viral content.

Continue reading.

Pentagon may award SpaceX a billion-dollar contract to help with Golden Dome

SpaceX could build up to 600 satellites for a new defense system.

SpaceX will reportedly receive a $2 billion contract to develop satellites for the US government, according to sources talking to The Wall Street Journal. SpaceX will reportedly be tasked with developing up to 600 satellites that can track missiles and aircraft and will be used for President Trump’s proposed Golden Dome project.

The president introduced the project earlier this year as an anti-missile defense system, designed to intercept missile attacks before they reach their target.

Continue reading.

Apple Vision Pro M5 review

A better beta is still a beta.

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Engadget

Apple surprised many by announcing an upgraded Vision Pro with its latest M5 chip. It’s still largely the same device. The revamped Apple Vision Pro is faster and more comfortable than the original, but its limited ecosystem still makes it better suited to developers than consumers.

It does support PSVR2 controllers, though.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-musk-talks-flying-teslas-on-joe-rogans-show-120438841.html?src=rss

Dune driving with Mercedes-Benz as it tests off-road systems

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LAS VEGAS—About 100 miles from Las Vegas, at the northern end of the Mojave Desert, you’ll find a pretty large pile of sand. The Dumont Dunes formed thousands of years ago as sand from recently dried-up lakes blew in on the wind through gaps in the mountains. We’re talking real Lawrence of Arabia stuff—some dunes hundreds of feet high, and a large amount of it is run as a recreational area by the Bureau of Land Management for activities that include a bit of off-roading.

Which is why we found a trailer full of Mercedes-Benz engineers and some preproduction prototype electric GLCs at work out there. When we last saw the next GLC, it was earlier this year at a German test track, wearing one of those black-and-white digital camouflage wraps that obscure the finer details of a new design. The automaker is dealing with the finishing touches ahead of the model going into production next year. The hardware is signed off on, but there’s plenty of code to tweak and calibrations to perform, including making sure that even when the terrain gets loose, the handling won’t.

While I’m sure that the vast majority of GLC customers’ experience with rough surfaces won’t extend past the odd, particularly bad pothole, the car is being engineered to cope with much more. When fitted with the optional air suspension, the ground clearance can increase to up to 8.1 inches (206 mm) at low speed and 7.2 inches (183 mm) even up to highway speed, as long as the car is in the more extreme of the two Terrain modes. That allows for approach and departure angles as much as 21.4 degrees (approach) and 22.6 degrees (departure).

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EV Sales Plummet In October After Federal Tax Credit Ends

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Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares a report from Car and Driver: Sales of electric vehicles surged in September as shoppers rushed to take advantage of the $7500 federal EV tax credit before it disappeared at the end of the month. With the government subsidies now gone, EV sales were expected to take a hit in October. While only a few automakers still report sales on a monthly basis, the results we do have do not paint a rosy picture for EVs in a post-tax credit world.

The Korean automakers were hit particularly hard by the loss of the tax credit. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, which was the fifth-best-selling EV through the third quarter of this year, experienced a 63 percent drop, moving 1642 units in October 2025, down from 4498 in 2024. Its platform-mates saw similar declines. The Kia EV6 moved just 508 units, down 71 percent versus the same month the year before, while the luxurious Genesis GV60 only found 93 buyers, a 54 percent slide year over year. Things were even worse at Honda. While the Acura ZDX was recently discontinued after just a single model year, the related Honda Prologue remains on sale but registered just 806 units, down 81 percent from 4130 sales in October 2024. […]

Obviously, this isn’t the full picture, as several major players — including General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and Volkswagen — only release sales reports on a quarterly basis, and others, such as Tesla and Rivian, don’t break out individual sales at all. But with four of the top 10 bestselling EVs through Q3 all showing noteworthy declines in October, it spells trouble for the EV market at large. The end-of-year sales figures will provide a much clearer picture of whether October was just a blip or the start of a much more widespread problem for EV sales.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.