Democrat James Talarico’s resounding victory in the Texas Senate race caused a major upset in the midterms for Republicans – and for Elon Musk. According to the Financial Times,, the billionaire’s political action committee (Pac) contributed $47m (£35m) to Republican candidate Ken Paxton’s campaign, on top of the $158m he gave the Senate Leadership Fund in September. The money was not enough to stop the seat from turning Democrat for the first time since 1988. In his acceptance speech, Talarico said: “We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas.” “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk jokingly wrote on X. BBC

France’s national blood service has said hackers accessed control systems and boosted temperatures at three cold stores stocking vital blood products, in an apparent escalation of recent cyber-attacks on fridges and freezers across Europe. The French blood service (EFS) said temperature and defrosting thresholds had been raised to “very high levels” in the attack, adding that its alarm systems had allowed technicians to intervene before the products were compromised. The Guardian 

According to a renowned Chinese leaker on Weibo, the upcoming iPhone 18 will get performance and battery upgrades, in line with the current iPhone 18 Pro lineup.

This year Apple shook things around by announcing only the Pro models from the iPhone 18 lineup, but reports suggest the company will announce the vanilla models in early 2027. At least the wait might be worth it, as the report suggests two major upgrades coming to next year’s base iPhone. Battery life will see an improvement this year, and it won’t be solely because of the new, more efficient chipset. GSM Arena 

In the Apple earnings call for Q4 2026, new CEO John Ternus joined CFO Kevan Parekh and COO Sabih Khan to discuss the results of the previous quarter. Within the discussion the trio quietly confirmed that Siri AI may soon have usage limits. Now, we’ve put Siri AI through its paces and found it to be a remarkably good life assistant across Apple’s fleet of devices after years of Siri directing tricky questions to ChatGPT. But a usage limit could seriously hinder the effectiveness of your Apple assistant.

Revolut says that in less than a year it’s managed to slash its AI coding inference costs by roughly 90 percent by making self-hosted models its default instead of relying primarily on commercial services like Claude. Speaking at the AI Engineer conference in New York last month, David Abitbol, ops and infrastructure lead at the British fintech, described how it saw a 60 percent improvement in coding time and a 70 percent improvement in lead time following its rollout of AI coding tools to roughly 2,000 engineers. Revolut initially adopted GLM-5.1 before moving to GLM-5.3, which it now serves using 56 Nvidia B200 GPUs. The Register

Five years after Virgin Media and O2 merged to create a £31bn telecoms giant, VMO2 is battling falling revenues, ongoing customer losses and over £22bn of debt. Its response? An £800m annual cost-cutting programme, including £300m in workforce savings and a halt to further full-fibre upgrades beyond existing commitments. But the restructuring also exposes wider issues in Britain’s broadband industry, where years of network investment have left operators competing for customers in an increasingly saturated market. City AM

The post Elon Musk backed Republican defeated, France’s blood service hacked appeared first on Tech Digest.

The post Binance reveals hackers used fake job interviews in record $6.3 billion cyber attack appeared first on Tech Digest.

Businesses in the UK’s food supply chain have been impacted by the cyber-attack which hit supermarket fridges and freezers across Europe on Monday. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says it is aware of “a couple of instances where vulnerable technology had been exploited in the UK.” The NCSC’s chief executive Dr Richard Horne told the Today programme, on BBC Radio Four, that it had “worked through the night” to alert potentially affected organisations in the UK. The British Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) told the BBC some of its more than 300 members had unexpectedly become what it called “collateral” as part of the hacks. BBC 

A senior criminal prosecutor has been rebuked for citing a fake case in legal documents, in the latest high-profile example of AI producing mistakes in UK courts. Ravinder Dhillon, a senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, admitted that she erroneously included a fictional case in legal documents as part of a dispute over whether a child should be prosecuted for the rape of his younger sister. The legal documents, submitted to the High Court, referenced an entirely made-up case referred to as “R v J [2024]”, which was later discovered never to have existed. Telegraph 

