Technology
The WordPress vs. drama explained. WP Engine
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The world of WordPress, some of the popular technologies for creating and hosting web sites, is experiencing very heated controversy. At the guts of the difficulty is a battle between WordPress founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, which hosts web sites built on WordPress.
WordPress technology is open source and free software, powering an enormous portion of the Internet – about 40% of internet sites. Websites can host their very own WordPress instances or use an answer provider similar to Automattic or WP Engine for a plug-and-play solution.
In mid-September, Mullenweg wrote blog entry calling WP Engine the “cancer of WordPress.” He criticized the host for disabling users’ ability to view and track the version history of every entry. Mullenweg believes this feature is “at the heart of the user promise to protect data” and stated that WP Engine turns it off by default to lower your expenses.
He also called WP Engine investor Silver Lake and said it was not contributing enough to the open source project and that WP Engine’s use of the “WP” brand had misled customers into believing it was a part of WordPress.
Legal battle
In response, WP Engine sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mullenweg and Automattic, asking them to withdraw their comments. It also found that use of the WordPress trademark falls under fair use.
The company claimed that Mullenweg said it might take a “scorched earth nuclear approach” against WP Engine unless it agreed to pay “a significant portion of its revenues to license the WordPress trademark.”
In response Automattic sent its own stop and desist letter to WP Engine claiming that it did violated the foundations for using WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.
WordPress Foundation too modified the trademark policy page and called out WP Engine, claiming that the hosting service confused users.
“The abbreviation “WP” shouldn’t be trademarked by WordPress, but please don’t use it in a confusing manner. For example, many individuals think that WP Engine is “WordPress Engine” and officially related to WordPress, which shouldn’t be true. They have never even donated to the WordPress Foundation, though they make billions on WordPress,” the updated page reads.
The ban on the WP engine and the fight for a trademark
Mullenweg then banned WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org resources. While items like plugins and themes are open source, providers like WP Engine must run a service to download them, which shouldn’t be open source.
This broke many web sites and made them inoperable updating plugins AND topics. It also exposed a few of them to security attacks. The community didn’t like this approach of leaving small web sites without help.
In response to the incident, WP Engine wrote in a post that Mullenweg had abused his control over WordPress to disrupt WP Engine customers’ access to WordPress.org.
“Matt Mullenweg’s unprecedented and unjustified action disrupts the normal operation of the entire WordPress ecosystem, impacting not only WP Engine and our customers, but all WordPress plugin developers and open source users who rely on WP Engine tools such as ACF,” WP Engine said .
Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, has misused his control of WordPress to interfere with WP Engine customers’ access to https://t.co/ZpKb9q4jPh, asserting that he did so because WP Engine filed litigation against https://t.co/erlNmkIol2. This simply is not true. Our Cease &…
— WP Engine (@wpengine) September 26, 2024
On September 27, WordPress.org temporarily lifted the banallowing WP Engine access to resources until October 1st.
Mullenweg wrote a blog post a proof that the fight is just with WP Engine over trademarks. He said Automattic had been attempting to broker a trademark licensing deal for a very long time, but WP Engine’s only response was to “pull us along.”
On September 30, the day before WordPress.org’s deadline to ban WP Engine, the hosting company updated its site’s footer to make clear that it shouldn’t be directly affiliated with the WordPress Foundation nor does it own the WordPress industry.
“WP Engine is a proud member and supporter of the WordPress® user community. The WordPress® trademark is the intellectual property of the WordPress Foundation and the Woo® and WooCommerce® trademarks are the intellectual property of WooCommerce, Inc. The names WordPress®, Woo® and WooCommerce® on this website are for identification purposes only and do not imply endorsement by the WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. WP Engine is not endorsed by, owned by, or affiliated with WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc.” read the updated description on the web site.
The company also modified the names of its plans from “Essential WordPress,” “Core WordPress,” and “Enterprise WordPress” to “Essential,” “Core,” and “Enterprise.”
WP Engine said in an announcement that it modified these terms to challenge Automattic’s claims.
