Thank God someone mentioned the Rise of the Machines!
Speaking of which, what the Hell ever happened to "The Rise of the Machines™"? And why wasn't this article included in the series?
Time was when one could count on El Reg to keep one abreast of such doings, but the venerable series has languished, with only a handful of updates over the past five years, and none—at least officially—since November of 2012.
The present article should count as an update, but for some reason was not connected with the series to which it obviously belongs. Obviously someone is trying to keep things quiet and not draw any further attention to the Rise of the Machines as a larger phenomenon that connects and underlies individual incidents. The Register still publishes the occasional story, as here, but no longer connects the dots.
Has Lester been co-opted by the Lizard Alliance?
Pity. He used to be at the forefront of this sort of practical journalism that all other news outlets—having already been co-opted—always shied away from, as these now-ancient but astonishingly apposite examples attest:
Dyson unleashes self-replicating hoover http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/11/self_replicating_hoover/
Killer hoover attacks Scotsman http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/24/killer_dyson/
Both examples—and countless others like them—bore Lester's byline. He was the leading contributor to the series, by far. But now he appears to be quietly spiking it, in an effort to downplay the concerted nature of the threat. Heaven only knows where we can turn to to be kept informed, now that even El Reg is dropping the ball (at the behest of its reptilian overlords?).