Australia’s landmark social media ban for under-16s faces challenges in court over accusations that it amounts to censorship and creates privacy issues. Two challenges to the world-first legislation have been filed in Australia’s High Court, almost a year after it took effect last December. Australia’s Online Safety Act 2021 stopped Australians under 16 from holding accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Kick, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch. However, multiple studies – including by Australian regulator the eSafety Commissioner – have found that most teenagers under the cutoff age continue to use social media since the ban went live. Sky News 

Apple launched the iPad mini (2026) last week, with an OLED screen and the A20 Pro chip. If you were wondering about the rest of the lineup, Apple is allegedly planning a wave of iPad updates for the first half of 2027, according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Three models will reportedly be part of it: a new entry-level iPad, an iPad Air with an OLED display, and a faster iPad Pro with a vapor chamber for cooling. Gurman also says you shouldn’t expect any new iPads to launch in the second half of 2027 at all. GSM Arena 

Britain’s most polluting power plant could soon power the country’s largest datacentre under a £20bn deal to build AI infrastructure on the site of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire. The power plant’s FTSE 250 owner has struck a deal with the infrastructure investor Brookfield and ⁠the AI infrastructure platform Radiant to develop a datacentre with an eventual capacity of more than 1 gigawatt that could begin operations by early 2028. In the initial phase, Drax will provide the datacentre project with land and access to the national power grid through existing connections on the site. The Guardian 

The countdown is on for the “big switch off”, as BT plans to retire its old landline network in less than 100 days. Customers will be moved from an analogue to a digital or IP system as telephone providers upgrade the landline network, known as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The current system relies on copper-wire cables, while the new one will be an internet-based network. While the switchover is happening now, landline operators expect the job to be completed by 31 January 2027. Independent 

The post UK hit by supermarket freezer cyber attack, Australia’s Under 16 social media ban challenged appeared first on Tech Digest.

Air alert applications in both Ukraine and Russia were compromised by cyberattacks on Sunday night, dispatching false emergency warnings that included fabricated threats of nuclear attacks, radiation leaks, chemical hazards and street fighting

The security breaches coincided with the end of the war’s longest localised ceasefire, implemented in Ukraine’s eastern Kherson region and brokered, in par, by US First Lady Melania Trump. The truce officially expired on Sunday after Russia declined to extend it.

For years, residents on both sides have come to depend heavily on these mobile applications for safety information as a vital lifeline against daily aerial bombardments. In Ukraine, where citizens have endured nearly five years of conflict, the compromised app abruptly pushed red-level air raid notices.

A Kyiv resident named Olena described the immediate panic to the BBC, stating: “The first thought was ‘oh my god, I’m not prepared for this’. I’m prepared for blackouts, for a cut in central heating and water supply, but not for nuclear attack.”

Olena noted that her husband subsequently received alerts for street fighting in Kyiv and messages written in Russian. She added: “After that I understood that somebody had attacked the app, because all notifications we get [are] in Ukrainian.”

In an official Telegram post, the Ukrainian air force urged calm, stating: “The Air Alarm application has probably been subjected to hostile interference. There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel.”

Hours after the Ukrainian breach, Russian authorities confirmed that one of their air raid alert applications had also been targeted by a “massive cyberattack” that distributed false information to the public.

A purported screenshot shared by a partisan group operating in Russian-held territory warned users that “nuclear warheads mounted on P1-Suns [a Ukrainian attack drone] had been launched at all regions of Russia.”

The crude alert included profanities and told residents there was a “risk of [things] getting lively” before instructing them to “stock up urgently on food for three weeks and hide.”

While it remains unclear if the simultaneous cross-border hacks were directly connected or part of a retaliatory tit-for-tat exchange, cyber experts note that the informal language used in the hoax alerts pointed toward hacktivist networks rather than formal state directives.

Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communications placed blame directly on Russia, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not address the specific breach, noting instead that Russian government internet resources are under “constant cyberattacks” round the clock.