“Like the rest of the WordPress community, we use the WordPress logo to describe our business. Automattic’s suggestion that WPE needs a license to do this is simply wrong and reflects a misunderstanding of trademark law. To address the concerns she raised, we have eliminated several examples that Automattic provided in its September 23 letter,” an organization spokesperson told TechCrunch.
On October 1, the corporate posted on X that it had successfully implemented its own plugin and theme update solution.
We are pleased to report that our solution has been fully deployed and regular workflow practices have been restored to our customers around the globe. We thank all our customers for their patience and support over the past week. Like so many of you, we love WordPress, and are…
— WP Engine (@wpengine) October 1, 2024
On October 15, TechCrunch reported that Automattic had been planning to define trademarks with “nice notes and notes nice” lawyers since earlier this yr, in accordance with an internal blog post written by the corporate’s then-chief legal officer. The post also mentioned a technique for filing more trademarks, which the inspiration finally did so in July.
The WordPress community and other projects imagine this might occur to them too and wish a proof from Automattic, which holds the exclusive license to the WordPress trademark. The community can be asking for clear guidelines on how they will and can’t use “WordPress.”
The WordPress Foundation, which owns the trademark, has also registered as a trademark “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress.” Developers AND suppliers they fear that if granted, these trademarks could also be used against them.
Developers have expressed concerns over-reliance on industrial open source WordPress products, especially when access to them can quickly disappear.
The founding father of the open source content management system, John O’Nolan, also spoke out on the matter and criticized the single-person control of WordPress.
“The network needs more independent organizations and greater diversity. 40% of the network and 80% of the CMS market mustn’t be controlled by one person,” he said post X.
On October 9, the creator of the Ruby on Rails web development platform, David Heinemeier Hansson, expressed the opinion that Automattic was violating open source software principles by asking WP Engine to pay 8% of its revenue.
“Automattic is totally out of touch and the potential harm to the open source world goes far beyond WordPress. Don’t let the drama and its characters turn you away from this threat,” he said blog post.
On the identical day, Mullenweg added a brand new checkbox to the WordPress.org contributor login, asking people to confirm that they usually are not affiliated with WP Engine in any way. This move was met with criticism from the writer community. Some authors said yes forbidden Slack community for opposing this motion.
In response, WP Engine stated that its clients, agencies, users and the community at large usually are not associates of the corporate.
Like the rest of the community, we have seen a new checkbox for logins at https://t.co/ZpKb9q4jPh that has created confusion amongst the community as to whether or how they are obliged to answer the question posed next to the checkbox.
We value our customers, agencies, users and…— WP Engine (@wpengine) October 9, 2024
On October 12, WordPress.org took control of the ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) plugin — which makes it easier for WordPress developers so as to add custom fields on the edit screen — powered by WP Engine. Because WP Engine lost control of the open source plugin repository, the Silver Lake-backed company was unable to update the plugin. WordPress.org and Mullenweg said plugin guidelines allow the organization to take this step.
WP Engine i lawsuit
On October 3, WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg for abuse of power in a California court. The hosting company also alleged that Automattic and Mullenweg did not keep guarantees to run open-source WordPress projects with none restrictions and didn’t give developers the liberty to construct, run, modify and redistribute the software.
“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the past ten days has revealed serious conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if unchecked, threaten to destroy this trust. “WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its employees, agency partners, customers and the broader WordPress community,” the corporate said in an announcement to TechCrunch.
The lawsuit also notes alleged text messages from Mullenweg regarding the potential employment of WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner. In a comment for Hacker News, Mullenweg he said that Brunner desired to develop into the chief director of WordPress.org.
In response, Automattic called the case baseless.
“I stayed up last night reading the WP Engine complaint, trying to find any value in it. The entire case is without merit and we look forward to hearing their lawsuit in federal court,” the corporate’s legal representative, Neal Katyal, said in an announcement. blog post.
On October 18, WP Engine filed a lawsuit in a California court, asking a judge to revive its access to WordPress.org. A day later, the corporate submitted its application administrative request asking the court to shorten the deadline for considering an earlier preliminary injunction.
Automatic exodus
On October 3, 159 Automattic employees who disagreed with Mullenweg’s direction for the corporate and WordPress as a complete took severance pay and left the corporate. Nearly 80% of those that left worked in Automattic’s Ecosystem/WordPress division.
