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Discover what's hot in computing and technology right now, as curated by TechSpot writers.

networking wifi vulnerability broadcom routers
Security The Web

Millions of routers can be hijacked over Wi-Fi thanks to a 16-year-old bug

Broadcom says it replaced the vulnerable code in 2018 and won't assign a CVE. The fix never reached the routers.
Why it matters: Chipmakers ship buggy code all the time, that alone isn't news. What makes WPSplinter stand out is that Broadcom apparently did issue a fix eight years ago, but that fix never reached the routers sitting in people's homes. Furthermore, the lack of a CVE kept the problem invisible to the advisories and patch pipelines that router makers and ISPs rely on.
Full story By Julio Franco, 22 comments Hotness 120k
hacking jailbreak nintendo nintendo switch openai nintendo switch 2
Gaming Software

Nintendo Switch 2 jailbreaking is here, with homebrew, modding, and reverse engineering

Codex AI did the heavy lifting, but the jailbreak itself still took about two weeks
The big picture: AI coding has unleashed a new wave of decompilations and jailbreaks, largely centered on video games. Modders cracked almost every PlayStation 5 firmware version a few weeks ago, and the Nintendo Switch 2 is next. The phenomenon could lead to a repeat of the original Switch's piracy problem, but Nintendo has already responded.
Full story By Daniel Sims, Hotness 58k
gmail security advertising privacy policy google photos training big tech
Google AI

Google's privacy policy now has a loophole for using your Gmail and Photos data in ads

Cutting corners: Plenty of people keep a big chunk of their lives stored in Gmail and Google Photos, from flight bookings and receipts to years of family pictures. For years, Google has said none of that content would be used to pick the ads they see. That promise now comes with an exception – and it applies to anyone who lets the company's AI dig through those apps.
Full story By Zo Ahmed, 14 comments Hotness 19k
bioware ea layoffs with video
Gaming Industry

EA closes legendary RPG studio BioWare following its $55 billion buyout

Mass Effect 5 canceled as EA focuses on new shooters, sports games, and The Sims
Ripple effect: BioWare fans have repeatedly feared for the studio's future ever since EA acquired the company nearly 20 years ago, and those fears intensified after last year's announcement of a Saudi-led leveraged buyout. Although BioWare hadn't released a hit title in 12 years, its early successes helped define the RPG genre, and fans likely still held high hopes for the next Mass Effect entry.
Full story By Daniel Sims, 42 comments Hotness 15k
software eff ceo hacking ai vulnerability bugs cloudflare
Security The Web

AI will keep uncovering critical software flaws for years, says Cloudflare CEO

The EFF says 3% of all known software vulnerabilities were found in October alone
Big quote: Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince says the PHP flaws that forced websites offline last week are only the beginning. His company already knows of other severe vulnerabilities in critical software, and he expects AI tools to keep turning up new ones for years. Because these models have sharply cut the time and skill needed to find and exploit serious bugs, defenders and everyday users face a long stretch of disruption before the internet's core software ends up safer.
Full story By Skye Jacobs, 12 comments Hotness 15k
denuvo voices38 drm cracking piracy irdeto lawsuit
Security Gaming

A judge lets Denuvo subpoena Discord, Reddit, and Steam to unmask the cracker Voices38

The most hated DRM in PC gaming is asking a federal judge to unmask a pseudonym
Connecting the dots: Denuvo has spent the past few weeks trying to uncover Voices38's true identity. The mysterious cracker has been wreaking havoc on the company's notorious DRM and anti-tamper technology, and Denuvo is now turning to lawyers in a bid to unmask the skilled coder.
Full story By Alfonso Maruccia, 13 comments Hotness 12k
developers internet of things psa php servers security lock cloud emergency patch
Security The Web

Two web emergencies in one week: guessable certificate keys and critical PHP bugs that leaked before patches

Browsers patched one problem remotely. Servers will need to be fixed by hand.
A hot potato: Security teams are dealing with two separate emergencies this week, and both go straight to the foundations of the web. The first is a certificate authority that shipped private keys anyone could guess. The second is a pair of critical PHP flaws that leaked before patches existed. Browsers fixed the certificate problem within hours. Everything else, from Linux servers to Docker images and IoT gear, needs someone to log in and patch.
Full story By Julio Franco, Hotness 12k