Both governments moved quickly to reassure the public and restore full functionality to their respective citizen safety platforms.

The post False nuclear warnings issued as Air Alert apps hacked in Ukraine and Russia appeared first on Tech Digest.

The post European supermarket freezers hit by suspected cyber attack weeks after French incident appeared first on Tech Digest.

Google parent, Alphabet lost just over $500bn (£374bn) in value on Thursday after it rattled Wall Street with its last update of the year on its business operations. Google spooked investors so badly that its stock hit a six-month low, after it revealed its artificial intelligence (AI) summaries on search were affecting ad revenue. Microsoft and Amazon also updated investors this week, and joined Google in plans to keep spending astronomical sums of cash in an ongoing AI race. But investors appeared dismayed at the impacts these plans are having on the ability of each to keep growing their core lines of business. BBC 

NatWest has cut 1,000 jobs in the last three months as it charges ahead with advances in AI. The bank said on Friday that it had cut a total of 1,400 jobs so far this year with the majority coming in the last quarter. The figures did not include the impact of the acquisition of wealth manager Evelyn Partners. The job cuts come as NatWest rolls out AI across the bank, including for customers. Its fraud triage agent, called Cora, has dealt with 52,000 credit card customer issues, the bank said without giving a timeframe. Telegraph 

Samsung announced a new, advanced version of its AI-powered sleep apnea detection, and which devices it will appear on in November. Sleep apnea detection was first introduced to Galaxy devices in 2024, after Samsung gained approval from the FDA in the US. The tool was offered as a baseline detection feature, so users who might be suffering from frequent breathing interruptions during sleep would be aware and seek further medical help. Samsung says its new and improved version uses an AI algorithm to analyze breathing disturbances per hour (via GSMArena).

Meta staff discussed deploying a “whisper strategy” to undermine the influential US academic whose work has inspired a global social media crackdown, according to court documents. Employees at the parent group of Facebook and Instagram sought to discredit Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation, a book that helped tip the debate about online safety towards more stringent measures such as the under-16 ban in Australia. Minutes of internal meetings contained in a recent legal filing in the US showed that staff discussed how to “get the academic community to disavow Haidt”. The Guardian 

Earlier this month, a report claimed that Huawei was preparing to launch a new sub-brand called Xingmang, which translates to “Starlight” in Chinese. Now, a tipster has shared details about the first smartphone from the upcoming brand. According to tipster Digital Chat Station, the first smartphone from Huawei’s upcoming sub-brand will feature a wide-screen candybar design.

The handset is tipped to sport a 6.39-inch display and be powered by a Kirin 9000-series chipset. The top-end variant is said to offer up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. GSM Arena 

A car giant’s plan to significantly improve its manufacturing plant in Solihull has taken a step closer to coming to fruition after planners made a ruling on an environmental impact report. Range Rover announced its first fully electric model last month. In a boost for the region it was confirmed Range Rover Electric would be manufactured at Solihull’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) site. As part of the plans around 9,000 employees in Solihull have been upskilled for electrification with a further 1,500 trained across the West Midlands. Birmingham Mail 

The post Google parent loses $500bn in value due to AI summaries, Huawei prepares ‘Starlight’ launch appeared first on Tech Digest.

Assess Attendance, Event Format and Charging Demand

From digital tickets and event apps to photos, networking and journey planning, attendees depend on their phones throughout an event. When batteries run low, people can struggle to access programmes, contact colleagues or arrange travel home. For organisers, convenient charging is therefore part of the visitor experience, not simply an optional extra.

A small business conference may only need a few charging points in breakout spaces, while a busy exhibition or festival could require several locations across the site. Planning should account for peak visitor numbers as well as total attendance. Queues may build during session breaks or when people arrive at the same time.

Event duration and behaviour matter too. Someone attending a short networking session may only want a quick top-up, whereas visitors at a day-long event may use their phones continuously for content, navigation or work. Before selecting equipment, map where people will pause, how long they are likely to stay and whether they need to keep their phone with them while it charges.