On October 8, WordPress announced that Mary Hubbard, who was TikTok US’s chief executive and experience officer, would begin as executive director. This position was previously held by Joseph Haden Chomphosawho was considered one of 159 people leaving Automattic. The day before, considered one of engineers from WP Engine announced that they’re joining Automattic.
On October 12, Mullenweg wrote in a post that all the things was working An Automattic worker would receive 200 A12 shares as a token of gratitude. These shares are there special class for Automattic employees, which may be sold after a yr and has no expiration date.
On October 17, Mullenweg posted one other customization offer on Automattic Slack – with only a four-hour response window – with a nine-month severance package. However, if any person took up the offer, they’d also lose access to the WordPress.org community, Mullenweg said.
Technology
A single default slogan reveals access to dozens of residential buildings
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The safety researcher claims that the default password sent within the widely used door access control system allows everyone to easily and remotely access the door locks and inspection of elevators in dozens of buildings within the USA and Canada.
Hirsch, an organization that’s now the owner of the Enterphone Mesh door access system is not going to fix the gap, saying that the error is according to the design and that customers should follow the corporate’s configuration instructions and alter the default password.
This leaves dozens of unveiled residential and office buildings in North America, which haven’t yet modified the default password of the access control system or usually are not aware that they need to, According to Eric Daiglewho found dozens of exposed buildings.
The default slogans usually are not unusual or not necessarily a secret in devices connected to the Internet; Passwords supplied with products are frequently designed to simplify access to login for the shopper and are sometimes within the user manual. But counting on the client by changing the default password to prevent future malicious access it still classifies as susceptibility to security within the product itself.
In the case of Hirsch door products, customers usually are not monitored or required to change the default password.
As such, Daigle received a security error, formally marked as CVE-2025-26793.
No planned amendment
The default passwords have long been an issue for devices connected via the Internet, enabling malicious hackers to use passwords to log in as in the event that they were a legitimate owner and steal data or take over devices to use the bandwidth to introduce cyber attacks. In recent years, governments have tried to stop technology producers from the use of uncertain default slogans, making an allowance for the chance of security.
In the case of the Hirsch door entry system, the error is rated as 10 out of 10 on a severity of susceptibility, thanks to the benefit with which everyone can use it. Practically speaking, the use of an error is so simple as taking the default password from the system’s installation guide on the Hirsch website and connecting the password to the login page addressed to the Internet within the system of any constructing.
IN Blog postDaigle said that last yr he was susceptible after discovering one of the doorway panels to the Enterphone door in Hirsch in a constructing within the hometown of Vancouver. Daigle used the Zoomeye scanning website to seek for Enterphone network systems that were connected to the Internet, and located 71 systems that were still based on unconnected obligations.
Daigle said that the default password allows access to the net Mesh background system, whose constructing managers use to manage access to winds, common areas and office and housing locks. Each system displays the physical address of the constructing with the mesh system installed, enabling everyone to whose constructing they’ve access.
Daigle said that you would be able to effectively break into dozens of affected buildings inside just a few minutes without attracting attention.
TechCrunch intervened because Hirsch has no funds reminiscent of the revelation of sensitivity, members of society reminiscent of Daigle reported a security defect to the corporate.
Mark Allen, general director of Hirsch, didn’t answer Techcrunch’s request for commentary, but as an alternative put down his senior Hirsch product manager, who told Techcrunch that the use of default passwords by the corporate is “outdated” (regardless of how). The product manager said that “is equally worrying”, that there are customers who “installed systems and do not comply with manufacturers’ recommendations”, referring to their very own instructions for the Hirsch installation.
Hirsch wouldn’t commit himself to publicly disclose the main points in regards to the error, but said that he had contacted his clients regarding tracking the product manual.
Because Hirsch doesn’t want to fix the error, some buildings – and their inhabitants – will probably remain exposed. The error shows that selections regarding product development from the past can come back to have implications in the true world summer later.
(Tagstranslata) cyber security
Technology
Did Xai lie about GROK 3 comparative tests?
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Debates on AI comparative tests – and their reporting by AI Labs – spill at the general public.
