Brandon Vigliarolo

Earth, Nashville

US Government Technology Reporter at The Register

US gov’t technology reporter at The Register. Keeping this account open so I can snoop on the crazy, but if you want to talk hit me up on Bluesky (at)bvig

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Articles

Constellation, Meta ink deal to keep IL nuclear plant online

4 days ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

Meta has signed a 20-year deal with Constellation Energy to keep the lights on at an Illinois nuke plant that was facing an uncertain future once state subsidies dry up in 2027. The deal, announced today by both Meta and Constellation, will keep the Clinton Clean Energy Center operating beyond the end of Illinois' zero-emission credit program in 2027, and includes a 30MW uprate that will boost the plant's total capacity to 1,121MW, according to the pair.
Twitter launches 'XChat' encrypted DMs with big caveats

4 days ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

Elon Musk's X social media platform is rolling out a new version of its direct messaging feature that the platform owner said had a "whole new architecture," but as with many a Muskian proclamation, there's reason to doubt what's been said. Dubbed "XChat" (not to be confused with the venerable Linux/Windows IRC app of the same name), Musk informally announced the feature on Sunday, a few days after the company formerly known as Twitter paused encryption on messaging to make "some improvements.".
Lumma infostealer takedown may not have succeeded

6 days ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

Infosec In Brief Despite last week’s FBI announcement that it helped to take down the crew behind the Lumma infostealer, the malware continues to operate. Researchers from Check Point Research last Thursday said that the group's command and control servers remain operational, the quantity of stolen information attributed to Lumma continues to grow, and cybercrime markets selling stolen info are still hawking it.
Palantir AI shows up at Fannie Mae to fight mortgage fraud

1 week ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

Trump administration darling Palantir has scored another data-guzzling win by partnering with Fannie Mae to detect mortgage fraud using AI. Fannie Mae, a US government-backed outfit that buys mortgages from lenders and bundles them into mortgage-backed securities, will partner with Palantir to create a new "AI-powered Crime Detection Unit," the mortgage giant said in an announcement yesterday.
18F tech modernization team appeals DOGE dissolution

1 week ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

Former employees of the US government's 18F tech modernization team have filed an appeal of their termination, arguing that the DOGE-led shuttering of their entire unit was illegal.
Nvidia is cozying up to China, Senators say

1 week ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

Nvidia is reportedly planning to open a new research and development facility in Shanghai, China, drawing sharp criticism from a pair of US lawmakers. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) sent a letter [PDF] to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expressing concern that the planned facility could support China's access to advanced AI hardware and software, which are subject to US export controls.
Trump and AI are destabilizing the global economy, says WEF

1 week ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

There are two things keeping chief economists awake around the globe, if the World Economic Forum's latest survey is any indicator: US President Donald Trump's trade policies and AI. The WEF's monthly Chief Economists Outlook for May was published Wednesday, and paints a generally gloomy picture of the global economy.
MIT boffins prototype liquid sodium battery for transport

1 week ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

MIT boffins have built a prototype fuel cell using liquid sodium and air that could one day power aircraft, and may help capture carbon through its byproducts. Skeptical? You can be forgiven. Even MIT materials science professor Yet-Ming Chiang, one of the lead researchers, admits it sounds a bit out there. We expect people to think that this is a totally crazy idea"We expect people to think that this is a totally crazy idea," Chiang told MIT News.
Arc frozen as The Browser Company pivots to AI-powered Dia

1 week ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

AI is rapidly reshaping how we use the web, or so The Browser Company founder Josh Miller argues. That belief helped drive his team's decision to stop building new features for its Arc browser and shift focus to an "AI browser" dubbed Dia. For the unfamiliar, Arc is a design-heavy, Chromium-based browser that tried to rethink tabs, spaces, and how users interact with the web, but it never quite hit the mainstream.
iPhone won't be made in US anytime soon: analysts

1 week ago | theregister.com | Brandon Vigliarolo

US President Donald Trump can huff, puff, and threaten to blow Tim Cook's house down with a 25 percent iPhone import tariff, but analysts say even that threat is unlikely to bring Apple's manufacturing home. In response to Trump's statement last week, analysts from Morgan Stanley published a research brief on Tuesday that concluded Apple is unlikely to respond to Trump's latest tariff threat in a way that will please him.