Communal Charging Points vs Secure Lockers

Communal charging points and secure lockers solve different problems. A mobile phone charging station in a networking lounge is useful when visitors want to keep their device nearby and check messages while it charges. Lockers may suit longer events where guests prefer to leave their phone in a compartment while they explore the venue.

When choosing between the two, organisers should consider:

• User behaviour: Communal points suit people who want to use their phone while charging; lockers suit visitors happy to leave their devices.
• Security and oversight: Check locker access arrangements and how lost codes or equipment faults would be handled.
• Visitor flow: Place communal points near seating, with lockers somewhere easy to find but away from narrow entrances.
• Event duration: Longer events may benefit from a mix of quick top-ups and unattended charging.

Where space allows, combining charging points in networking areas with lockers near central amenities can serve both needs.

Charging Stands for Exhibitions, Festivals and Busy Venues

In exhibition halls, festivals and other high-footfall spaces, attendees are often on the move. Charging equipment needs to be visible, simple to access and positioned where people can stop without blocking walkways. Registration areas, refreshment spaces and sponsor zones may be suitable locations if there is enough room for short queues.

A phone charging stand can offer a quick top-up between sessions or activities. Rather than placing every unit in one area, organisers can distribute stands around the venue according to expected footfall and available power.

Where stands include screens or branded panels, they can also display wayfinding, event updates or sponsor messages. This gives commercial partners a potential point of visibility while providing visitors with a practical service, although the charging experience should remain the priority.

Check that each location offers a safe power supply and leaves enough space for visitors to stop without interrupting access to nearby stands or facilities.

Why Charging Tables Suit Conferences and Networking Areas

Conferences and corporate meetings often involve long periods of sitting, working and talking between sessions. In these settings, a charging table lets delegates top up their phones without leaving a breakout space or interrupting a conversation.

Charging tables are particularly useful in networking lounges, hospitality spaces and meeting areas where people naturally gather. At a multi-room conference, tables could serve seated delegates while charging stands support visitors moving between registration, presentations and refreshments.

The best option depends on how each zone is used. Combining tables, stands and lockers may be more effective than selecting a single format for an entire venue, particularly when some attendees remain seated and others move around throughout the day.

Plan Placement, Power Requirements and Equipment Hire

Location can make as much difference as the equipment itself. Charging points should be easy to find without obstructing entrances, exits or accessible routes. Before confirming a layout, check the available power supply, unit footprint and cable management with the venue. These practical details help avoid last-minute changes during setup.

Brandable screens or panels may offer additional value to event sponsors by showing partner messages, directions or programme updates. However, charging facilities need to remain straightforward for attendees to use; promotional displays should support the event rather than get in the way.

Organisers should also compare short-term hire with permanent installation. Hiring may suit one-off conferences, exhibitions and festivals, while venues hosting regular events can assess whether a fixed setup makes better financial sense. Any supplier quote should make delivery, installation, on-site support and collection arrangements clear.

The most effective approach is to choose equipment around actual visitor behaviour, practical venue constraints and the event budget. A well-placed mix of charging options can serve more people than a single prominent unit in the wrong location.

The post How Event Organisers Can Choose the Right Phone Charging Solutions for Different Venues appeared first on Tech Digest.

Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange, has experienced a security breach resulting in the theft of an estimated $6.3 billion.

Investigators and blockchain intelligence firms have attributed the exploit to North Korean state-backed hacking groups, in what is the largest cryptocurrency hack to date.

In response, Binance temporarily suspended all customer deposits and withdrawals while security teams worked with law enforcement and industry partners to trace and secure affected assets.

The exchange reported that approximately $3 billion in funds had been successfully frozen on-chain, and company leadership stated that all losses would be fully covered. Initial findings indicate that a compromised employee laptop may have provided unauthorised access to internal systems, highlighting the risks associated with enterprise endpoint security.

The breach has prompted cybersecurity warnings across the broader digital finance sector regarding secondary threats, including potential phishing campaigns and fraudulent communications targeting account holders.