This week, Openai worker accused Elon Musk’s Ai Company, XAI, publishing comparative results for his or her latest AI model, Grok 3. One of the co -founders of XAI, Igor Babushkin, he insisted that the corporate had the suitable.
The truth lies somewhere in between.
IN Publish on the XAI blogThe company has published a chart showing the outcomes of GROK 3 on Aime 2025, a set of adverse mathematical questions from the recent Invitational mathematical exam. Some experts have Aime validity as a AI reference point. Nevertheless, AIME 2025 and older versions of the test are widely used to look at the mathematical ability of the model.
The XAI chart showed two variants of GROK 3, Grok 3 Reasoning Beta and GroK 3 mini reasoning, beating the very best available OpenAI, O3-Mini-High, on Aime 2025. But OpenAI employees on X quickly noticed that the XAI chart XAI chart. He didn’t consider the AME 2025 O3-Mini-High lead to “Cons@64”.
What is Cons@64, are you able to ask? Well, that is the abbreviation for “Conszeus@64” and principally gives model 64 tries to reply every problem in relation and accepts answers most frequently generated as final answers. As you may imagine, Cons@64 tends to extend the outcomes of the models, and skipping it from the chart may cause one model to surpass one other when it shouldn’t be in point of fact.
GROK 3 Beta and grok 3 mini reasoning for AIME 2025 at “@1”-what implies that the primary result, which models have achieved at a distance-see below the results of the O3-Mini-High. Grok 3 Reasoning Beta also the trail also behind the O1 Openai model on “Medium” Computing. However, XAI is GROK 3 promoting As “the smartest artificial intelligence of the world.”
Babushkin Ox was arguing that OpenAI previously published similarly misleading comparative charts – although charts comparing the performance of its own models. A more neutral event in the talk has developed a more “accurate” chart showing almost every model in Cons@64:
Funny, as some people perceive my conspiracy as an attack on Opeli and others as an attack on the groc, while in point of fact it’s deep propaganda
(I actually think the grok looks good there, and chicanery ttc openai for o3-mini-*high*-pass@”” “1 ″” “deserves more control.) https://t.co/djqljpcjh8 pic.twitter.com/3wh8foufic– TERORTAXES
️ (Deepseek Twitter
iron Powder 2023 – ∞) (@teortaxestex) February 20, 2025
But as a researcher AI Nathan Lambert He identified within the postPerhaps crucial metric stays a secret: the calculation (and money) cost he needed for every model to realize his best result. It simply shows how little a lot of the test tests AI communicates about the restrictions of models – and their strengths.
(Toshma of All State) (Enter updates) in Triptaren !!!
Technology
Tiktok has returned to Google and Apple App stores
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Tiktok is obtainable for download.
Tiktok has been restored in each Apple and Google App. Return occurs after weeks of uncertainty for the long run of the appliance.
Users received messages while opening the platform on February 13.
“Tiktok is now available on the App Store and Google Play. Download the most recent version of the appliance to discover and share more what you like at Tiktok – said the message.
According to Bloomberg, the commercial takes place after the newly appointed US prosecutor Pam Bondi sending a letter to corporations rejecting legal proceedings.
All App Store platforms received relief for the host of Byedane real estate by President Donald Trump on January 21, the day after his inauguration. The president gave Bytedance, a Chinese company, 75 days for the sale of half of his American company.
“I instruct the Prosecutor General not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days to enable my administration to be able to determine the appropriate course,” we read within the order.
Initial ticket for the corporate Sell your mental property He got here in the beginning of 2024. The Congress voted for Ban Tiktok from US users, claiming that the appliance is a threat to national security.
According to the order, Tiktok closed the appliance, making it useless, on January 18. The application was restored on January 19, and with its return the message got here, thanking President Trump for his help.
In the times preceding the official ban on most of the 170 million users of the appliance emigrated to Xiahongsh or “Little Red Book”. Ignoring congress fears that Chinese corporations had access to American personal data, users downloaded the appliance in Defiance.
Return Tiktok to the App Store restores US users’ access to the Chinese application. There were no reports of a merger between Bytedance and any American company.
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