Tech Brief 12 September 2025 lands on a Friday full of tension. Money is pouring into Northern Irish R&D, Cabinet power is shifting in Westminster, and new risks are emerging for private chats across the EU. No fluff today. There’s real action, and nobody’s receding into nostalgia just yet.
Missed yesterday’s Tech Brief? Catch up here before diving in.
Seagate Commits £115 Million to Londonderry R&D
“You powered my first file transfers,” a reader emailed when Seagate was last in the news. Today, the American storage giant announced a £115 million boost to their Londonderry facility. The plan is to turn it into one of the world’s main development centres for AI-powered storage and big data research over the next five years. That is a serious vote of confidence in Northern Ireland’s tech chops, not just London’s. Industry eyes are watching to see if local engineers can make a global dent in data tech, recalling the era when Seagate’s 20MB drives felt like endless space inside an Amstrad PC. It is not just a numbers game. Regional tech talent deserves a headline, and today, they are getting it.
Liz Kendall Takes Science and Tech Brief in Cabinet Reshuffle
Who remembers the last time a government shuffle led to actual tech progress? Liz Kendall steps in as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, just as Britain faces decisions on AI regulation and building better digital infrastructure. She replaces Peter Kyle, who moves to the business role in a wider shakeup that has people guessing about real change. Back in the ’80s, you would wait for weeks to see if a Whitehall decision meant one more budget for microcomputer research. Now, it is AI policy and data funding. The big question: Will this Cabinet swap bring clarity on supporting British-led computing, Sinclair or Raspberry Pi style, or just another cycle of buzzwords and white papers? Someone at the office just said, “Same suit, new tie.” Maybe they are right.
EU Debates Mandatory Scanning of Encrypted Messages
Would you let a stranger read your old ICQ logs to “keep you safe”? The EU is still deciding whether to require all tech platforms to scan encrypted messages for child abuse content. Their pitch: boost protections. Security experts and privacy watchdogs say it could break digital privacy for everyone, not just the people being targeted. If this passes, companies that run messaging apps will have to check for illegal images, even inside private, encrypted chats. This week’s debate brings a flashback to the 1990s “crypto wars,” when hobbyists argued in Usenet threads about the risks of governments opening backdoors. Back then, the paranoia was niche. Now, it is mainstream. Privacy versus protection: some things never really resolve, do they?
From the Wayback Machine
On This Day: 1958 – Jack Kilby builds the first integrated circuit at Texas Instruments. What looked like a fragile bit of germanium and gold wire created an entirely new industry. Kilby’s “solid circuit” held a transistor, resistor, and capacitor on a single bar only 11 millimetres long. Sceptics at the time doubted if monolithic circuits would ever work, but the demonstration changed minds and made future microchips possible. Nearly every computer, phone, and gadget now traces its roots back to this bench experiment, which started with borrowed parts and a summer of being left alone while everyone else was on holiday. Progress sometimes comes from the quiet corners.
Today’s Big Question
Does Britain’s regional tech investment have staying power, or are we recycling names and places for headlines? Tech Brief 12 September 2025 asks: can local talent and new Cabinet faces really change the landscape, or is it the same old tune, just spinning on a faster drive?
Tea kettles, clicky keyboards, and a country rooting for its engineers: some rituals never age, but let’s stay curious anyway.
Missed yesterday’s Tech Brief? Catch up here
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