Addressing the implications of the breach, Marijus Briedis, Chief Technology Officer at NordVPN, told Tech Digest:

“When billions can be moved in minutes, the consequences of a cyberattack quickly reach ordinary people. Customers can face uncertainty about their money and disruption to withdrawals, even when a platform promises to cover the losses.

“Binance’s initial findings suggest a compromised employee laptop may have provided a way into its systems. While the investigation continues, this highlights how the security of a financial platform depends on everyday devices and people with access to them, as well as the technology protecting its wallets.

He continued: “Another risk is criminals exploiting the confusion and fear among crypto owners on other platforms. An email claiming your funds are at risk, a fake support account offering help or a message urging you to move your cryptocurrency to a ‘safe wallet’ could be an attempt to steal from you.

“Check updates through the Binance app or a website address you already trust. Avoid links in unsolicited messages, and never give anyone your password, verification codes or wallet recovery phrase. Pressure to act immediately should be a reason to pause and verify the request.”

Industry analysts note that the incident is likely to prompt a wider reevaluation of security architectures and counterparty risks across centralised digital asset platforms.

The post Record $6.3bn Binance hack triggers urgent cybersecurity warnings appeared first on Tech Digest.

The world of cryptocurrency has been rocked by what industry insiders are calling the “largest bank heist in human history”. Binance, which is a digital asset exchange, suffered a massive security breach that saw billions of dollars drained from the platform in a matter of minutes.

As global markets react and investigators race to track down the stolen funds, here are seven essential things you need to know about the staggering Binance hack.

1. The scale: $6.3 billion stolen in record time

According to blockchain intelligence firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis, digital assets worth an astonishing $6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) were taken during the security exploit. This shatters previous records, far eclipsing the $1.5 billion stolen from a Tokyo-based exchange the previous year. Industry experts describe it as the largest cryptocurrency hack to date and one of the biggest financial heists ever recorded. Remarkably, blockchain analysts noted that the attacker managed to move billions of dollars across eight different blockchain networks in roughly 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Who carried out the attack?

Formal investigations are ongoing, and Binance co-CEO Richard Teng states that official attribution has not yet been finalised. However, blockchain analysis firms have pointed the finger with “high confidence” to TraderTraitor, an elite state-backed hacking unit associated with North Korea. Experts note that the preparation, techniques and rapid execution of the attack closely match previous state-sponsored campaigns orchestrated by North Korean cyber operatives.

3. How did the hack happen?

Initial investigations suggest that the sophisticated breach may have originated from a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer at Binance. However, experts emphasise that this was not a simple “one-click” action or an isolated permissions exploit. The attacker spent at least 36 hours preparing for the strike, systematically bypassing internal defences to execute unauthorised withdrawals and rapidly siphon funds across multiple decentralised networks.

4. Who is at risk? (and what about customer funds?)

Following the breach, Binance temporarily suspended all customer deposits and withdrawals while security teams secured wallet infrastructure. Understandably, the news sent shockwaves through the market, causing Bitcoin to drop more than 3% to a six-week low, alongside declines in exchange-linked stocks.

However, exchange leadership has moved quickly to reassure users. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao posted on X that “User funds are safe!”, while co-CEO Richard Teng emphasised: “Bottom line – your money is safe, and we’re covering every loss.”

5. Billions successfully frozen

In a race against time, a co-ordinated effort between Binance, law enforcement and major industry players has managed to intercept a significant portion of the stolen capital. Stablecoin issuer Tether froze nearly $1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, Circle froze over $800 million, and crypto custodian BitGo assisted in securing additional funds. In total, approximately $3 billion has been located and frozen, though blockchain trackers note that the attacker still controls roughly $2.4 billion in Bitcoin and Ether.

6. Secondary risks: phishing and scam Alerts

Cybersecurity experts are warning that the fallout extends beyond Binance itself. Criminals and opportunistic fraudsters are expected to exploit the widespread confusion and panic among crypto investors on other platforms.

Marijus Briedis, Chief Technology Officer at NordVPN, warns: “Another risk is criminals exploiting the confusion and fear among crypto owners on other platforms. An email claiming your funds are at risk, a fake support account offering help or a message urging you to move your cryptocurrency to a ‘safe wallet’ could be an attempt to steal from you.”

7. How to protect yourself

In light of the hack and subsequent scam warnings, cybersecurity professionals advise users to practice strict digital hygiene:

• Verify channels: Check official updates exclusively through the official Binance app or a trusted website address.

• Ignore unsolicited messages: Avoid clicking on links in text messages, emails, or social media posts offering assistance or claiming your funds are in danger.

• Protect your credentials: Never share your password, multi-factor verification codes, or wallet recovery phrases with anyone.

• Pause and verify: Be deeply suspicious of any communication that creates artificial urgency or pressures you to act immediately.

The post 7 things you need to know about the Binance hack appeared first on Tech Digest.

Shares in Google parent Alphabet fell more than 10% in after-hours trading Wednesday, erasing tens of billions of dollars in stock market value from the $4tn tech giant. The company had reported lower-than-expected profit and a slowdown in its advertising business while it maintained big spending on AI. Net profit slid 25% from a year earlier to $26.2bn in the July-to-September period, or $2.12 a share, well short of expectations by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Alphabet booked an $8.7bn loss on its equity investments, which it attributed to its stake in SpaceX. Guardian 

Elon Musk is a “real genius”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday after revealing the two are in “close” contact about satellite technology. The remarks came during the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, during which Putin discussed Russia’s own satellite internet project Rassvet, which provides internet connections to people from satellites. “He’s a genius, a real genius,” Putin said of Musk, according to a translation of his remarks by the BBC. “We are in close contact with our American partners, including Mr. Musk.” BBC 

Ofcom has set out its recommendations for the most effective ways to identify which of the UK’s millions of social media users are aged over 16. Under the UK’s social media ban – which is due to come into force in March next year – those under that age will be prevented from accessing ten of the biggest platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Many UK adults are also likely to have to confirm that they are not under-age by using one of the proposed measures, which are subject to government approval. A similar ban was introduced in Australia last year but many children there have found ways to get round it. The UK says it intends to take a tougher approach. BBC

It’s one thing for Apple to say the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR has the best display on any laptop, and it’s another for it to put its money where it’s mouth is. During a briefing and demo the company showed us how the new MacBook Pro stacks up to a premium Windows laptop with a tandem OLED display in the Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition, which retails for $3,399 and is currently on sale for $2,699….It took about 2 seconds to realize that the tandem OLED display on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is inferior to the PROLED XDR panel on the new MacBook Pro. Tom’s Guide 

Over the past year, Amazon has shaken up its Fire TV Stick lineup quite a bit. It all started when the company unveiled Vega OS, its new Linux-based operating system. Since then, Amazon has adopted a “multi-OS” approach, continuing to update Fire OS, the Android-based operating system it’s used on Fire TV devices for more than a decade, alongside Vega OS. Earlier this year, however, Amazon announced that all future Fire TV Sticks would run Vega OS. Since then, it’s released two new models: the Fire TV Stick HD and, most recently, the Fire TV Stick 4K. After spending the past few weeks testing the new Fire TV Stick 4K, I’ve been impressed by its performance, design, and new remote, but other aspects have left me scratching my head. Pocket Lint 

There has been no shortage of controversy surrounding the iPhone Duo and more specifically its delicate hinge mechanism. We’ve seen numerous reports of inner display damage with Apple openly acknowledging the issue, claiming it only affects “a small number of iPhone Duo units” and that affected users should contact Apple for a replacement.

Image source: Vishnu_RK (Reddit)

But a report from Chinese outlet Jiemian News suggests Apple had “lowered its quality inspection standards” to get more Duo units out to retailers ahead of the holiday period. GSM Arena 

The post Investors turn on Google owner, Putin says Musk is ‘real genius’ appeared first on Tech Digest.